When God Makes His Presence Personal

"The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace."

Psalm 29:11

Peace. There is nothing quite like it and much to be desired without it. I still recall vividly a time in my life when the peace of God seemed to envelop me, unlike anything I had ever experienced.

I was only 23 years old and had recently become a widow. On this particular day, I was driving to visit my sister. So many thoughts were racing through my mind. Things like, Am I going to get through this? Should I sell the house? What about going back to school? Will I have enough means to survive? Worrisome thoughts continued to bombard my mind, but at the most significant point of my despair that day, a sudden wave of peace began to wash over me right there on the interstate. No blinding lights, no loud commanding voice of instruction. In fact, there was no sound at all. Just a quiet but prominent entrance into my troubled heart that calmed my fears and rescued me from my chaotic thoughts. I didn't say anything. I just let it happen.

This month marks 36 years since this experience that took me to the crossroads of life at such a young and tender age. However, it remains a vivid memory that taught me about the faithfulness of God's presence, which comes to us in our darkest, most vulnerable, and worrisome life experiences. In such times, God makes His presence personal. He becomes Jehovah Shalom to us, and He blesses us with peace so that we remember it for all times.

He is our peace.

Comments

When People Make Life Hard

"Well, are you going just to stand there or do something?" It was my first year of teaching, and I had learned quickly that the cafeteria was a no-talking zone for anyone. Students were expected to enter in silence, eat in the same manner, and exit without a word. So, staring at the horror on the child's face, the disapproval of my principal, and my feet surrounded by the mess on the floor, from the dropped tray, I froze. It didn't appear that either of us would experience any mercy. Sometimes, people just make life hard. It's not a new problem; it's an ancient one. Exodus chapter 5 has much to say about the perils of dealing with difficult people. In this chapter, the Israelites are enslaved people in Egypt under a Pharaoh who is quite a taskmaster and knows nothing about his slaves except that they can make many bricks every single day. Things get pretty ugly when Moses and Aaron are sent to free the Israelites from their bondage. Pharaoh had no intention o...

Christian Chameleons

As a teacher and administrator for the past thirty-one years, I have learned the powerful messages that are hidden within the pages of children's literature. Even as an adult, I identify with the character in Eric Carle's book, The Mixed-up Chameleon. It's the story of a young chameleon who just wanted to be like everyone else. So, unsatisfied with who he was on a particular day, he took on the likeness of every animal he met. Satisfied for a while, he later realized he had assumed the characteristics of so many different animals that he could no longer find himself. As believers in Jesus Christ, isn't this our story at times? We come to believe it is permissible for something or someone other than God to shape our character. In doing so, we become Christian chameleons and compromise our convictions for comfort to be like the rest of the world. Staying true to our convictions and beliefs nowadays is tough to do! The world cries out to us through media, music, literatu...

Hello Sixty

R ecently, I had one of those significant birthdays, another milestone, a wake-up moment that reminded me that I don't have forever left - at least not this side of heaven. I don't want to make too big a deal out of skipping from one decade to the next, but how did time pass so quickly? One minute, I am graduating from college, only to realize I now have four years left until retirement. In an instant, it seemed I had shifted from a new mother to a grandmother. Just yesterday, I was driving kids to the pool, hosting sleepovers, packing for camps, and shopping for school supplies. Still, nowadays, I rarely step foot in a pool or participate in any of those other activities. As I reflect on all these changes that came so slowly at the time yet now appear to have happened in a mere flash of light, I am tempted to make an argument for time travel. Not really, but things have changed - r...

When the Menu is Manna

Search This Blog