I read the last entry of devotions from “Jesus Calling” while sipping my first cup of morning coffee yesterday. It was a few precious minutes before 6 am, but that is the only time my house is quiet…usually. I poured my coffee and then quietly and delicately stirred in hazelnut creamer with my flea market tea spoon my sister brought me from London. Even the slightest ‘tink’ of the spoon tapping the side of the mug will rouse my oldest child. She hears everything.
I sat and read Sarah’s interpretive words about peace from our Lord and thought how fitting they were:
“As this year draws to a close, receive My Peace. This is still your deepest need, and I your Prince of Peace, long to pour Myself into your neediness. My abundance and your emptiness are a perfect match.”
A perfect match. I never thought of it that way. I never thought of the “jars of clay” that we are, as being the perfect vessel to hold such treasure. But it is a perfectly divine match. Our brokenness, His wholeness. Our sin, His perfection. Our pride, His humility. Our anxiety, His Peace. He Himself is the perfect groom for His bride, the perfect match to our neediness…and oh how needy we are.
I sat for a few minutes and thought about the year gone by. It was so full of both joy and sorrow. The days pass too often in accelerated monotony that it is difficult to assess what has been experienced. But in my dark, quiet living room, I looked back and thought of the time that had gone by. Birthdays. Remodeling. Bible studies. Soccer games. Broken bones. Once in a lifetime vacations. Days on the beach. Days at the pool. School starting. Mean girls. Late nights at work. Painting. More remodeling. Death. More soccer. Failed potty training…I could go on and on. It’s been a full year, and an emotionally difficult one as well. But as I sat on my sofa yesterday morning, Peace settled in next to me and whispered “You are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed, perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9). I could honestly, in that moment of reflection, completely see that truth in my life. Especially the perplexed part. How many times this year have I asked “why”! I’m still asking why. But truth spoke loudly and I had peace, because despair I do not have…and there is a difference.
Because we know Truth, we therefore have hope. And if we have hope, then we are not in despair…and therefore we have Peace. We can endure tomorrow. Our neediness has been filled by His abundance, and so we are free to expect great things. Expect Peace. Expect an adventure for sure, but know that Peace is leading you. I can’t wait to share this new year with you, thanks for reading along with me here at Playing Sublimely. I so love and appreciate your companionship.
Peace be with you in 2012!
If you would like to subscribe to Playing Sublimely, you can click here to do so, or go to the bottom right hand column of this page and enter your email address.
Happy New Year Amy !!! Beautifully said and what a year you had. Makes my life seem boring. I am looking forward to a new year with HIs truth and peace too.
Hello Amy,
I so enjoy your blog. I too paint, but instead of being confined by a canvas I will paint anything that will sit still long enough for me to put paint on it. Here is some of my work….http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Velvet-Touch/211905452168605 . And as you, my devotional is Jesus Calling. Sarah has helped me through a great deal this year, and her words are so……healing. Absolutely loved the scripture reference that went with yesterday’s reading in Romans 12:1-2 in the Message ~ “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life- and place it before God as and offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what He wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to it’s level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” May God truly bless you and yours in the adventure of the coming year. Velvet
hey amy,
i posted about the same devotion. we have Jesus calling for kids which we do with our boys every morning before school and work and we love it. i have followed your blog for some time now. i love every detail of it. your design and redesign is beautiful. and i must say i’m actually getting ready to start my first project with chalk paint! so excited!! my inlaws gave us and old entertainment center that i will be painting in paris gray and duck egg blue and using in our dining room. your love for family and Jesus shows throughout your entire blog. thank you so much for sharing it with so many of us!
may you feel the His Presence and Peace even more so in 2012!
amanda
With all the theology and doctrine… Its really just as simple as a one syllable word, Peace. We find it in Him and He restores it within us. Why is it SO hard then??
So grateful for you sweet, stylish, real Amy!!
Happy New Year Bloggy Bud! Here’s hoping that 2012 is an easier year for all of us! Love your blog, your kind spirit and your way with words. You always get my gears turning!
Such a beautiful post. Such a beautiful Savior. I love that devotional, but it is still packed and I am missing it. Your writing felt like a devotional for me today…thanks!