“Restlessness and impatience change nothing except our peace and joy. Peace does not dwell in outward things, but in the heart prepared to wait trustfully and quietly on Him who has all things safely in His hands.”
Elisabeth Elliot
Have you ever thought about peace actually being like a river? There is a song about it, yes, but have you ever stopped and really equated the two? I had not. But in fact, peace indeed is like a river. A river ebbs and flows with its surroundings. It moves fast in some places and really slow in others. It stays in the parameters it was given until it doesn’t. When there is enough rain fall, a river can overflow. It can cause flash floods and it can even slowly seep into a raft or a boat if given the opportunity.
Peace if we allow it, can be just like a river. It can crash into our circumstances just like it can ease into a nook or cranny. The thing about peace that differs from a river, though, is that we decide when peace can come, where it goes. We can choose peace. Choosing it doesn’t mean that all our problems go away, or that our life will be a smooth and easy. It means that despite what comes, despite what we stand in front of, no matter how big or small, good or bad, and even when we find ourselves in the depths of waiting on God to move, we have to choose peace. We have to open the door to our hearts and lives and invite it in.
Like a river can get jammed up by debris in the water after a storm, peace can sometimes get jammed up by the storms of life when we don’t first surrender those things. We must trust that God is, in fact, good. Peace and trust are a package deal. But we have to surrender first to get either. We must get in our cars and drive to where the river is. That’s what surrender is. Driving our hearts toward peace. We are surrendering our circumstances to God and trusting that He is who He says He is, and opening our hearts to receive the peace He’s waiting to give us. Sister, that is a scary place to walk, I know. But WE CAN DO HARD AND SCARY THINGS! We can stand in the river of peace when we choose to surrender our fears, and trust that God has us and our fears in the palm of his hands.
“She stood still, held her peace, and saw the deliverance of the Lord”. I don’t know who said this quote, but it has been on my bathroom mirror for a few years now. And now, every time I do my hair, or brush my teeth, or put my makeup on, I speak that over myself. So that when the water is rising and moving so fast, I remember to stand still, breathe, and take God at His word.