The Peace of God
Nancy Raatz
I didn’t know about advent as a child, but learned about it as an adult. Andy and I loved the concept and practiced it with our three daughters. We gave them chocolate calendars to open daily and sat together Sunday evenings to light the advent candle. This second week of advent we light the PEACE candle. Isaiah prophesied Jesus would be the Prince of Peace. What a beautiful name for Jesus! Why then do we so often find our lives lacking peace?
In June of 2022, our youngest daughter studied abroad along the English Channel in a small village in the Normandy region of France. She and I flew to Europe to spend some days together before she launched on her own for seven weeks. When it was time for me to leave, she deposited me in a small hotel in the nearby city of Caen so I might catch the early morning train to Paris the following day. This gave me an afternoon to explore the city.
Caen is a city of historical importance. William the Conqueror lies buried in this city. During World War Two, the Allied troops spent six weeks of intense bombing and battle to liberate the city after the D-Day invasion to secure their presence in France. There was no peace in those six weeks. When the battle ceased and liberation came, most of the city lay destroyed and over 3,000 local people had died. The French call Caen, “a city martyred for peace.”
Seventy-eight years after the battle of Caen, I wandered the city and into St Peter’s Cathedral, a church rebuilt after the war. As I stood with my head raised to view the spectacular ceiling heights, a woman approached me.
“Do you speak French?” She asked.
“No.” I responded.
She switched to English, “I pray for you for peace. And for your family. God loves you and God wants you to know peace.”
“Thank you,” I replied, “I, too, know the God of Peace.”
I marveled as we parted ways that God would use this French woman to speak peace into my family’s life at that moment! While incredibly independent and confident, our youngest felt sadness at being so far from home. Our middle daughter wondered anxiously if she would get into med school. Our eldest daughter and her husband needed answers from God for their jobs. Andy and I sought peace concerning an opportunity open to us in Europe. We wondered what God had for our future.
“God wants you to know peace,” she said to me that day. You need the same message this week: God wants you to know peace.
How can we find peace? Isaiah guides us. First, trust God. At times we have no answer, but God is faithful. He will never leave us. Isaiah states that as we trust in God our minds stay peaceful (Isa 26:3). Second, surrender control. God establishes our peace, and we do not have the ability to do any of this ourselves (Isa 26:12).
I had an uneventful trip home from France. I had amazing peace toward our future. A few weeks later, Andy and I knew the Europe opportunity was not ours and by the end of the year moved to Olympia. Natalie got the call of acceptance to med school as we made the move West. Elissa and Levi moved this past summer and are in a great place for them. And Lauren, of course, came home at the end of her seven weeks fluent in French and more confident than ever. Peace came to each of us from the hand of God.
This week may the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:7)