Peace by Piece

Right? No, definitely not. Not me.

I am a 41 year old wife, mom, teacher to severely multiply impaired (SXI) young adults, with hobbies that include: reading, nature, exercise, sourdough, and watching late night reels of goofy animals and silly adult pranks. That sums me up pretty well.

I am not a pastor. I am not a trained  or professional writer. Yet, here I am. Presenting myself because, well. God.

The story is long, and my attention span is short. So, my hope in the weeks and months ahead is to share what God is doing and what he’s teaching me, in my pursuit of Peace.

God has been leading me, the past several weeks during my summer break, into a scary new chapter. One I have no understanding of, but one I need to take a chance on.

Being honest, being vulnerable, and sharing my faith with others in a way that I feel he is pushing me to do. Through written words. 

So. Here we are.

I’ve been wanting peace.  I’ve been anxious., overwhelmed, overstimulated, restless, sad, and scared. Why? Good question, I can’t even answer that, because….I don’t know the why. Perimenopause? Mid life crisis? Identity crisis?

As I watched my boys ride their bikes ahead of me during one of our daily dog walks, out of nowhere, he quietly whispered  “Peace by piece?” Did I hear an audible voice? Absolutely not. But I heard it.  That inaudible voice wanted me to share Pieces of my story (past/present and future)and my pursuit of the Peace that can only be found in him. 

Oof.

I tried to let it go, and continued to have daily quiet time for a couple weeks. I read the Bible, wrote my thanks, wrote my prayers, and verses that stuck out to me. But this phrase kept lingering, “peace by piece”.

Then. Church happened. 

Double oof.

A sermon on Gods gospel being bigger than our comfort zone. The story of Peter following in obedience to a centurions house, leading him and a multitude of others to know Jesus. He did it in an act of obedience.

At the end of the message , I drove home with my two boys, trying to push it out of my mind, talking to them about their classes and ignoring what kept tugging at my heart (much like Jonah when God called him to go to Nineveh, and he ran the other way). 

We got home to find my fella home early from work, and as he usually does , he asks “How was church?”.

I let it all out.  That wasn’t my plan. My plan was to say “ok” (run Jonah, run! )But nope. Thats not what happened. I shared what the message was about, my prayers the past weeks, the nudging of God with Peace by piece. I had hoped to keep sitting on my hands and letting this feeling go, but I couldn’t. God wasn’t letting it go, so I guess I shouldn’t either. He smiled, nodded and said “Wow”. 

So. If you’re still here. Thanks.

As a more formal introduction:

I am a cracked pot (imperfect)41 year old woman, who loves god, believes in Jesus; his life, death, burial and resurrection, believes in the Bible, and is in pursuit of peace. Peace that I know can only be found in God.

By sharing my pieces of my story, I hope someone might feel the same, maybe even see and meet Jesus, or ask questions. Which terrifies me. While my fears of posting this are big, my faith is bigger.

So welcome to my Peace by Piece. 

Thanks for being here.♥️