{"id":995,"date":"2008-02-27T08:46:25","date_gmt":"2008-02-27T13:46:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.yuriar.com\/wp\/?p=995"},"modified":"2008-02-27T08:46:25","modified_gmt":"2008-02-27T13:46:25","slug":"where-is-my-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yuriar.com\/katp\/2008\/02\/27\/where-is-my-peace\/","title":{"rendered":"Where is my peace?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is it any wonder I’m feeling anti-social these days?\u00a0 AS Chris at CWO<\/a> points out, even Jesus would withdraw from the crowds to find some quiet time alone with the Father.\u00a0 Mark 1:35 even says<\/p>\n

In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and He was praying there.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So how do I find a quiet place in the midst of these kids?\u00a0 I have tried getting up earlier and earlier.\u00a0 You know what happens?\u00a0 The kids wake up earlier and earlier.\u00a0 Then they get cranky because they don’t have enough sleep, and I don’t get my quiet time, so I get irritable and frustrated very quickly.<\/p>\n

I want peace.\u00a0 I want quiet.\u00a0 I crave these things.\u00a0 The one time of day that I can find peace and quiet seems to be at night, after the kids are in bed.\u00a0 Only problem is, by then, I’m so exhausted, I can’t think clearly.\u00a0 By 10pm, I’m so exhausted from the daily routines, my brain shuts down.\u00a0 How am I supposed to find God’s peace, when body craves sleep?\u00a0 How am I supposed to find time to just “be still and know” that He is God, when my eye lids won’t stay open?<\/p>\n

The answer – I’m not.\u00a0 Did you see how many times I wrote the word “I” in that last paragraph??\u00a0 That’s my problem.\u00a0 “I” can’t do it all alone.\u00a0 Why do I think I should?\u00a0 Susanne S over at CWO<\/a> brings up the point that peace is not found in her Starbucks Cinnamon Dolce, or in my laptop and blogs for that matter.\u00a0 But rather, true peace is found in focusing on God, and our relationship with Him.\u00a0 Don’t let the world squeeze Him out of our lives.\u00a0 Psalm 85:8 says:<\/p>\n

I will hear what God the Lord will say;
\nfor He will speak peace to His people,\u00a0 to His godly ones;
\nBut let them not turn back to folly.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Oh, how often I turn back to my own folly.\u00a0 I am the worst at keeping up with old friends.\u00a0 People I just spent every day with when we were stationed in Italy, are nothing more than a few emails here and there now.\u00a0 Close friends from high school, are not much more than a picture on my MySpace friends list.\u00a0 Even friends from a year ago, I don’t contact often.\u00a0 Not because I don’t love these people, or cherish their friendships, but because so often I get swept up in my own day to day life, I forget to send that encouraging note, or post a comment.\u00a0 Weeks, or even months go by, and then it feels awkward.\u00a0 Like, “hey!\u00a0 Remember me??\u00a0 We were friends once. ”\u00a0 A true friend understands, and I do have several friends who get it, because they too, get caught up in the kids and the pressures of life.\u00a0 But how long can we expect that friendship to thrive if we don’t take care of it??\u00a0 It’s the same with my relationship with God.\u00a0 Like an unused muscle, my prayer life slowly begins to atrophy.\u00a0 Reading the Bible everyday should be like getting a daily email from a friend, checking in to see how I’m doing.\u00a0 He’s there, with me all day, just waiting for me to turn around and look at Him.\u00a0 He wants to be in my life, why oh why do I ignore Him?\u00a0 How in the world can I ever teach my children about God, and how to have a solid relationship with Him, if I do not?<\/p>\n

Rachel, over at Heart of the Matter<\/a>,\u00a0 was asked, \u201cHow would you describe what you would like your relationship with God to look like?\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 So…\u00a0 my answer… I would like my relationship with God to be like the one my DH and have.\u00a0 Now, get your mind out of the gutter, marriage is so much more than *that*.\u00a0 DH is my best friend, my confidant, my soft place to fall.\u00a0 He is my help, my encourager, my strength, and my rock.\u00a0 He is always there for me, no matter what.\u00a0 Not even an ocean or two or three can prevent him from doing what he does best – love & support me.\u00a0 That’s what I want my relationship with God to be like.\u00a0 But all good relationships take time and hard work.\u00a0 How willing would my husband be to continue to help and support me, if I ignored him the way I so often ignore God?\u00a0 Our relationship thrives because we make time for each other.\u00a0 Not, ok, I think I have some quiet time in the evening that we can talk, but taking time, even telling the kids to “Give us a few minutes, Mommy and Daddy are talking.”\u00a0 Thankfully, God will never turn from me.\u00a0 He’s there, waiting for me to realize it.\u00a0 Waiting for me to turn around and run back to Him.\u00a0 And when I do, there I will find Peace.<\/p>\n

Peace I leave with you;\u00a0 My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.\u00a0 Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.\u00a0 John 14:27 NASB<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is it any wonder I’m feeling anti-social these days?\u00a0 AS Chris at CWO points out, even Jesus would withdraw from the crowds to find some quiet time alone with the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-study","category-deep-thoughts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yuriar.com\/katp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yuriar.com\/katp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yuriar.com\/katp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yuriar.com\/katp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yuriar.com\/katp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yuriar.com\/katp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/995\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yuriar.com\/katp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yuriar.com\/katp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yuriar.com\/katp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}