{"id":633,"date":"2020-12-02T00:04:19","date_gmt":"2020-12-02T00:04:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/?p=633"},"modified":"2020-11-30T00:05:21","modified_gmt":"2020-11-30T00:05:21","slug":"advent-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/advent-peace\/","title":{"rendered":"Advent – Peace"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/strong>Wednesday, December 2<\/strong><\/p>\n

Advent \u2013 Peace \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am leaving you with a gift\u2014peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don\u2019t be troubled or afraid. \u00a0John 14:26, 27<\/strong><\/p>\n

When we consider the story surrounding Jesus\u2019 birth, \u201cpeace\u201d is probably not one of the words we would use. We would most likely describe the scene as chaotic and disheartening. In Luke\u2019s account of the story, focusing on Luke 2, we read that while Mary was pregnant, she and Joseph traveled over 50 miles on a donkey to Bethlehem to complete a census. Upon arriving, the couple found there were no rooms available, so Mary had to give birth to our Savior alongside farm animals in a stable. To me, it doesn\u2019t seem as though Mary and Joseph had the most comfortable or easy experience\u2014not the ideal place to deliver a baby, dealing with a screaming baby, the smell of manure, the presence of farm animals, and the darkness of the night doesn\u2019t exactly paint a picture of peace. Rather, it seems as if the devil was trying to shift their eyes off Jesus and onto their overwhelming and chaotic circumstances. Nothing in this scene seems peaceful.<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, his tactics haven\u2019t changed! He disrupts our peace creating chaos, to try and distract us from the gift of Jesus, so we must not allow our emotions or circumstances to dictate our perspective. Mary and Joseph most likely felt frustrated and tired, making them even more susceptible to the enemy\u2019s schemes. However, their knowledge of the gift and promise they held helped them persevere. Knowledge of the good news of the Savior’s birth gave them peace during this most challenging time.<\/p>\n

Today we too are facing challenging times, it is my prayer that the peace of God visits you as it did Mary and Joseph years ago reminding you of His peace. There\u2019s no doubt this year has been rough. It seems as though we\u2019ve also been enduring one long, tiresome, unexpected, and difficult journey to Bethlehem. Trouble in every corner but, still God sends peace. As we near the end, however, it\u2019s important to remember that we don\u2019t need to wait for the gift of Jesus, because He has already come!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Wednesday, December 2 Advent \u2013 Peace \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I am leaving you with a gift\u2014peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don\u2019t be troubled or afraid. \u00a0John 14:26, 27 When we consider the story surrounding Jesus\u2019 birth, \u201cpeace\u201d is probably not one of the words […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=633"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":634,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633\/revisions\/634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}