God meets you in unexpected places....

to teach and affirm things in our hearts. Last night I rushed from doing some work at church to Twitchell Auditorium for Sally's chorus concert. I settled into my seat next to my sister Pam and waited to enjoy a great night of Christmas music. The chorus entered and there was Sally to my left on the front row. My heart filled with pride and my eyes with tears. She is growing into a beautful young woman of God. As the program was about to begin, someone slipped into the row in front of me about 2 seats down. I really didn't pay any attention to her or even look at her. In fact, I closed my eyes to "just listen". But every time I looked at Sally I could see her profile. The chorus began singing a beautiful medley of Christmas carols and I noticed there were tears running down her face. Then she turned to the person next to her and I realized it was Hannah's mom. At that moment I could only imagine the myriad of reasons for her tears. It was then that God spoke this phrase to me from the beginning of the There is Peace in the World Tonight, that Susan Dyar had quoted to me just days earlier.

"Peace is not the absence of conflict. Peace is the presence of God."

From that moment on, my eyes were pouring tears. God sent me a gentle reminder of how the people around us need His peace and how much I need His peace to rest in. I realized it was God's peace that allowed this godly woman to sit and listen to the very chorus Hannah sang in knowing this would be the first Christmas without her child.

Dear ones, someone we know needs to meet the Peace Giver and some Christian we know needs to be reminded that His peace is the kind that passes all understanding. Be obedient to the Spirit's leading and invite them to join us Sunday night.