Perfect Peace

II Thessalonians 3:16
"Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace at all times and in every way."

Romans 16:20
"And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen."

Mark 4:39
"Then he arose and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, 'Peace, be still' And the wind ceased and there was a great calm."

Isaiah 26:3
"You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because He trusts in You."

Psalm4:8
"I will both lie down in peace, and sleep, for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety."

Phil. 4:7
"and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

Sometimes He calms the storm and other times He calms His child.

Lord, I pray for my friend Katrina. As she goes through these next few months and they all seem a blur, be with her. Be with her family. As she becomes aware of the reality, touch her heart in only ways You can. As a friend I want to be able to take away her hurt. I want to rewind things to times past. Lord, only You can hold her close like no other. Only You can touch her tears. As her brother now knows perfect peace with God the Father, I pray Your peace upon her and those mourning around her. I pray those around her would have words of comfort. May they remember the joy Ereling brought to their lives. May his sense of humor live on in their hearts as they remember the good times and how they embraced his last days on earth. Thank you Lord for giving me the chance to know Ereling. Thank you Lord for my dear friend Katrina. We shall both always be part of the A-Team. In Him, Amen.

http://pics.livejournal.com/mrbubba/pic/0003hkrr/g13 - Ereling pictures from Katrina's blog
http://www2.indystar.com/cgi-bin/obituaries/index.php?action=show&id=66494 - Obituary

As I think about peace, I remember a story I once heard. I'm not sure if it is true or not, but it very well could be.

There was an art contest and in the art contest the artists had to paint peace. Many artists painted pictures of the beach, the sunset, the sunrise, of children happily playing, etc. The artist who won the contest painted a picture of rain crashing down and in the upper right hand portion was calmness. The sun peaked from behind the clouds on someone at the top of the mountain.

Peace is knowing that when everything seems wrong on this earth, God is good & faithful & totally in control.

We can only know true peace by knowing the True God. Peace runs deeper than just being ok and being complacent about life. Peace is truly knowing that there is nothing we can do about a situation, but knowing that God can comfort us in the midst of it.