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Ashley Willis

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Family, Parenting and Religion
The #1 Need in Most Families Today

The #1 Need in Most Families Today

Last updated on: July 6, 2015 at 5:39 pm by Ashley Willis

The #1 Need in Most Families Today 2015-07-06T17:39:52-04:00 Ashley Willis

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Do you ever feel like you are running on fumes…like the stale fumes from your office break room or the pungent smell of baby spit-up mixed with old dirty diapers in the trash? Well, if you said “yes”, then I promise you, Reader, you are not alone.

Life – as beautiful and amazing as it is – can be exhausting. In an effort to stay ahead, or simply keep up, we push and push and push ourselves to achieve. And, then sometimes, the only thing we have to show for it is our worn-out, shell-like self crying out for stillness.

Peace.

We must have peace in our lives, or we won’t experience the full life that God so desires us to possess.

We are designed to have peace in our lives. Peace comes from God, and it is a blessing. Psalm 29:11 says,

The Lord gives strength to his people;
the Lord blesses his people with peace.

I love how the psalmist lists “strength” and “peace” in the same sentence, and I believe that is on purpose. It is hard to be strong without also having peace. As husband and wife, we must have peace in our marriage to have a strong marriage. We may have tense moments of disagreements or crazy schedules in different seasons of our marriage and family, but throughout it all, we must find peace. This kind of peace comes in the form of knowing we will get through the hard times and come out the other side together. It is an assurance that God is with us and for us.

But, it is not easy to find peace in the craziness of family life…especially in the child-rearing and/or career-building years.

We must pursue peace.

In Psalm 34:14, the psalmist writes,

Turn from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.

So, peace isn’t just going to find us, we have to seek and pursue it EVERY DAY. But, how do we do this…especially with everything else we are desperately trying to do?

As I write this, I am staring at the mounds…seriously mounds…of laundry on my washer and dryer that has yet to be put away after weeks of travel. I need to fill out school forms, go to the grocery, call my sweet friends that I haven’t talked to in quite awhile, write thank-you notes, and I would LOVE to plan a weekend away with my hot hubby sans kids, but things have been so CA-RAY-ZEE lately that I come to the end of the day just wanting – no CRAVING – a moment of solitude. Stillness. Peace.

I used to feel a bit guilty about this. I mean, why can’t I just pour out into everybody and everything else and be okay? Really…who has times for peace these days?

But the more I’ve thought and prayed about this, I have realized that God doesn’t want me to live a life without peace and stillness. He desires for all of us to have peace FROM HIM and IN HIM.

God is the author and provider of peace, and he actually wants us to have it…not just sometimes, but EVERY SINGLE DAY of our lives. Psalm 46:10a says,

Be still and know that I am God.

When you feel like everything is falling apart and you don’t know what to do,

be still and know…

When you are burned out and you feel like you have nothing good left to give your family at the end of a hectic day,

be still and know…

When you have worked so hard to create the life around you and suddenly, things just don’t seem to be going in your favor,

be still and know…

When we can take just a moment in our day to be quiet and pray for God to help us have His peace in our lives, He promises to give it to us. It may not come the way we expect it to, but He will provide it. We must be still and know that He is God, and God NEVER fails us.

One of my favorite verses is Philippians 4:7. The NIV says it this way,

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

I love how the author, Paul, points out that God’s peace is so great and mysterious that is is beyond human comprehension, and not only that, but it protects our hearts AND our minds.

That is precisely why we need it so much. Life is full of twists and turns, and it seems like the crazier my schedule gets, the less peace I feel within myself and at home. I don’t want it to be that way.

If we are too busy to pursue peace through a quiet moment of stillness and prayer, then we are too busy period.

I am talking to myself here, and I am hearing it loud and clear.

Are you like me? Are you craving more peace in your life? Then, let’s both commit to making time for a quiet moment to pursue God’s peace in our lives.

It may start out as five minutes at the beginning or end of our day…and this is not Bible study time (thought very important and beneficial), this is a special moment to be still and know that He is God – to experience His perfect peace.

Whatever amount of time we spend in pursuit of peace will be time well spent. And we, along with our families, will reap the massive benefits of the blessing of peace.

For more information on how to strengthen your marriage and family, please check out our latest book, “The Marriage Minute”, by clicking here.

Did you find this post helpful and encouraging? If so, please feel free to share it! Thanks so much for taking the time to read and respond to this blog. Be blessed!

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