Joy comes with your Peace

Good Morning! As I did some reading this morning I thought I would share with all of you (all one of you :) A little background. I was ready for Christmas, ready to enjoy the joy of my kids, to see Zach experience Christmas for really his first true interactive year, to enjoy the festivities, to bake all the goodies, to see family, to do the shopping, you name it and I was ready. Even with Michael leaving for training the day after Thanksgiving - we had talked about it, made a few Christmas plans . . . but WHAM who would know that when people started really talking about Christmas, about the Joy of Christmas, asking what was my most memorable Christmas I had nothing . . . In fact I was drawn to tears over the idea. What does Christmas mean to me - it means celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. It means visiting family, seeing smiles on peoples faces when you give them an unexpected gift, it means memories to cherish for a lifetime - but this year I allowed my joy to fly out the window as I watched Mike's plan fly to Wisconsin. But, God never fails and though I will not say that I have fully recovered - in fact I am just going through December in almost a daze it seems, but I am still blessed for God has Grace and it is in that that I will share with you a little from a book I just read.

Isn't it funny how God always has a plan even when you had no idea. Our small group meets every Thursday night. We just did a study of Revelation. The last month of that study were interrupted for many many reasons that we were not able to meet. So, when we finished our study we would of 3 weeks until Christmas week. Our plan - do some stand alone studies and then start a study of Angels come the new year. Well - were we wrong. After Thanksgiving I headed to Small Group and Dick, our leader, says he had been given The Purpose of Christmas by Rick Warren and it was 3 weeks worth so we would be using that for the next 3 weeks - That's when I first froze as mentioned above, but wow - WOW - it was just what I need in the right time. He never leaves us even in our times of doubt and confusion . . . .

From The Purpose of Christmas by Rick Warren . . . Christmas is a Time of Reconciliation . .
"Instead of complaining and blaming others for your unmet needs, the Bible recommends asking God instead. It says, "What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God." If you prayed as much as you complain and quarrel, you'd have a lot less to argue about and much more peace of mind...
The apostle Paul had an alternative: "Do not worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything you need, always giving thanks. And God's peace, which is so great we cannot understand it, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."
The reality is that there will never be peace in the world until there's peace within nations. And there will never be peace in our nation until there's peace in our communities. There won't be peace in our communities until there's peace in our families. And there won't be peace in our families until there's peace in our individual lives. That won't happen until the Prince of Peace reigns in our hearts. Jesus came at Christmas to bring us three kinds of peace:

Peace with God

The peace of God

Peace with others"