Looking for Peace

Peace....it's the one thing everyone searches for and wants.

It's the one thing money can not buy.

 It's what most people spend a lifetime trying to find and hold on to and sadly it's the one thing most people live without.

Some have even spent hundreds and thousands of dollars looking for the answer.

Peace...it's the treasure in the treasure chest.

What is peace?
Why does everyone want it?
Why is it so hard to find?
Is it possible to have peace?
Where can I find it?

Peace

Peace is what helps you sleep at night.
Peace is a calmness, a quietness in your life
Peace is the opposite of worry, fear, a troubled heart or stress.
Peace is a softness, a state of mind and a soothing tranquility.


We all desire peace because we too often feel the pressure in this hectic, stressful, busy, loud, noisy and sometimes scary world.  Unfortunately, we too often look in all the wrong places to find peace. So, is it even possible in this stressful, less than peaceful life to find peace, let alone hold on to it?

The Bible tells us in Psalms 34:14b to "....seek peace, and pursue it." God tells us to seek for it and pursue it; He would never tell us to do something if it were not possible. It's like a treasure and God has given us the treasure map with the exact details on where and how to find it.

However, the devil also has a treasure map and a fake treasure chest.  His map is full of detours and lies. He does not want you to find the real treasure and will keep you as far from it as possible. Let's take a quick look at a few of his fake treasures.

1. Riches

2. Material Substance

3. The Perfect Body

4. Popularity and Fame

5. A Successful Career

6. Achieving Perfection

7. Drugs and Alcohol

While most of these are harmless and innocent, when they became the obsession or the destination, they become nothing more than a fake treasure. None of these items can bring peace and contentment. Oh, they may offer a temporary satisfaction but not a lifetime of peace.

Since the Bible is God's map on how to get to the treasure, lets go there and see what it says.

John 14: 27 says " Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

God does not give peace in the way that the world offers peace. The world fills our head with lies telling us to be rich, have things, be beautiful and perfect, be a successful career person and if that doesn't work, take drugs. We are surrounded by these lies on TV and  in magazines, but God sweetly reminds us, "I have real peace and it's my peace and I will give it to you."

John 16:20 "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace, In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."

If peace does not come through the  world or  the lies of the Devil then where?
Where can we find it?

We have heard that more sleep, drinking more water, exercising more and eating healthier can help us have a peaceful life.
While I am for all these things and I try to daily apply these to my life,  they are not the answer.

Like I mentioned earlier,  some people have paid hundreds even thousands of dollars to get the answers.

So, what is the answer

Philippians 4:7 "And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

Did you see the answer?
Jesus!
Jesus, is the answer
Jesus is always the answer!

Isaiah says is beautifully in Isaiah 26: 3-4 " Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee (Jesus): because he trusteth in thee (Jesus). Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord JEHOVAH is everlasting strength."

Then later in chapter 41 verse 10 God  says, "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness"

God does not leave us stranded  without hope. He want to help us live a victorious life with courage and strength. But it has to be His way.

Matthew 7:7-8 "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock , and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened."

Plain and simple, He wants you to ask and seek Him.

Peace can be found and it can be held on to but it's only through Jesus.

Hollywood has shown us time after time that riches, fame, nice things, beauty and success can not bring true peace; so why not give God's way a try!

Maybe you don't know where to start, let me help you...

1. Start with Jesus- simply ask Him for peace.
2. Open your Bible and read His Words.
3. Search the Bible for verses on Peace and memorize them
4. Turn over all your cares, worries, stress, frustrations and doubts to Him-
 1 Peter 5:7 "Casting all your cares upon Him for He careth for you."
5. Enjoy the Fruits of the Spirit- love, joy PEACE. ...Galatians 5:22-23
6. Trust Him
7. Take His sweet gift!

"Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost." Romans 15:13

I hope today, if you are drowning in stress, hurt, frustration, fear, anxiety, trouble or anger you will lay it all at the feet of Jesus and pick of His free gift of peace.

He knows your name, He knows your heart and He wants to help!

Sweet Sixteen and a trip to Florida

Its hard to believe my oldest niece just turned 16. She was the first granddaughter for my parents and the first niece for me and my sister. She stole our hearts from the start and taught us about unconditional love. My parents, sister and myself decided to do a quick road trip and help her with her Sweet 16.

I met up with my parents and sister around St. Louis and we started the long journey to Florida. We tried to take our time and enjoy the trip. One of the stops had a cool rocket so of we had to take pics...

My niece is very creative and very talented. She made most of her decorations and  knew exactly what she wanted. So, once we arrived and with the help of a few others we got to work and put together the cutest party. Her dad (my brother) is a pastor and since her guest list was pretty big they decided to have it in the church fellowship hall. She went with a "Vintage Theme" and had everyone dress up in the 20s-50s attire. The following pictures her from the party.

                                                     The photo booth and all the fun prompts

                                                                         

 The birthday girl

                                                                            My  two sweet adorable nieces

                                                         My parents (aka Paw Paw and Ganmaw)                                                                                                                                                                            My sister (aka Aunt Lala)  
                                                                                                                         
                                                       Photo booth fun with the party guest

The Hill Girls

 and the cutest costume goes to...this cute kiddo!!!!

I wished I had taken more pictures. The kids (teens..lol) all dressed up so cute and she had such an amazing turn out. The games were very fun and the food was fabulous. I think it is safe to say she had a very Sweet 16. 

The remainder of our trip involved church, shopping and  goodbyes....

 We had and amazing trip and like all trips, it ended way to soon. It was a blessing to be with my brother and his family. We live way too far apart and do not get to see each other much. So, it's times like these we hold on to and cherish. I'm very fortunate to have a close family.

The Holidays (Halloween)

Last year after Halloween, I was making a trip to Walmart and noticed all their Halloween section was 75% off. I walked down the isle and scored several costumes that I thought would be great for my lil man. When I finally made it to the register the clerk informed me that all Halloween item had just been marked down to 90% off. How incredible was that. Now, fast forward to this Halloween, I pull out the saved bag of costumes and was tickled pink at all my treasures. We had a few scheduled events, so my lil fellar got to wear a different costume to each event.

I had no idea how much he would enjoy Halloween or get into the whole costume thing but he absolutely loved it and had so much fun picking his costume each time.

Our first event was trick-or-treating down the town square. It was such a first class job and decorated so cute. All the businesses passed out candy to the kids and they even had a special visitor for all the kids ( which you will see in just a bit) My Arlee bug picked the clown costume for his first outing, and may I just say he was the cutest little clown ever.

The surprise visitor was non other than Elsa! To be honest, Arlee was a little shy and smitten but he was frustrated she didn't have the "no-man" with her..lol

Our second outing, was a Fall Festival that one of the churches we have been visiting had. It was so much fun. They had games, booths, hayrides, storytime, prizes, food, cakewalks, pumpkin decorating, face-painting and trunk or treat. The fire department even came out and passed out candy and allowed the kids to sit in the truck. My little firecracker decided on Spider Man for this important event. He truly thought he was big stuff in this costume

. 

A successful night!

Lastly, Halloween night our little one decided he needed to be Thomas the train's driver. We had originally  made preparations for this but he kept going back and forth on what he wanted to be. Luckily, a few weeks back I had found the cutest Thomas the Train tick or treat bucket and when I surprised him with it, it sealed the deal. There was no going back after that...he was thrilled to be a train engineer. 

He was ready to go and did not want to wait one more minute. We walked our street and visited one of our neighbors that had a big candy bar waiting for him. We only went to a few houses then we loaded up and went to the local high school, they were also passing out candy.  He had a great time and ended up with way too much candy!

We had a wonderful week full of activities and family fun. 

Let the Holidays begin

Blessed

Reflecting back on 2016 and looking at my prayer journal at all the answered prayers and the blesseings that God bestowed upon me and my family; I'm humbled and reminded of the verse from Psalms 68:19 "Blessed be the name of the Lord who daily loadeth us with benefits". God is so good and so faithful to each of us, yet, it is easy in our busy stressful lives to neglect to see His goodness and His favour. But this precious verse reminds all of us of His daily love and His unmeasurable blessings.  Look at how He uses the words "daily loadeth us with benefits"...wow! This is so exciting and so encouraging.

A recent blessing was such an amazing wow moment for us that I would like to share it.

We were back home visiting family for Christmas when One of our fur babies, Bella got sick. (very sick) without going into the gruesome details, I was in the bathroom giving her a bath when my husband came busting in there all excited.

"Guess what I just found?" he asked, I was busy washing a nasty dog so I didnt even look up when I responded back with a "what?"...and to be honest, I didnt feel like playing the game. He started babbling and I was half listening to him as he was saying how he was going through his suitcase going through some pockets when he found money. (Over $600)....wait what!?

 It was at this point that my ears somehow made sense of what he was saying and those babbling words made their way into my brain and processed the details. My head automatically jerked up and looked at him. He was smiling and holding a bundle of money as if to prove what he had just said.

What...this never happens to us, but before we could celebrate or plan on what to do with the money, Bella became sick again. For the next hour all the focus was on her and we soon knew we would have to take her to the vet.

It was late at night and we found an after hours vet that would take her. We soon found out she had a stomach disease and would have died if we had not taken her when we did. We also found out that the extra money we had just discovered was the amount we needed to take care of our very sick fur baby.

 God provided the money just in time of a need. We would not have had the money to take her had God not blessed us at that exact moment.

Had we found the money before, we might have spent it on unnessasary things, had we found  it later, im not sure what would have happened to our little baby. God is neither too early nor is He too late. He is always on time.

My husband and I were completely amazed at Gods timing and provision. Our Bella is doing much better and back to her silly self!


Maybe 2016 was not a good year for you and it left you hurt and bitter, may I challenge you to dig deep and look for the blessings. Perhaps, things happened out of your control and you were left dissapointed, may I ask you to let it go and start fresh.

God is good all the time, even when we don't see it and when we don't understand. We must trust Him and His Word. He promised He would take care of us and our needs. He daily loadeth us with benefits but we must choose to see it.

If you do not have a prayer journal, please get one. It's amazing to look back and see the answered prayers and the extra unexpected blessings. It helps me to remember God's love and It does this girl good to be reminded that the same God who created the universe is the same Heavenly Father that knows me, my name, my needs and my prayer request.

May 2017 be a year filled with blessings and answered prayers. But just remember, if you want prayers answered, you have to pray. Make time for Him, He sure makes time for you.

As always,
Blessings and Love

Birthday with the Grandparents

One of the huge benifits to living in KC is that we are sooo much closer to my parents. We were used to seeing them a few times a year, but I have a feeling we will be seeing g them so much more!

They were not able to come in the weekend of Arlee's party but they came in the next weekend. It was great for Arlee cause it was like his birthday just kept going...lol.

When they came in Friday night , we ate a nice meal at the house and they had all kinds of presents for Arlee (mostly Trains). We stayed up forever and talked and talked.

Saturday, we enjoyed sleeping in. Then we went to KC and took Arlee out for a birthday treat. We took him back to the Choo-choo  restaurant and then out for a ride on the street car...which was just like a choo-choo to him!!!

 Checking out the Crayola store in Crown Center....

                     And then the Candy Store....

Keeping those greedy hands out of the candy was not easy!!!!!

          Enjoying all the trains and noise at Fritz!!!

Touring Kansas City on the Street Car

Another wonderful weekend in Kansas City