Peace and Quiet- and the reality of that never happening.

My blog has been hugely ignored for almost a month now.

Not out of desire but necessity.

Hubby had knee surgery and because of some complications what was supposed to be on outpatient

surgery landed him a couple of days in the hospital.

As soon as he got home, two other family members had ER visits, both of them physically and

emotionally draining.

Oh and the day of an event I was facilitating and speaking at,  I fell down the stairs and broke my toe.

And it was 5:00 in the morning-

talk about insult to injury.

All the while trying to balance work, home, family and ministry.


In the middle of all this chaos I am reminded of Galatians 5:22 where I am told "Peace" in a

Fruit of the Spirit.

My reply, "Ok Lord, bring on the peace! I'm here and waiting-make everything and EVERYONE

around me peaceful!  If these people could just get it together I WOULD BE THE MOST

PEACEFUL PERSON EVER!!"


And yet it just never seems to quite work that way.



(Maybe your family is different, maybe you've always got it together. But, that's not life here

at the Wilkinson's and I hope my honesty doesn't terrify you.)

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As I've been pondering these thoughts about peace over and over in my mind, the Lord kept brining

me back to Peter.  Boisterous, impatient, impetuous, imperfect Peter-who was loved and chosen,


 flaws and all by Jesus and who followed Him-even in the middle of the storm.

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Mathew 14:22-34 tell us the familiar account of Peter stepping out of the boat and walking on the

water to Jesus.

And, if you're around my age and grew up in church you can see the flannel graph characters clearly

in your mind.  But, we've got to remember these were real men with real fears.

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When we read or remember the story of Peter walking on the water, I think in our heart of hearts

many of us would say we want that kind of experience.  A grand faith explosion-but what happens

is instead of walking on water we're waiting for Jesus of calm the storm around us.


Listen I know we've all got storms, whether they are financial, health related, relationships or

emotional-- or maybe we've got all of them at the same time.  Storms are apart of the broken world.

Either we've just passed through one, we're in the middle of one or there's one brewing on the

horizon.

Just like storms were apart of the Faithful Fisherman's life they are apart of ours as well.

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Peter didn't wait for things to calm down before he got out of the boat, in fact if you look back over

the entirety of the chapter it is remarkable to realize what all the disciples have just gone through in

a very short amount of time.

Verses 1-12 they learn about their friend and Jesus beloved cousin, John the Baptist had just been

beheaded.  They go from grieving to the crowds pressing in to hear and see Jesus (verses 13-21)

and finding themselves needing to provide dinner for 5000+ with only two small loaves and 5 tiny

fish.  From witnessing and experiencing that amazing miracle, they find themselves being put

into a boat in verse 22 and Jesus sending them off.

And then that little boat finds itself and it's occupants being beaten about by the wind in the middle

of the night. . .

I don't know about you, but after reading how quickly those events followed one another in

succession, I need a nap.

But, when Jesus said come, Peter didn't ask  Jesus to calm the storm, he got out of the boat,

and because of that was able to experience an event like no other that has gone down in the

pages of time.

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That's where I find myself these days, and I'm guessing many of you do as well.

The storm swirling all around us and even IN us and Jesus says, "Come".

Now, don't get me wrong, He CAN calm the storm too, but we have to wrap our weary souls, bodies

and minds around the fact that He doesn't have to for us to have peace.

Our circumstances do not dictate our peace.  Our peace comes from The One in whom we put

our trust and hope.

So, whether we rise up to face the wind, or find ourselves dropping to our knees in humble prayer

let's hide these words from Isaiah 26:3-4 deep in our hearts:

You will keep in perfect peace
    those whose minds are steadfast,
    because they trust in you.
4 Trust in the Lord forever,
    for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal.

Our circumstances may never be peaceful this side of Heaven, but we fix our eyes on Jesus-because

He is our peace.

Join me in praying these words from Psalm 29:11 back to the Lord:  The Lord gives strength to his people ;the Lord blesses his people with peace.

We are promised strength and peace and we find them both in one name-Jesus.

May our minds and hearts be fixed on him in the middle of our storms.




Journeying with you,