path OF peace

Posted byJoni RobertsPosted inChristian, Church, faith, Grief, peace, PurposeTags:, , , , , , , ,

I heard a sermon that really resonated with me and I’m sharing the overall thought process here. The reason it resonated with me so much is because it is probably one of the biggest sources of struggle for me. If someone asks me what I want most in life, it’s not anything of material value. It’s peace.

Anyway, before reading this, stop and get in your mind:

What is the greatest source of stress in your life?

Think about that thing as you read through this.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Whatever brings you the most stress, will also usually determine how you seek out peace.

God will bring you peace, but it’s not always going to look the way you think it will.

First…

Surrender your expectation of perfection.

God promises us peace.

He doesn’t promise us ease or convenience.

Peace isn’t found in a place.

Peace isn’t found in a set of circumstances that is problem free.

Peace won’t be found in people.

The problem isn’t the problem! The problem isn’t what is causing you stress.

The enemy of your peace is your insistence on perfection!

It is impossible to experience peace when you are expecting perfection.

Psalm 23:4

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

He doesn’t deliver me from it, He meets me in it. He will guide us with the light in the valley. He didn’t take us out of the valley.

I’m at peace on the path.

Why?

Not because I’m not going through it, but because I’m not going through it alone. There is somebody with me that is greater than what is against me.

Think about this.

If peace comes from people, people can take it away. If peace comes from situations, situations can change and take it away.

The same person that you let steal your peace, is still that person. You can’t change people so you can’t let your peace depend on people.

I’ll have peace when _______________.

It’s not the path to peace. Because that means that the peace is far off, out there, somewhere.

Peace.

Stop waiting for it.

Start walking in it.

Watch the whole sermon here:

Published by Joni Roberts

Gotta love the 'About Me' sections of everything. I feel like I'm either in a one sided interview or trying to create a dating profile. "I like starry nights and long walks on the beach" Ha! All jokes aside, it is necessary to share your story. Especially in a place like this where you hope to reach people through your struggles. So here goes everything... Hi everyone 👋🏼 Grief is a journey, an ever changing and painful process. It can isolate you and make you feel more lonely than one could ever imagine. That is why I write and share my story. We need support. We need people that "get it." We need each other. I was married to the love of my life, just shy of 13 years. We went to school together, known him since elementary. He was my "boyfriend" in 5th grade. I even wrote "Joni Roberts" in my notebooks and cheered for him when he played basketball at recess 😂 We came back together when we went to the prom, as friends, our senior year in high school. That was in 1997. We started dating seriously in the summer of 1998. He asked me to be his wife in February of 1999. We said "I do" on October 2nd of the same year. We had our first child in October of 2000, our son. We had our daughter, 22 months later in August of 2002. In the time we were married, we went through more than most could go through in a lifetime. We never gave up on each other. In June of 2012, he and I were in a horrible car accident that claimed his life. In an instant, my entire world was shattered, leaving me a grieving single mother of two grieving children who are now teenagers. I'm walking day by day through life without the one that would be with me forever. I would have never imagined that this is where I would be in my life at 41 years old. But, I am doing everything I can to be strong and to take this grief and use it to fuel the purpose for the rest of my days here on earth. ONE. DAY. AT. A. TIME. Today: I am in the waiting room for my first neurologist appointment. It is in the same office as my surgeon from the accident. I'm sitting here remembering myself horribly hurt and in a wheelchair and I'm overwhelmed with feelings but mostly reflecting on how far I've come. I love and miss my best friend every single day. I'm positive that won't change until we are together again. I am choosing to try and live my life in a way that would honor him and make him proud. Living With Purpose.

35 thoughts on “path OF peace”

  2. I love this! Right now we are trying to find financial peace. Have you ever heard of Financial Peace University? It’s by Dave Ramsey. All of the things you pointed out form the sermon are so relevant to me and my family right now. Thank you for sharing! 🙂

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  3. It was beautiful thank you so much for sharing. I’ve been struggling with peace since the day my son passed away. And I think that’s all I really want is to have peace 10 piece of my mind my soul still trying to get rid of the anger I have on how I lost my son.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Oh my heart. I know how difficult it has been for me, having lost my husband. I can’t even begin to imagine losing a child.
      Know that God understands your anger and it is okay. It really is part of the world of grief. I still have times of anger.
      My heart is with yours and I will be praying for you.

      Like

      Reply

  4. I demand excellence of myself. And I want things done right yesterday… I got mad as fire yesterday because I had the entire day planned for certain work. Because some tools wouldn’t work, I got a headache and felt drained from frustration.

    Pray for me! I needed this post!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  5. You are so right! People are always looking for peace here, there and everywhere but never finding it. I like Psalm 23, it shows He is with us every step of the way and He is our peace! He has said that He will hold our hand and guide us through whatever circumstances we have. He doesn’t necessarily remove the circumstances, but we can trust Him! Thanks for liking a comment I made on another site, if you have time please check out my blog. Very much enjoyed this post, very encouraging!
    Steve.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  14. I never realized my desire for perfection in certain situations is what stands in the way of my peace. A brilliant bit of attitude-changing wisdom! Thank you so much for sharing, Joni. P.S. Thank you also for becoming a follower of my blog, From the Inside Out. I am honored, and pray you find the posts meaningful whenever you’re able to visit.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Google photo

You are commenting using your Google account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

%d bloggers like this: