Eating the Right Fruit
By Dawn Mast
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23
The evening started out so peacefully. We were having a nice dinner at our house on a summer evening with church friends. The children were playing, the food was delicious and the conversation was sweet. Suddenly, truly out of nowhere, the wind started to whirl and twirl and our table umbrella went soaring over the deck (thankfully we had been eating inside). The sunny sky instantly became dark and was replaced by low, ominous clouds. The men rushed outside and tried to secure as much deck furniture as they could, while we mama's calmed uneasy children inside.
The dads came in and with steady voices announced, "Let's go sit in the basement for a bit." I knew that wasn't good. So there we sat. We listened to the most horrendous wind I have ever heard, whip around our house. And then it occurred to me; many of our church family were at a nearby campground for the weekend!
We started praying! In the midst of howling wind, things blowing past the windows and slamming against the house, we had peace. We had peace that our church family would be secure and that we would be safe.
That is an experience indeed!! Praying for peace and truly feeling it when you are really in the middle of a raging storm. And that's what peace is; not the absence of the storm, but calm in the middle of it.
Jesus promises that in Him, we will have peace (John 16:33). We can count on Him to be with us even when the worst is happening and life seems out of control. "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you" is not only a fruit of the Spirit, but it's His promise to us (John 14:27).
Today, may you have the peace of Jesus so the world may see that being a believer is not perfect, but peaceful. We have storms, but we are saved. And we may have messy, jagged lives at times, but we have the Messiah Jesus to give us peace through our storms.
Being peaceful is not easy during high stress, heated emotions or trying times. However, the Lord didn't say that as believers we wouldn't have difficulty. He said He'd be with us in the difficulty (John 16:33). We can have peace in knowing that Jesus is with us and He has a plan for us in our circumstances. Prayer is so important during times when we need to have peace. Just know our Lord is ready to listen, to take our burden and to give us peace in any situation.
Lord Jesus, thank You for being the Prince of Peace! Today, I look to You to give me Your peace in the moments when I feel so undone and unsure. Please forgive my weak faith at times when I do not feel Your peace and find it so easy to default to falling apart. I ask that You strengthen me, my faith and my spirit so that I may have peace that passes understanding and draws me to You. Amen!
For more encouragement, visit Dawn at thatdawnedonme.wordpress.com.
© 2019 by Dawn Mast. All rights reserved.
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Originally published Wednesday, 07 December 2022.
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