Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. John 14:27 ESV
Though we lost power last night at around 7 pm, we made it through the night safe and sound. It’s funny how without lights or television that we were able to get to sleep early with no problems! Rather than being a fearful situation it was actually kind of peaceful. Of course we spent the time to text our kids and keep our close friends updated but then we just packed all our essential food in our big cooler with lots of icepacks and went to bed. Thank God also for our Youversion app on our phones that allowed us to read our Bibles in the dark, before praying and then peacefully drifting off to sleep.
Yes, Jesus left us peace…His peace and He adds to the promise a challenge. That is to not let our hearts be troubled. Notice, He gives the peace unconditionally, but He tells us that it is our job to manage our emotions. He will keep us always safely in His hands…no strings attached….but for us to enjoy the full benefit of His gift our part is to guard against fear. “Don’t let your hearts be troubled!” Like the command that stills winds and waves (and we had plenty in Florida yesterday!), the words of Jesus will calm our hearts. He has promised that when we ask, seek and knock, that He will give us all we need. Now Jesus is asking, seeking and knocking at our hearts. We mustn’t allow fear to keep the door bolted! If we just trust the voice that is asking for us to open, if we allow the one who is seeking after us to find us and when we open our door, He has promised that His peace will carry us through whatever Hurricane is shaking our world. Now that’s a peace we can use, not only in hurricanes but every day in everything we face. Have a blessed day all. Now if I could just find a way to make coffee!
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Praise the Lord! Stay safe!
Jesus gives us peace, but it’s up to us to accept it.
🙏 Prayers for your safety over the next 24 hours, and in the aftermath of the storm. God Bless.
Thank you for sharing your experience-one of my favorite verses and it continues to help me through tough times. Take care through the storm!
WoW! THAT would be my greatest peace disturbance in your situation as well: how to make coffee! Maybe there’s a 7-11 with Starbucks? if that would be open with the power out, though.
You and all Florida were prayed for whenever the Lord woke me up last night.
❤️& 🙏, c.a.
Oh then you will identify with this morning’s irony. With the storm past, we packed our car and headed towards home. Of course there is no power anywhere except one large gas station and I am thinking, “Yay coffee!” Then I opened the door to see the 50 people standing in line. I sadly closed the door and muttering, “unless they are handing out gold bars, I am not waiting in that line!”
I sure have been praying for you and your family and all the others affected by this terrible hurricane. Only a true relationship with God can fill you with such peace. I pray you don’t have much if any damage. And that tomorrow you get some coffee. Blessings and peace!
Thank you Patty. Yes we were kept safely in God’s hand. The worst was a passing through the night and following morning without power but no damage to speak of there. When we returned home everything here was normal as tye storm had changed track. Those poor folks further South really are suffering.
I’m so thankful you guys are safe and that nothing was damaged. I’m praying for those whose lives have been turned upside down. So sad!
I sent an email to ask about using another article but maybe it went to. Would you mind if I adopted the “Under the Quilt” piece which you wrote a while back for a special edition of our Sunshine Newsletter? I just need to shorten it up a bit to fit our format. It is beautiful and illustrates perfectly that long-term care is about relationships, not facilities. Let me know. Blessings…
I would be very happy for you to use it. I may have missed your email somehow or accidentally deleted it. Sorry about that.
Thank you so much! I will send you the special issue when we have it done.
Thank you!
“Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” Yes, we have a part in that, don’t we? Happy to hear you are safe. Blessings, Pastor Pete!
Thank you Cindy. We are both so happy to be back in our home!
I’ve been praying for all that were in Ian’s path. Glad to hear you were spared.
Praising God for keeping you and your family! 🙌🙌🙌
Amen we are so thankful!
Remind me where you are, Pete? As you may have seen in my blog, our Florida timeshare, church, and friends are (were) on Sanibel Island.
The lights may be out, but keep shining for Jesus. 😉
We are way up the coast from you in New Port Richey. We evacuated thinking it would hit Tampa and went inland, right into the storm’s track