From Summer Beverage:
I’m thankful to the Lord for giving me a testimony of His peace in my life over the past few months, and really over the past year.
Having an eternal peace is something that never really meant something to me more than the occasional good message that was preached on it. It wasn’t until I found myself in utter chaos that I realized it was only the Lord's peace that could get me out of this state. This spring I heard a couple of different messages preached by Bro. Joseph Gellenbeck that really showed me the “rest and peace” the Lord wanted to show me.
I really don’t know if I can describe it in the way that I want to, but its almost as if a switch was flipped. Like the Lord said, “Ok you’ve got to start having more faith that I can give you peace.”
I began to pray more earnestly. Asking for guidance on not only the big things, but the little things. This entire time not even realizing that this was all to guide me into this summer.
As a certain situation occurred, my natural response was to just “figure it out." Confusion swept over me like I’ve never felt before. I got frustrated that this was happening and that I didn’t know the answer right away. This confusion started taking over my thoughts in most aspects in my life. That's when I just stopped and realized that I couldn’t do it anymore.
Then I started asking the Lord to just take the situation into His hands. And to please give me the answers. God had other plans. I really feel that God gave me just enough answers for me to realize “He’s got this”.
At this point, I really felt that the Lord was just going to give me the answers, because I asked Him to. That's not what happened. I began to get discouraged that I wasn’t doing anything and that I should be doing something. This train of thought led me to put God in boxes. Because I was so desperate to have an answer, I would say “But the Lord told me…”.
I wish I could say a certain day when I felt this “powerful wind” give me an answer. Or that I had this strong feeling of peace come over me all at once. But no, God really does work in mysterious ways.
After praying over and over again for peace and deliverance from this, I slowly started feeling the eternal peace that I wanted so badly. Again, I don’t know if I can explain this in the way that I want, but looking back I wish I could only share the peace that God has given me. It was only after I was forced to humble myself and surrender to the Lord that I felt His peace. And the funny part is, Once I surrendered to the Lord, needing to know the answers suddenly became less important to me.
I’ll be honest, I feel more than a little hypocritical saying this, Because I’m definitely the same person that gets worried over decisions (big or small). But I now can say that through prayer, a surrendering of myself, and a realization of just how much is out of my control, God showed me His love more than ever before.
Just recently I’ve been finding scriptures that have really given me an assurance. One being Isaiah 42:16 -- “And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them and not forsake them."
I’m just so thankful to the Lord for showing me if I’ll just surrender my self, and have faith and trust in Him, He will give me a peace that earthly problems cannot consume. Hebrews 11:1 says “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Having this peace doesn’t mean that He’ll give me the answers right away, but that it is in Gods hands. So there’s no reason to worry about it. ;)
I hope this testimony can show someone that it really is worth it to lay yourself down and receive the eternal peace that God wants to give!
- Summer Beverage
