Day 7: Peace Like a River

Romans 12-13

Peace Like a River

My best friend always remarks about how she is amazed at my clarity. Truth is- I must get clear. I HATE being confused. Actually "hate" isn't even strong enough to describe how much I abhor, loathe, despise being confused. It angers me. So when I don't "get it," I am in turmoil. For me it is not a matter of not having the answer or having figured things out, but not knowing how to look at things or having the right perspective. I can walk by faith, in the dark, as long as I have a sense of which way I am to step. I can deal with uncertainty and questions, but I need God to show me how to look at the situation; to give me a lens through which to view my world.

I remember when I was completing my dissertation. I was a week away from a deadline could make or break my academic career and it did not look good. I remember sitting on living room floor among a pile of books and papers and saying to God, "I need to know what YOU say about this situation. I know what my advisor says, my committee says, but what do YOU say? I thought this degree was a part of Your plan for my life. Did I miss it, mess it up? Was I not supposed to work at the church and devote myself to this degree, because I thought You called to me St. James." So I sat on the floor amid my books and papers and asked God to give me a word. God led me to two scriptures: Zephaniah 3:15, "The Lord has taken away the judgments against you, he has turned away your enemies. The king of Israel, the Lord, is your midst, you shall fear disaster no more." And Hebrews 6:10, "For God is not unjust, he will not overlook your work and the love that showed for his sake in serving the saints, as you still do." I knew what God was saying and I was at peace. I did not know how God would work out my situation but I was at peace.

And today, I have peace like a river "attending my way." So whatever my lot, I will say--"it is well, it is well with my soul!"