Thinking out Loud Thursdays! Join us!

  

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power...

 Thanks for joining us for Coffee Hour. Have you ever experienced someone thinking out loud? It can be a beautiful, thought-provoking, question-stirring kind of thing. Facebook is one of the best places to catch someone thinking out loud, and many times I’ve read some things I thought would make great conversation for our Coffee Hours. More recently, I read someone’s thoughts about peace that I just couldn’t pass up. My hope is that it will have you thinking out loud as well and quench your thirst for something we all long for. Grab your coffee and come on in for some great thoughts on the subject of peace, initiated by a fellow trench-class student now friend, Jenn Woosley.
Peace is an interesting subject. Is it something to be grasped? Is it a destination? Is it something to pursue? Is it a feeling or a state of mind? What is it and how do we get it? I think Jenn found some answers from her pastor as he spoke from the pulpit on this very subject.    
“I heard the most amazing sermon. It was on the subject of peace, something that I feel this world demonstrates a lack of, and something that most of us can attest to wanting, if not craving. Peace is an internal thing, something I have searched for, almost wrestled with, for a very long time.
"Much of what the pastor said was profound, but this one statement stuck out the most: ‘Peace comes from facing reality, not fleeing reality’!"
Can you see why I wanted to share this thinking out loud? As I read this, and re-read it, I couldn’t help but agree with this statement wholeheartedly and I could see why it grabbed Jenn’s attention and knocked on the door of her soul. Unfortunately, many think the opposite is true; that they will find peace by running from reality. I know this because I used to be one of those many!
Oops, let’s continue with Jenn’s thoughts:
“He pointed out how often we use things to avoid reality, things such as busyness, work, food, drugs, alcohol, sex, and a whole host of other addictions, all in the pursuit of peace. But as the pastor explained, these poor substitutes are facades, aka, the peace that the world offers. But Jesus offers a whole other form of peace...by first helping us face our reality; and then He walks through it with us. He does not always change reality, but He goes through it with us.
“I absolutely love that I am finally learning this in my own life. I wish I could not only share this with everyone, but be assured that they’d get it; however, one thing’s for sure: we each have our own journey, paved with trials, triumphs, discoveries and unfortunately denials. But I’ll share it here and think out loud so you can think on it, if you wish.”
So what is peace to you? We’d love to hear some of your thinking out loud! "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give as the world gives. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let it be afraid." John 14:27   See, Jesus told His disciples, and all of us, long ago, whatever is trying to steal your peace, He has already overcome it all!
In His perfect peace,