By Marnie Mitchell
One day, right as I walked out of my apartment building, I saw an argument take place. A guy, maybe in his mid-20’s, was walking quite fast with his girlfriend right behind him. She was chasing him down the street with a baseball bat, screaming: “Don’t leave me! I have nothing here! I have no money, no family, just you! You are all I have.” There was such a sense of desperation in her voice.
As I looked around, I saw others watching the scene, probably also wondering what would happen next. As the guy sped up, she started running to catch up to him. I started praying for Peace to fall on the situation. When she caught up to him, I wondered: Is she going to take a swing at him? Instead, she dropped the bat and threw her arms around him and started apologizing. She clung to him with everything she had. He then held her in his arms and the argument was over. Peace fell over them.
As I walked down the streets that day, I kept praying for Peace to fall on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. I saw a man crouched on a fence sitting with such sorrow and I asked for Peace to fall over his life. Then it hit me. When we have peace, we have a break from whatever is going on in our life, whether addiction, anger, insecurities, doubt or fear.
In Luke 2:8-38 we come across a few people. We encounter the shepherds watching over their flock. An angel appears and the glory of the Lord shone around them and fear sets in. But they are told: “Do not be afraid.” Jesus has been born! “Do not be afraid.”
Then we encounter Simeon, a man who had waited to see Jesus his whole life and was promised he would do so before he died. He’d waited for years and I’m sure was filled with anticipation of His coming.
Anna, a prophetess who was widowed after seven years, had spent her days in the temple praying and worshipping. She had seen Jesus with her own eyes and then spent the rest of her days telling others about this man she saw.
They had all waited for Jesus and once they encountered Him, they were filled with Peace.
I recently attended The Journey at Linwood House, a three-day retreat for women from the Downtown Eastside. We all took three days out from our lives. Some women left lives of addiction and prostitution, financial struggles and relationship problems behind to enjoy the sacred space at Linwood House. We all did different things: sleeping, worshipping, painting, reading. However, the most amazing thing I noticed was that we all shared Peace. We’d all been given a pocket of Peace.
When we receive Peace, we also get a break. It is in this Peace that God does His work. This season, press in to that Peace and pursue it. And may you find rest.
