Peace in Chaos???

Where do you find peace?

Image from fieldandsparrow.com

Is it on your back porch, while you sip coffee and maybe read a book or just listen to silence while the kids are either with someone else or still sleeping? Or soaking in a tub after everyone else is asleep and you treat yourself to a bowl of ice cream? Is it during Sunday worship while you kids are busy in the nursery and you, for the first time in a week, have no one else needing your attention?

My church is small, and I don’t get to worship without my kids. I also don’t get to sit in for the sermon very often, because I help with the kids during service.

When I was a young mama with a testing toddler, this was a hard one for me. I would often have to pack her off to the nursery for a timeout while I sat and cried. I just wanted to be able to worship without distraction, and that was always when she did something naughty and I had to correct her.

I was upset with God and asked him why he couldn’t just let me have time to worship him in peace.

His answer to my heart was very calm and quiet.

“Lee, I want you to learn to worship during the chaos.”

Mind. Blown.

It’s easy to worship when everything is going nice. It’s easy to be happy and peaceful then. How about during the storm?

image from news.artnet.com

The disciples thought Jesus was crazy to be sleeping when there was a storm raging. They thought he didn’t care about them anymore (been there!). Neither of these was true. He was the peace in the middle of the storm.

Life is messy. Life is hard. Kids like to test you to your limit. They test your ability to be peaceful.

But you can find peace in the middle of that chaos, mama.

More on this another time.

Much Love,

Lee