A New Season

"Perfect Peace"
Lyrics by Laura Story | from the album Great God Who Saves

Stay close by My side,
Keep your eyes on Me,
Though this life is hard,
I will give you perfect peace,

In this time of trial,
Pain that no one sees,
Trust me when I say,
I will give you perfect peace,

And you'll never walk alone,
And you'll never be in need,
Though I may not calm the storms around you,
You can hide in Me,

Burdens that you bear,
Offer no relief,
Let Me bear your load,
Cause I will give you perfect peace,

Stay close by My side,
And you'll never walk alone,
Keep your eyes on Me,
And you will never be in need,
Though this life is hard,
Know that I will always give you perfect peace,
I will give you perfect peace...

This song sums up my mood. There is no crisis. There is no cancer diagnosis, no hunger I cannot feed, no death. There is normal life. Normal life is sometimes hard. I may not have the cancer diagnosis, but a friend may … or even a friend of a friend … and somehow it affects me.

Right now, I’m in a season of seeing God as more than what I have … and I don’t even know what that means. I’m mystified by the verse in 1 Peter that tells us to cast all our cares on him … because he cares for us. I am dumbfounded by Psalm 17 that tells me that I can experience God’s unfailing love in wonderful ways. I am in awe that in the same chapter, I get a picture of him guarding me as He would His own eyes … and hiding me under the shadow of His wings. All the while, I’m thinking who am I that God … GOD … would take such individual and detailed care of me? That’s the beauty of being His child. He cares for us, loves us, protects us, wants us in a way that is uniquely God … and in a way we cannot put human logic to try to understand. It’s beyond us … and poured on us.

I have known for some time that those who call themselves “Christian” define that term in various degrees. Some define their label by their church attendance. Others define their label by their brand of denomination. Yet others simply rest on the fact they are born into a “Christian” nation and therefore, by default, are Christian.

I find that the older I get, my label becomes harder to define … and yet becomes simpler at the same time. I am a Christian. I decided when I was 19 years old that what the Bible said about me (I am separated from God by sin) and what the Bible said about Jesus (He is the substitute and payment for my sin to bring me to God) was true. Now, over 24 years later, that relationship has morphed and transitioned into a thing I cannot label.

Why should it sound strange for a Christian to say life is hard? It is. We deny reality if we say it isn’t. However, what I’m realizing during hard life is that my experience through the “hardness” becomes a vastly different experience because of my relationship with Jesus. Hard, with the comfort of knowing the hard has a purpose. Hard, with the comfort of knowing I am not alone … the very spirit of the living God of the universe lives inside me … guiding me. Hard, with the blessing of having perfect peace. Perfect peace … not immunity from the pain. Perfect peace means that in the middle of hard … and pain … there is a deepness of rest that cannot be labeled. That … my friends … can only come from God.

As I ease into the holiday season and prepare for a move … I sometimes think this is a season of “hard”. It might be from my perspective. Yet, on the same road I have blessings that keep me aware of God’s presence in my life: a tight hug from Libby, an email from a friend, oatmeal cookies, Andy Griffith at night with Chris, Starbucks with Parker, a text from Addison, Prozac … the list goes on. It’s the ability to even recognize the blessings that lay scattered around the road of hard like Libby’s junk in her room that make me realize God is so good. He does care for me … He guards all that is mine … He loves me.

I’ve got laundry that needs to be done, I’ve got to put my makeup on before our German tutor comes, I’ve got a whole in my sock that has been there over a year … but I’ve also got this silly computer to help me process my thoughts, a husband who is exercising downstairs to keep himself fit for our old age, and three girlies that all smooched and hugged me before heading out for school.

Stay close by My side,
Keep your eyes on Me,
Though this life is hard,
I will give you perfect peace