“No!” I replied.  “Actually I feel like running, screaming from this car!” It took every bit of willpower I had to continue toward the airport, sending my husband off on his business trip.   I considered making a break for the plane myself.  Oh the joys of motherhood – but today I felt I had to dig deep to find them.  Like the cloud of dirt that encircles Pigpen from the Peanuts cartoon, my children created a cloud of chaos everywhere they went; and I was always in the middle of it.  Serving my family was taking its toll on me. 

“How am I to discover peace in the midst of such a storm?”   I questioned. Obviously, the answer is not to run screaming from my challenges.  I found in John 16:33 Jesus told us, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace.  In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”   I had been trying to use my own power to sustain me through the chaotic moments.  Jesus freely offers the only source of lasting peace.

In order to ensure I remain “in Christ,” I realized that I must pursue time with Christ through prayer and study of God’s Word. I thought it impossible to steal away time alone or create a sanctuary for seeking God with all the demands on my time.  Yet I resolved myself to do just that.

My quiet time began slowly.  Fifteen minutes before the kids were up or twenty minutes during naptime; whenever I could find a moment to open my Bible I seized the opportunity.  Many times I pushed on with no signs of change.  Eventually fruit did come.  My meeting time with Jesus started paying off in snippets of peace.