Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you. 2 Thessalonians 3:16.

My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19 NKJV.

Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. John 14:27.

Each of the above Scripture verses were in my devotional, Jesus Today by Sarah Young. Each one spoke to my heart reassuring me as I prayed for closeness with Creator God – Father…Son…Spirit. And also in You Are the Beloved by Henri Nouwen under the title – Let God Love You the Way God Wants, Nouwen writes, “I know that true joy comes from letting God love me the way God wants, whether it is through illness or health, failure or success, poverty or wealth, rejection or praise. It is hard for me to say, ‘I shall gratefully accept everything, Lord, that pleases you. Let Your will be done.’ But I know that when I truly believe my Father is pure love, it will become increasingly possible to say those words from the heart.” I have been on a journey to seek His will and the growing understanding that what God wants for me is so much better than any desire I could envision myself. I love what Nouwen shared from Charles de Foucauld – “Father, I abandon myself into Your hands, do with me what You will. Whatever You may do, I thank You; I am ready for all, I accept all. Let only Your will be done in me, and in all Your creatures. I wish no more than this, O Lord. Into Your hands I commend my soul; I offer it to You with all the love of my heart, for I love You, Lord, and so need to give myself, to surrender myself into Your hands without reserve, and with boundless confidence, for You are my Father.”

We come to know God with His help. And in our chapter, Proverbs 19, Solomon continues his instruction in wisdom…Better the poor whose walk is blameless than a fool whose lips are perverse…Desire without knowledge is not good – how much more will hasty feet miss the way…A person’s own folly leads to their ruin, yet their heart rages against the Lord…The one who gets wisdom loves life; the one who cherishes understanding will soon prosper…A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense…Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will reward them for what they have done…The fear of the Lord leads to life; then one rests content, untouched by trouble…v. 1, 2, 3, 8, 11, 17, 23.

It isn’t that those who trust in the Lord never experience trouble – our own lives are testimony to that. And we can differentiate between trouble we ourselves bring on and trouble brought by others. Is is that God is there to help us through all of our troubles. As we begin to trust God, we experience His presence with us where He has always been. Yesterday in our Friday Retreat we were reminded of the beautiful poem Footprints In the Sand: One night I dreamed a dream. As I was walking along the beach with my Lord, across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life. For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand, one belonging to me and one to my Lord. After the last scene of my life flashed before me, I looked back at the footprints in the sand. I noticed that at many times along the path of my life, especially at the very lowest and saddest times, there was only one set of footprints. This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it. “Lord, You said once I decided to follow You, You’d walk with me all the way. But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life, there was only one set of footprints. I don’t understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me.” He whispered, “My precious child, I love you and will never leave you. Never, ever, during your trials and testings. When you saw only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.”