Searching...

This week's memory verse:

"And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:7

In the last few weeks, I have seen so many people SEARCHING for meaning and peace and joy in their lives...I'm not kidding...I have received an email from a friend asking me how I find joy, I read a friends's blog post who is struggling with being unhappy in his life and searching for meaning, and even my own husband is searching in his soul HOW and WHY he was saved from that awful car accident.

About 10 years ago, I began searching for more meaning in my life, and I turned back to my faith that I had been ignoring for several years. In the process of digging in the Bible for answers, peace found me! How can this be?

Whether we were raised in the church or not, our thinking, rational minds think that relying on "god" to guide us, fulfill us and give us peace seems too simple...too far-fetched...we should have to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and find or make our own happiness. Life is what we make it, right?

Look again at our memory verse. "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:7 ---- I looked at the Message translation, and I also looked at the verse before it.

Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

THAT'S WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME!!! In the past few years, I have taken my worries to God in prayer and learned to rely on HIS strength instead of my own and peace and joy have been more a part of my life more often!

To further prove my point, read these verses for yourself:

Psalm 29:11

Isaiah 26:3

John 16:33

Romans 15:13

You will find from these verses that peace and joy come from God. God WANTS us to find peace in this world. If we learn to trust him, study his word and stay close to him in prayer, he will give us a sense of peace, even in trying times.

Did you notice, I said even in trying times? Jesus tells us we will have trouble in this life:

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

I do not claim to be a religious scholar...I don't claim to have all the answers...I don't even claim that my way is THE way to find peace. I only claim to tell MY story...how I can find peace and joy in this world...what works for me. I was searching and I found answers. Maybe you are searching too and maybe what worked for me will work for you. What do you have to lose? This week I will be exploring more about how to find peace in this crazy world. Would you like to come along with me?

I pray that God will bless you and keep you and that He will shine his face upon you and give you peace that you don't understand.