“Patti, be at peace.”
We had been on the phone for an hour. A person I’ve trusted for a long time, who knows me, knows my world, he’s been-there-done-that. Seen it all. And yet … still follows Jesus. Still loves the church.1
And every now and then I reach out, when the various things get too much. I pour out some angst, some frustration, some Really Big Questions. He listens. Empathizes. Chuckles. Tells me some of his own stories.
This time, hearing my vows to Dig Deeper and Pray Harder, he interrupted me.
“Patti. Be at peace. God will show you when you need to know. Until then, it doesn’t matter. All the voices, all the opinions, even mine - they don’t matter. You don’t even need to pray about it. God will show you. And when God shows you, you will follow, because that’s what you do. Just be at peace.”
I fell into silence.
“Ok,” I said. “Thank you.” I meant it.
“Say hi to that good man of yours,” he said.
“I will,” I said. “Talk to you later.”
“Bless you,” he said. And hung up.
Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you. Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”2
Lord, help me to live in Your peace.
To welcome Your Spirit.
And to simply follow You, one day at a time.
I mean, can we just pause and acknowledge the beauty of that kind of faithfulness? Seen it all, yet still here. And by the way, contrary to social media algorithms, there are a whole lot of people like that.