The Path to Peace

Experiencing God's Comfort When You're Overwhelmed

Ann Swindell

• Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN:
  9780764238895
• eBook ISBN:
  9781493437351
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

"The Path to Peace will be a balm to your soul, a beacon of hope, and a declaration of God's loving-kindness that never fails for his people." --GRETCHEN SAFFLES, bestselling author of The Well-Watered Woman

Overwhelmed. Stressed out. Burnt out. Fried.

However we name it, all of us know what it feels like to deal with circumstances and worries that drag us down and wear us out. Many of us experience persistent anxiety. Peace can be hard to find.

But it is in the middle of our stress and fear that God extends his unshakable peace to us.

In this beautiful book that is part devotional and part Bible study, Ann Swindell shares how the biblical stories of eight women and men helped her realize that what she needed most in her own journey wasn't a stable job or healthy kids or good friends--it was God's peace. Through forty faith-stirring readings, Ann will help you:

· Experience God's peace in your daily life
· Respond to challenges with faith rather than fear
· Find hope in God's goodness and faithfulness toward you

The good news is that even if our situations don't change, we can still experience Christ's peace in our daily lives. The Path to Peace is for everyone who longs to experience a soul at rest.

Section 1 • Sarah: Peace in a New Calling

DAY 1
Peace through Trusting God’s Path

The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.”

Genesis 12:1 NIV

• Read Genesis 12:1–5 •

Sarai kept her eyes closed. If she opened them, she was afraid that this might not be a dream from which she could awaken and escape.

“Sarai? Did you not hear me?” Abram’s voice was filled with confusion.

Sarai allowed herself one more moment before opening her eyes. Abram had moved closer—too close—and his beard was nearly scratching her chin.

“Ah! Abram!” She swatted him.

His eyes crinkled at the corners and he softened. “I was worried you had fallen asleep.”

“Sleep? After what you just told me? I may never be able to sleep again!” Abram stepped back and Sarai rose from the pallet on the floor, her body protesting the quick movement. She stood as tall as she could and balled her fists on her hips, narrowing her gaze. “Tell me, Abram. Who is ‘the Lord’? Who is this voice you have heard, calling us to leave all we have here in Harran? And where will we go?” She raised her eyebrows. “Did he tell you a place to go? Or even an arrow to point the way?”

Abram’s chest rose and fell. He said nothing.

Sarai answered his silence with her own.

After several beats, Abram spoke. “I will tell you what I have already said—all that I heard from Yahweh. We are to leave our land, our people, and this house of my father’s. We are to go where he sends us, and he will bless me and make of me a great nation.” He hesitated, then coughed. “And the Lord said that all people on earth will be blessed . . . through me.”

Now it was Sarai’s turn to take a deep breath. Abram had never been a prideful man, but neither was he particularly humble. He loved his flocks and his herds, his home and his household. But to think that the entire world would be blessed because of him? She huffed. He had to be making at least some of this up . . . didn’t he?

She opened her mouth to speak, but Abram stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. “Sarai. My love.” His eyes were pleading. “I know how this must sound to you. I know you must think me crazy. I know that this is not anything that we had planned. But I can tell you this: I have heard from God.” There was steadfastness in his eyes, and a determination she had not seen before. “I will not—I dare not—disobey.” He raised his chin. “I trust him.”

Sarai matched his gaze and knew, then, that her husband had made his decision. She also knew, somehow, that he was telling the truth. The Lord, whoever he was, was God. Abram was going. She could now agree and help him, or fight him all the way. But how she responded would not change his actions. She could see that.

She blinked back her tears. “All right, my husband.” She turned to fold the linens. “When do we leave?”

My husband could no longer ignore God’s call to full-time ministry. We had talked constantly about the mounting urgency he felt to work in the church, but I was thoroughly enjoying the stability of our lives while he worked at a bank. A steady paycheck, health insurance, and lots of holidays off meant that we had a straightforward schedule, a working budget, and good medical care. Since we had married young, those were luxuries I didn’t take for granted—and they were luxuries I didn’t want to lose.

But when our church came to Michael and offered him a position on staff, he felt that this was what God had been calling him to. The catch? No income for the first three to six months, no health insurance, and a ministry schedule of nights and weekends. The position would require us to raise support until the church grew enough to pay us—and even then, nothing was guaranteed.

This was everything I didn’t want.

I loved our tidy life. I loved the clarity of knowing what our weeks and bank account looked like. I loved the ability to travel on the weekends, even if that meant missing church once in a while. And I knew that taking this ministry position would change all of that.

But Michael believed this opportunity was God’s path for us, and I could see that his heart was already set on moving into the pastoral role. The timing, the overwhelming support from our family and friends and church leadership—all of it pointed to this being God’s plan for us.

It just wasn’t what I had planned.

Even if Sarai believed that Abram was telling the truth, I imagine that she still struggled with what that calling required of her. It wasn’t what she had planned for her life. She probably still had dreams of having children, of raising a family, and of seeing her own grandchildren settled in the family home—not of traipsing across the desert to an unknown destination.

Often, other people make decisions that radically impact our lives. For example, while none of us chose the way we were parented, the effects of that parenting—for good or ill—stay with us even as adults. A boss that hires us (or fires us) can impact our financial stability overnight. A spouse who remains faithful—or doesn’t—holds great power over the dynamics of trust in our marriage. And a child who stays the course or strays from it can alter family relationships forever.

While most of us want to maintain control over our own lives, we have all deeply felt the reality that we cannot control everything—or even most things—in our world. We often feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of details we cannot alter.

Sarai lived this reality as well. After one encounter with God, her husband turned their entire lives around. Everything she had known, every way that she had built her life—all of it was gone in an instant because of what Abram heard from God. As a wife in the ancient world, that meant that the decision had been made for her: Abram’s calling became her own. So Sarai also had a choice to make: Would she follow the Lord willingly into a calling that she hadn’t chosen, or would she fight it all the way?

A choice had been made. Now it was up to her to decide how to respond.

My husband’s call to full-time ministry meant a different life for me too. It meant learning to be a pastor’s wife, living on a much smaller income, and having less flexibility with our schedule, among countless other things. They felt like huge changes at the time, and I wrestled with them.

But as we continued to pray and talk with others, it became obvious that full-time ministry was God’s path for us. And when we accepted the job and joined the church staff, what I experienced was great peace. My soul was content, knowing that we were obeying God’s will.

This is what we see in Scripture: Obedience to God leads to peace with God.

Psalm 119 points out this intermingling of obedience to God and the experience of his peace:

Great peace have those who love your law,

and nothing can make them stumble.

I wait for your salvation, LORD,

and I follow your commands.

I obey your statutes,

for I love them greatly.

I obey your precepts and your statutes,

for all my ways are known to you.

vv. 165–168 NIV

The psalmist here is highlighting that loving God’s law and obeying it brings great peace. For us, while there was no verse in the Bible that told us we should go into full-time ministry, the church job aligned with prayer, circumstances, and the collective voice of God’s people around us. This was our path.

Obedience to God leads to peace with God.

And so I made the choice to agree with God’s calling rather than fight against it. I chose to trust that as I obeyed him, I would experience the blessing of his peace—of having a soul at rest in God.

That has proven true a thousand times over. There would be years when I could not yet see where life in ministry would cause immense joy and also unfathomable pain. But through it all, I have known the peace of God—that this is where we are supposed to be, even in the hard times.

Many of us will find ourselves in circumstances that we cannot change, and in new callings we didn’t choose. Sarai certainly did. She didn’t have any power to force Abram to ignore God. She couldn’t stay put while her husband packed up the house and followed God into the desert.

But each of us can choose our response to the life that we have been given, right now. By loving God’s Word and obeying him, we can experience his peace, regardless of the circumstance in front of us. Will it always be easy? Hardly. But following God leads to experiencing the peace of God that gives our souls rest, no matter what we face.

• REFLECT: How can you choose to obey God in the midst of the circumstances you find yourself in today? Ask God to help you obey his Word and experience his peace as you do so.

DAY 2
Peace as We Trust God’s Protection

“Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go.”

Genesis 12:19

• Read Genesis 12:10–20 •

They had been traveling more days than Sarai could count. Sand nestled in every crevice of clothing she had with her, no matter how many times she shook them out.

But Yahweh had met with Abram again and had promised the land of Canaan to him and to his children. Children! Sarai had thrilled at the words as Abram relayed them to her. How desperately she had hoped for children in her younger years. But still, her womb remained empty.

And now her stomach was empty too. There was a famine, and both the herds and the people in their caravan were getting perilously low on food stores. She reached into the bag of grain and did the mental calculations: They could make it another two weeks if they st...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Endorsements
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction
• How to Read this Book
• Section 1 • Sarah: Peace in a New Calling
• Section 2 • Moses: Peace in an Unwanted Role
• Section 3 • Ruth: Peace in Financial Distress
• Section 4 • Hannah: Peace in Health Trials
• Section 5 • Mary: Peace in an Unknown Situation
• Section 6 • The Disciples: Peace in Difficult Relationships
• Section 7 • Mary Magdalene: Peace in Letting Go
• Section 8 • Paul: Peace in a New Identity
• Final Thoughts Peace in Unfulfilled Longings
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author
• Back Cover