Does having enough produce Peace?

Should peace be related to have enough _______ (fill in the blank with whatever, . . . _)? Would enough financial income bring peace - the lasting kind, anyway? Would enough clothes give one a permanent sense of peace? Will true peace in the heart ever come from what we humans consider 'enough' - of anything?

This past two weeks or so we have experienced shortage in the financial arena. I was grumbling that if 'so and so' had paid what they 'owed' us we would not have gotten into this 'mess'. But the Lord simply said that we were not to rely on that source of income for our financial 'peace'. [To be honest I'm sure we could come up with some of our choices that didn't help the situation either.] Then a close friend of mine asked me why I hadn't told her of our problem so she could have helped us out. I told her I didn't think she had much more than we had - which she didn't disagree with. We are back in the black - barely - (with no thanks to the financial policies of the place where we have our money 'stored'). But it did make me do some thinking along the lines I have been sharing.

As I looked back over the experience I was impressed again with the need to be able to find peace from a source other than having 'enough'. The temptation was definitely to lose our peace when confronted with that type of problem.

So, what is God's kind of peace based upon? There is an author who has written on peace and I have greatly appreciated the comments. Here are a few helpful gems in my learning about real peace.

" Christ longed for careworn, weary human beings to come to Him, that He might GIVE them the light and life and JOY and PEACE that is to be found nowhere else."

"As by faith we look to Jesus His JOY and PEACE are reflected from the countenances."

"There is PEACE in believing, and JOY in the Holy Ghost. Believing brings PEACE, and trusting in God brings JOY."

Real peace and genuine joy are never 'far apart'. The 'joy of the Lord is your strengh' seems very near 'great peace have they which love Thy(God's) law and nothing shall offend them.' Even science has come to that conclusion. There was almost a whole issue of TIME magazine a couple of years or so ago that outlined how the human mind increases its capacity to cope with stress - good or bad - in direct relation to how much joy/peace has been experienced in that mind.

The same author I mentioned above also wrote.
"When trial comes to prove us, when we cannot see an increase of prosperity and comfort before us, but a probably lessening of these things, when there is a pressure necessitating sacrifice on the part of all, how shall we receive Satan's insinuations that we are going to have a hard time, that everything is going to pieces, that there is sore trouble ahead of us?
WE OUGHT TO GATHER UP THE FRAGMENTS OF HEAVEN'S BLESSINGS AND TOKENS OF GOOD,
saying, Lord, I believe in You, in Your servants and in Your work. I WILL TRUST IN YOU."
And remember that 'trusting in God brings peace'

I am coming to believe that God is more eager for me to have His kind of peace than I am even concerned about it. But as I seek to share God's kind of Peace and JOY with others I find I am being 'helped' to experience it also. How? Read on. "We are to be laborers together with the heavenly angels in presenting Jesus to the world. With almost impatient eagerness the angels wait for our co-operation; for man must be the channel to communicate with man. And when we give ourselves to Christ in wholehearted devotion, angels rejoice that they may speak through our voices to reveal God's love.

It is encouraging to know that even when I make mistakes, God doesn't throw me out. Just last night my son gave me his 'take' on some things I had told him and I realized that what he was hearing was not what I was thinking or had intended at all. I continue to ask God to not only help me say the right words, acts the right acts and have the right attitude but that the other person will 'receive' what I communicate in the 'right way' - or rather maybe I should say God's way.

I believe that is happening also. Son just asked if we could all go out to a local park tomorrow.

There are so many ways I see God working in an around me and I praise Him.

May God's peace be revealed in your heart and life today as well

Bringer of Peace