Where Does Your Peace Come From?

If you missed the Women's Summer Brunch you missed great music from local talent such as Sophia Smith, Lori Gill and Billie Barlow. The main speaker was Lydia Greear who was captivating in her message. I know that each of us catch different pieces of the sparks when we listen to speakers, but I felt lead to share what I heard from Lydia.
First here's some little bits about Lydia. Lydia is originally from Ashland, Kentucky and has been in Florida since 2007. She is married to Asa Greear who is the Director of Missions for the St Johns River Baptist Association.  Lydia and Asa have 3 adult children and 4 grandchildren. She works for AT&T, is a certified fitness instructor/personal trainer since 1994. Lydia has held workshops in North Africa, Middle East and Europe. Her and Asa have spent 14 years serving the International Mission Boards.   The first thing that caught my attention was when Lydia made the statement "there is peace in obedience." My first thought was "wow, she is right." I immediately thought about how she and Asa have been missionaries in other countries and she would know that there is peace in obedience first hand because she and Asa followed Jesus' direction to go; just as she stated.

In our journey "we don't know whose heart we are gonna touch or who we're gonna influence with a touch."This is especially true when we are doing what God wants you to do you. She also made the comment, "you will get attacked in many ways from many different directions." The one thing you must do to keep your peace is look up. Look up to the One who called you, Father God, who calls you to do His work. If you have peace in your heart, you know it is from Him.
Lydia shared that when you "put joy with peace you get happiness and without the joy you are without peace." Joy comes from the Lord, peace is from the Prince of Peace. The connection is one in the same. Keep your eyes on Jesus and you can't go wrong. Think of Peter as he stepped out of the boat, it wasn't until he took his eyes off of Jesus, stepping into his own ability that he sunk in the water. The same is for you and me. We must keep our eyes on Jesus in all circumstances.
It is easy for us women to hold onto the things that hurt instead of pressing into the fruit of the Spirit. When we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, we receive these fruits as gifts; love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness,, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. You are called to be a woman of faith.
I don't know exactly how she said this bu what I do know is that Jesus wants to know that we trust Him, want Him, desire Him, and need Him in our lives.
When we accept Jesus in our lives we are permeated by the Holy Spirit. She shared from Galatians, people make us do things we don't want to do and we know is wrong or we agree to do what is wrong. We take on challenges but don't prepare for the battle.
When we commit radiant acts of kindness it brings us peace. Through prayer, scripture, and acts of kindness we find peace. When we don't hang onto grudges and we aren't jealous of others; we find peace. Accept the things you cannot change just as they are; what you cannot change. When you have inner peace it will bring out outer peace. It will be evident in your walk, share your enthusiasm with others, impact the next 100 people with the fruit of the Spirit.
Lydia then ended with a question and a challenge.  "How can you take the world as it is today and share your peace?

It was wonderful! I walked away refreshed and excited to share the love and peace of God with others.
Now you may be reading this and attended the conference; I hope you enjoyed Lydia as well. I want to say it again that we all hear things differently and sitting in the back of the fellowship hall is definitely true.

Thank you Lydia Greear you speak in front of your peers just as good, if not better, than Asa. We love you!

~ Marjorie