"My peace I Leave With You"

It's amazing how peaceful I feel when I walk through the woods or a garden and take in all the beauty of God's creation. I love walking and talking to the Lord...kinda like the Garden of Eden.  Somedays though, I am confronted over and over with reminders that "we ain't in Eden anymore, Dorothy". It can be just turning on the TV and hearing a news cast or seeing the "junk" that passes for entertainment.  Things can sometimes look pretty bleak and very un-peaceful in the world around us.

Jesus said in John 16:33..."In the world you will have tribulation, and trials and distress and frustration, but be of good cheer{take courage, be confident, certain, undaunted}for I have overcome the world. {I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.} Amplified version.

I am so thankful that we have God's word in times like these, when we look around us and there is so much corruption, lack of integrity, low or no values, greed for power, violence and mockery of  God and Godliness. God's word helps me to keep things in perspective. I know there will always be these things until Jesus returns and reigns in victory.  I am glad that we can love and serve a God who delights in righteousness and who deals mercifully with us. He is patient and He will continue to even woo the mocker. However a day is coming, the Bible tells us, when all will see Him in His glory and every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus, alone, is the Lord of heaven and earth!

I find I can have a supernatural peace being in relationship to Christ. I don't feel I have to give in to the anxiety and stress of the world around me.  I can "take courage, be confident, and undaunted" by what I hear on the nightly news or from those who are fearful around me. Why? Because I KNOW in whom I have believed and I am persuaded that He is able to deliver me.

God says He is "the same yesterday, today, and forever. He doesn't change. That is a comfort and peace when we find ourselves in the midst of a time when bad things are being called good, and good things are being called bad.  I'd rather be found standing with God and what He has said than be standing with ANYONE "in power"who has gone along with every "whim and wind of change" when that "great day" of Christ's return comes. Wouldn't you?