November 29 – Don’t Let Your Heart Be Troubled

"Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. "You heard that I said to you, 'I go away, and I will come to you.' If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe. I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me; but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. Get up, let us go from here.”  John 14:27-31

I was worried…and afraid. I was in labor and the doctor had just told me that I was going to have a baby girl. That was what he had guessed just a week earlier—that was in the days before ultrasounds. When he examined me during my labor, he knew I was having a girl because she was breach. Now a nurse was prepping me for a possible cesarean—a C-section—a knife slicing into my fat belly. My husband was in the waiting room but I was half a world away from my mother. Who was going to take care of the baby and me if I had to have a C-section? Certainly not my husband—he was too busy with his job. I pleaded with God to let this baby be born naturally—Oh, don’t let them slice me open. Then God gave me His peace—don’t let your heart be troubled or afraid. No Fear! It was 1975 and my husband was stationed in Okinawa. We were there just a month before our daughter was born during a typhoon—naturally without a C-section. I was able to take care of our first precious little baby—and all was well—at peace. 

God is good—all the time! That time in Okinawa I felt real fear. There were other times when we lived there that I felt real fear—like when we almost drove off of a cliff because the road just ended without any warning signs. We had to push the car back onto the road. No fear. Prayer is powerful. God is always with us—but that time I thought we might be leaving and going to the Father. He had other things for us to do—and still does. We rejoice because we know that Jesus is with the Father—and hears our prayers. We look forward to the day that He will come back to get us and we will have a banquet with Him in Heaven. In the mean time we feast on His words and know we need to tell others about Jesus. How about you? Are you sharing with others how Jesus has touched your life in ways that give you peace? Don’t let your heart be troubled—but do share your life with others. Gather them into a spiritual banquet with you. 

Dear Jesus—give us your peace. Help us help others that they can experience life without fear. No Fear! Just precious peace flowing into our hearts and out to others.

© 2012 by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved.

All scripture quoted from the New American Standard Bible (NASB).