P is for Peace

Peace is a very important quality to have.  When you lay your head on your pillow at night, you want to have peace so that you can quietly drift off to the land of Nod.

So what steals your peace? Conflict, anger, bitterness and unforgiveness are big peace-robbers.  That is why the Bible says don't let the sun go down on your wrath.*  God knows it is hard to sleep when you're angry.

There is no virtue in holding onto a grudge.  Try your best to resolve any conflict as soon as possible so that you can sleep in peace knowing you did all you could do.  After all, you are only responsible for you.

Forgive the other person and go on with your life.  If you don't, then the person who hurt you has stolen more hours of your life as you stew about the offense.

What if you have no peace because of financial struggle?  So many times we have done this to ourselves by buying something too expensive for our budget.  I know this from bitter experience.  Take drastic action to cut expenses to pay it off and learn from the experience.

If your source of struggle is something beyond your control, I invite you to give your problem to God.  No, He doesn't plop money out of the sky on your doorstep, but He does take care of His children.  He makes opportunities happen, ideas come to fruition, people to help and inspiration on what to do. It's amazing what trusting God does in your life!

Finally, remember what Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Your heart must not be troubled or fearful."* Our peace, as a Christian, will not look like the world's peace.  We are at peace because we know God will take care of us.  No matter what it looks like, in the end, we will end up victorious.  We read the back of the Book and we win!



* Ephesians 4:26 John 14:27



This post was written in community with the April A-Z blogging challenge.  To read others' work, go here.