Sunday, September 23, 2007

Where To Find Peace

I havent posted much lately; life has been busy and words seem to fail me these days. The thoughts that do reach a piece of paper are muddled or unworthy of public note. I prefer poetry to any other form of writing; and while many of my favorite poets choose rhyme as their style, I prefer free form. So for me to write out these blog posts in prose...it is, at best, difficult. None-the-less, I will put forth my best effort.

I frequent this blog and many others; I read about grace, mercy, prayer, forgiveness, sickness, diseases, marriage, divorce, birth, deaths, people in need, who is reading the best selling book, who the greatest authors are; the best music, the absolute worst of hollywood, politics, terrorism, war. I am a reader, not a lurker, although in the blog world lurkers are people like me who don't comment much; the truth laid bare is I have a genuine care and interest in people, so I read and pray and sometimes I comment. Yet, I find myself logging onto the computer less and less these days as my time is being divied up to serve many; striving to be a more attentive and caring wife to Ron, keeping pace with the role of mother and grandmother and dedicating mega hours to the care of the elderly. These are my missions to which God has entrusted me in the present time. My blogging ministry has always been to share those bits and pieces of my life which enable the world to see Christ and His life in me and to offer prayers and encouragement to those in need.

I entered into the season of "empty nester" a few years back, it's completion came this past August. I was met with many days of adversity and heartache, neither of which I could laugh at or ignore. The first child graduating, moving out and marrying, the onset and strife of depression, the years of college life and new adventures for the girls, the disruption of my marriage, the birth of a grandbaby, the second child graduating and marrying. Adjustments, transitions, empty rooms, the roles of a parent change, the needs of a child mature and are fulfilled by others. satan waited at every juncture, never satisfied as he sat, waiting to strike when least expected, he loves to strip people of their joy. And so he dug deep into the life of a young man...one alive and well, but one who willingly jumped into the enemy's camp, oblivious to the vows made before God to a young woman, whose child now will face the brokenness of family. A devastating blow to the Kingdom. Some say that is just life...to which I agree, yes, it is life as we have come to know and accept in our day and age....I am not exempt from it, for it was life as I knew and accepted back when I was twenty five and walked away from God, and even as recently as one year ago when I left my marriage of twenty four years. A disappointment to the Father, a blow to the Kingdom. I have since returned, realizing it is not life. Because when one is in relationship with Christ and walks away, it is HELL. It is a living HELL. When one is not in relationship with Christ....it is still HELL....even though one is fooled into believing it is life.

I joined Divorce Care last year, a Christ based support group that Paul McKay referred me. While attending, God clearly revealed to me...number one, the condition of my heart towards my husband and... number two, that the road to divorce would take me places He did not want me to go. In as much as I was needing to be needed, needing to be loved, needing to be heard, needing to be cured, needing to be accepted, needing to find me, needing to live a fuller, better, more rewarding life, the end result was..... I needed God more than any of those. Thanks to Paul, God was able to get ahold of me and set me back on the right path.

I do not expect to be rid of anger or sadness, sickness or heartache instantly. I try not to dwell on yesterday or be anxious about tomorrow. I am not fearful or dreading of each day, nor do I live each day as though it were my first or last. I live each day as though it were the only day, awake, hopeful and thankful; alive in Him; ready, willing and able to devote the best of me (my life in Christ) to the Kingdom.....and in doing so I have a peace that sustains me.

Through obedience to God and His word, one will find everlasting peace. If you think you have found it outside of God, you are deceived. If you think you will find it in your spouse or job or education, you are deceived. If you think you are someone's peace, you are deceiving that person. For some it comes overnight....for others it may take their entire lifetime.....for me it came in little steps....through a succession of events...some days I took two steps forward and three steps back.....but I stayed with it, encouraged by faithful friends and followers of Christ.... it came by way of devoting myself to reading the greatest story ever; a book that overflows with the truth about how to live life...full of grace, mercy, prayer, forgiveness, doubt, trust, love, hate, sickness, diseases, marriage, birth, deaths, people in need, the best seller books, the greatest authors, gifted musicians and entertainers, wars fought, enemies defeated but best of all, the Prince of Peace.

Are you struggling with life's issues, looking for peace and don't know where to turn? Are you physically, emotionally or mentally sick, finding no resolve or peace in doctors, counselors, medications, surgery or drugs. Are you disheartened by the loss of a job, death of a loved one? Are you lonely, afraid, tired, weary or angry? Please pick up this Book and read it front to back....it's what I did.
A Highly Acclaimed Best Seller
The Holy Bible


"And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ." Philippians 4:7


Donna

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

WOW --------------

U put tears into these eyes of mine


Continue on , Donna -- continue on --

your friend, Bob

Anonymous said...

Re-read your post -- the sum of all said here is the same as many posts by the faithful in pals --
It's about God , His Love for us, His Effort made to bring us to Him, The Christ of Calvary, reaching out for His creation.
Great testimony Donna -- like U , we all live this life for Him , one day at a time --

Anonymous said...

wow...my exact response, too...what an well-written, beautifully-worded post, that touches the heart, almost piercing...

May God bless you and continue to draw you closer to Him.

LPP

Anonymous said...

Thank you Bob....it is such an enormous blessing to me to be one of the faithful pals...and to be able to share my testimony of how God reached through to me in difficult times...I rest peacefully in His word, His love.

The testimonies that are brought forth here on this blog are for His glory and in sharing, may touch the hearts of many....

God bless
donna

Terry said...

Hi Donna!!
I will be back in a little while!
Hi Hebrews and Passing-thru!
Donna is the one that brought Minerva into our lives for which I will always be grateful!
Catch you later all...Love Terry

I want to read your post Donna, but I do not want to speed read it and I have a couple of things to do!

Anonymous said...

Donna, U sound like your in a "good place"

No matter our situations, as U said, JEHOVAH has made it possible for us , fallen individuals to come and have fellowship with HIM

Thankyou for posting such a good testimony of HIS GOODNESS

Pilot Mom said...

Donna, what a beautiful testament to the faithfulness of our Lord and Savior! And what a testimony you have shared in your 'returning to an obedient life.'

You may prefer poetry but your post extremely well written, well thought out, and filled with sound biblical advice.

It is never easy to let go of our desires, our wants, our preferences, our "whatevers", and make a concious decision to return to God, desiring a contrite and repentent heart which now desires to be in obedience to the Lord.

It can only happen when we submit ALL to Him and you have very eloquently shared this.

Thank you for a most thought provoking post...for opening yourself up to us at Pals and sharing your difficulties which you have managed to "weather" through, focused on your relationship with Him.

Terry said...

Dear Donna...
I am now in the same condition as Passing-thru.
How many times as reading a few blogs has this been happening?
That the tears are flowing!
I feel so unable to even comfort because I have gone through so little of the suffering that you and other dear people have faced.
All I can do is pray and I will!

At every angle the last week, it has been stressed how much I have been neglecting what you refer to as "the book with the greatest story ever".
Susan has such a great posting on it, Passing-thru has been mentioning that the Bible is more important in our lives than even good Christian books and Felisol has said that when she has been so low that the only book that will comfort her is the Bible and Vicki has been off and studying so she will be saturated with the Word.
I think I had better change my ways and be reading it more too!!
Thanks so much Donna!!...Love Terry

Anonymous said...

Good comment Terry --- all of us have blessed one another on our quest to serve God .

Terry said...

Dear Passing-thru..
It has been such a rich week at the Pilgrim Pals.
I will be glad when David is around this week and maybe Little Missionary Julie..I hope she is alright...Terry

Anonymous said...

Terry , its as Claire said, its obedience that brought peace to Donna . Donna said it herself - thru obedience to God and His Word, peace HE gives and she is right again when she said, she dosen't expect to be free instantly of any of the stress factors but as she lives each day for HIM , in obedience, HE GIVES HIS PEACE --- Donna hit it on the head when she said if a person thinks finding this PEACE is thru any other agency other than GOD, he will not find it - God said it is better to OBEY than to SACRIFICE --- yes Terry, good rich posts and comments --
GOOD STUFF , the "pals" are a blessing

Anonymous said...

Wow, what rich comments here.

Oh, I forgot to tell you, Donna, I express myself best in poetry, too! When my heart is full, penning a simple poem or a song is the way I pour it all out. I have so many papers stuffed into an old shoebox with dozens of poems and songs scrawled on them.

Mrs. Shirkie...Keep pressing on into God's Word! I absolutely love getting lost in it...I encourage you to, also. Pick a topic or word, search it in a concordance, and then look at each passage in your Bible. It is so rewarding an excercise!

God bless you all,
LPP

Anonymous said...

I am very grateful and touched by the many comments. God bless.

Donna

Vicki said...

Life in Christ is about dying to self so that He might live and move IN us. If someone asked me to sum up what life in Christ is all about, I'd have to reference John 3:30:

He must increase, but I must decrease.

That's it. Our suffering here is but for a short time, and God uses it (if we let Him) to bring us to Himself, closer than ever before. I was so naive years ago when I prayed to know the "fellowship of His sufferings." For when life gets hard, we then work up a spiritual sweat, trying to get Him to change our circumstances.

Oh, that we would let God be God!...and may our lives glorify Him, even as we suffer, for it's easy to praise Him in the good times. (ah, but every day is good with the Savior!)

We don't have to worry about blows to the kingdom when we believe in the Sovereignty of God, who works all things together for good for those who love Him.

Keep abiding, sweet sister. It's all grace and nothing of ourselves.

Vicki said...

I came back here tonight to collect prayer updates...honestly don't know why I rambled so much last time...sorry, Donna.

Your post was beautiful post, Donna. God has done much in your life, and your friendship blesses us all.