A Heart of Rest and Peace

Peace - Week 2 - Wednesday

"David said to Solomon: "My son, I had it in my heart to build a house for the Name of the LORD my God. But this word of the LORD came to me: 'You have shed much blood and have fought many wars. You are not to build a house for my Name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in my sight. But you will have a son who will be a man of peace and rest, and I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side. His name will be Solomon, and I will grant Israel peace and quiet during his reign. He is the one who will build a house for my Name. He will be my son, and I will be his father. And I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.' "Now, my son, the LORD be with you, and may you have success and build the house of the LORD your God, as he said you would. May the LORD give you discretion and understanding when he puts you in command over Israel, so that you may keep the law of the LORD your God. Then you will have success if you are careful to observe the decrees and laws that the LORD gave Moses for Israel. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged… He said to them, "Is not the LORD your God with you? And has he not granted you rest on every side? … Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the LORD your God. Begin to build the sanctuary of the LORD God…

I Chronicles 22:5-19

In this passage of Scripture, David tells of his desire to build a beautiful and magnificent sanctuary for God. He has all the supplies needed to do it. He has craftsmen from throughout the known world at that time. It says he has more trees than he can count. He has a plan. He is ready to build. So why did his son build the Temple instead of him? He was missing one key ingredient. God told him to wait. God told him that his life had been about turmoil and war and destruction. God told him that He needed a man of peace and of rest to focus on this job of building the Temple. And while David was a man after God’s own heart, the disruption around him kept him from building this sanctuary before God… this Temple that would be worthy of housing the Ark of the Covenant which represented God’s presence housed within it. Several times in this passage, God’s Word reiterates that Solomon would build it because he was a man of peace and rest and that God would grant the nation rest during this critical time.

The Scripture clearly tells us that we as Christians are the Temple of God. We are to prepare our hearts and lives with the same type of attention as one would in building a Temple to God. But this requires periods of rest and peace. It requires seasons when we shut out the world and quiet the busyness around us and even our own hearts to focus on building our lives on Him. For us, nothing may seem more difficult. Everything we are doing feels very important. Everything David was doing was very important, too (Well, except for that whole Bathsheba thing) but it meant he lacked the focus to do this important task of building. In this season of celebration of the birth of Christ, set aside time to have rest and peace….to focus solely on building your personal relationship with God and that of your family’s. Make time to worship Him privately and corporately. Enjoy periods of resting in Him and building your relationship with Him. Enjoy times with your family away from the technology you think you can’t live without…and rest.

In the book The Rest of God by Mark Buchanan, the author says this about taking time for true rest and quiet:

"Indeed, this is the essence of a Sabbath heart; paying attention. It is being fully present, wholly awake, in each moment. It is the trained ability to inhabit our own existence without remainder, so that even the simplest things... the in and out of our own breathing, the coolness of tile on our bare feet, the way the wind sculpts clouds into crocodiles and polar bears...gain the force of discovery and revelation. True attentiveness burns away the layers of indifference and ennui and distraction...all those attitudes that blend out days into a monochrome of sameness and reveals what is hidden beneath , the staggering surprise in infinite variety of every last little thing. "

Take time this year to notice and thank God for the delights He sends to our senses. Notice the way the lights twinkle on the tree, how different arrangements of the same Christmas carol touch us in a different way, the smell of cinnamon and spices, the hugs and kisses, and so much more. Live in the awareness that this is the everyday beauty God has given you to enjoy…..don’t miss one bit of it!

Discussion Questions

Take turns naming at least one way you enjoy this season for each of your senses. I love smelling this….I love tasting this….I love hearing this…I love seeing this…I love feeling this.

Family activity

Choose one night to shut out the noise. Turn off televisions and computers and phones. Shut off the video games. Listen to Christmas music while you do something together as a family. Make popcorn and cranberry garland to hang on your outside trees. Make Christmas gifts together. Play a game. Enjoy just growing together as a family. To finish off the night, have a devotional time together. Pray together. Grow in Christ together. I am thinking this may just turn out to be something you want to do again and again.

Peace in the Storm

Peace in the Storm

Peace - Week Two - Tuesday

“And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was not full. And He was in the hinder part of the ship asleep on a pillow and they awoke Him and say unto Him, ‘Master, carest thou not that we perish?’ And He arose, and rebuked the wind and said unto the sea, ‘Peace, be still”. And the wind ceased and there was great calm. And He said to them, ‘Why are you so fearful? Why is it that you have no faith?’ And they feared exceedingly and said one to another, ‘What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?’” Mark 4:36-41

It was a blustery winter in Kentucky and I had been driving for maybe two years. I was still a teenager. Mom, who was a teacher, had ridden to work with some others so I could use the car that day. I was to meet her in the Kmart parking lot. Snow had threatened all day, enough that the bread and milk had disappeared from stores and along the road were men selling firewood out of the back of their battered pickup trucks. When I left to go get my mother light speckles of snow floated down around me like I was some figurine inside a snow globe. Nothing was sticking on the roads. I gathered my scarf and coat more snugly around me and headed out to get Mom. The drive would have been about 15 minutes on a good day but given the snow and overabundance of caution being used by all it took a good bit longer. The snow continued to thicken until I found my windshield wipers on high and my eyes trained on the tail lights ahead of me. When I arrived at the Kmart parking lot I found that it was a thick blanket of snow and I was eager to hurry home and play in the white fluffy stuff. Mom moved her things over to the car and climbed in the front seat and left me behind the wheel. We pulled out onto the white covered road and snow began to not only come down harder but was blowing around us in such a way it made it difficult to see even a small space ahead of us on the road. And yet, there was no safe space to pull off the road. Now my mother is not commonly given to hysterics but as we moved forward in the snow she began to talk faster and faster and her voice got higher and higher and no matter how calmly I talked to her in my best “I mustn’t startle you or we might both be hurt” voice her stress level continued to escalate. I must say that I am now the mother of a child less than four years away from driving and I understand that type of stress a little better than I did then. I told her I needed her to calm down so I could pay attention but she continued, going on about topics that required more attention than I could give at the moment…like our impending death. I calmly shushed her. Nothing worked so I decided I had to take drastic measures. I did something I had never had the courage to do before (nor since) and in my firmest voice told my mother to shut up. I could not believe the words had come out of my mouth. I had not been allowed to say those words to anyone, much less my mother. Clearly the words shocked her just as equally because she stopped talking completely and just stared at me. It was like a balloon that has been let go before tying that has been spinning madly around the room and then just drops to the floor limply. I immediately apologized to my mother and told her I could not concentrate on driving with her going on like that. We were both quiet until we were on roads that were more easily maneuvered again and then we began to laugh. My mother said that you always hear that you should slap a person who is hysterical but that those words coming out of my mouth were more powerful than the physical slap. I was just looking for some peace.

It seems Jesus’ disciples were in this same frame of mind. Jesus was getting some much needed rest in the boat but the storm around them was tossing the boat about and splashing water in to the point they thought they might not survive. So they woke Jesus and asked Him if He cared at all that they were all going to die. Can you imagine what Jesus thought when the disciples asked Him, whose whole mission on earth was to save them from death, if He cared what happened to them? They were in a storm and the circumstances were frightening and they couldn’t see past that. Jesus stepped up and told the wind and the waves, “Peace, be still” and they immediately calmed. Jesus looked at the disciples and asked them why they were so afraid….why they had no faith. Sometimes life feels a lot like that and this season of peace, goodwill to men can often be the most chaotic time of the whole year. It may be a time when finances are particularly difficult. It may be a time when you have to interact with difficult family members that you can manage to avoid the rest of the year. School is out and there is a lot of quality time between the immediate families…sometimes a bit too much. It is a time of year when families of children with special needs or those with serious illnesses are reminded of wishes that they normally keep tucked away in a quiet place in their heart. It is a time when we often need to stop and hear the words of Jesus, “Peace, be still” and let him calm us in the midst of our personal storm. We need to realize how deeply He loves us and that He has it all under control.

Discussion Question

What storms has your family weathered this year? How did you find peace? What storms are you still in the midst of? What can you do to remind yourself to find peace that goes beyond understanding while you celebrate Him this season?

Family Activity

Near your front door have a basket with scissors, a marker, green construction paper and tape. As guests come to your home this Christmas season, have them take a moment to trace around their hand, cut it out, and write on it their Christmas wishes for others for this year. Have them sign and date it and tape it to the back of your door. You can shape these as a Christmas tree or a wreath. This activity tends to get everyone thinking about the things that really bring peace to our hearts throughout this hectic season.

Pursuing Peace

Peace - Week Two - Monday

“Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry.” Psalm 34:11-15


Have you ever had a time when you just longed for a little peace and quiet? When my daughter was a baby, there was a period of time in which she was quite sick. She had asthma which was so severe we had to do breathing treatments every three to four hours around the clock. That meant one of us getting up throughout the night to do it. Further, the medication in the breathing treatments wired her up like the energizer bunny throughout the day which meant a very sleep deprived mom was trying to keep up with a very busy baby. I remember one particular period of time in which she had been sick with a cold or flu along with the asthma problems. In addition to this, the carpet had just been replaced in the church nursery and every time we would walk in that suite she would immediately have a full blown asthma attack. We had not been anywhere but the doctor for more than two weeks. Who knew where my make up bag was....it was an emblem of a different life when I went out with friends and worked occasionally. Moriah was cranky and whiney and could not sleep for any stretch of time at all. When I would put her down for a nap I would lie down as well, trying to catch just a few moments of precious sleep. Just about the time my breathing would become even and my mind clear she would begin to cry and wail. After about four days of being cooped up in the house with this I was stressed out and, just between us, perhaps a bit irrational. Tim came home from working at church, only to put on a suit and tie to go to the funeral home. I began to weep uncontrollably.

“It’s not fair! You get to do everything fun and I never get to do anything!” My husband looked at me like I was from another planet.

“I am not going to a party, Tami. I am going to the funeral home, where people will be crying and sad.”


I let out another sob, “See, there will be people….people who are not throwing up and coughing and racing around like the energizer bunny! People who are grown ups! You are going to have…(sniff, sniff)…conversations!”


Again my husband stared. He was staring at a woman who had no peace in her life at the moment. He told me I should get ready and when he got home he would stay with Moriah while I went out to Walmart (which should tell you how low I was on the peace scale....Walmart was a great big step up!) and just walk around and maybe find a few grown ups to talk to or something.


I had no rest, no moment’s peace. I was in a bad place.


This passage in Psalms tells us we need to seek peace and pursue it. We don’t wait for it to happen to us. We don’t just hope for it. We are to hunt it and chase it down. We need peace in our lives. So many times at Christmas we get so busy with all the shopping and parties and events that we don’t make time for peace…time to reflect on why we are really celebrating….time for us to meditate on Him. This season why not set aside time to pursue peace. Make it a priority. Mark it on the calendar if you must. Take time to rest in Him and have His peace that He freely offers us.


Discussion Question


What are the things that are important to your celebration of Christmas? What things bring you closer to God and bring peace to your heart? What things do you do simply because you have always done them, but they bring more stress than peace? How can you celebrate and teach your whole family to celebrate Christmas in a simpler, more peaceful way?


Family Activity


Plan a “Silent” Night for yourself or your entire family. Light the Christmas tree. Light the fireplace or an array of candles. Turn on some soft Christmas music. Let it be music that reflects the true message of Christmas. Get a mug of your favorite tea or coffee or cocoa and then quietly listen to the music. Allow yourself an hour to unwind and meditate on God’s words and the words about the birth of Christ. Your whole family may be able to do this together. It is not a time for talking but for listening and meditating. Rest in Him and find peace.

A Heart Wrapped in Peace

Peace - Week 2 - Sunday

“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

This group of followers had been with Jesus since He first called them out of their normal everyday lives to be disciples. They were men who had dedicated their entire lives to Jesus. He had loved them, cared for them, scolded them, and taught them. The fishermen had learned to fish for men. The tax collector had learned about giving. They had learned to trust Jesus, not just to teach them His principles, but often to meet their most basic daily needs. Now He is preparing them for their future. He is letting them know that He is leaving but that He is not leaving them alone. He has just told them that the Holy Spirit will be with them to guide them and now He tells them that He leaves them peace.

We tend to think of peace as the absence of conflict or a feeling of harmony or inner calm and certainly that is part of it. But in the days in which this was spoken by Jesus it conveyed a much deeper meaning. It is a blessing. Rather than the absence of something negative, it is the presence of something positive. It must have been valued for the greeting Shalom, or peace, is still prominent among the Jewish people. It has to do with a right relationship with God and the people He has placed in our lives. Yes, it is harmony and tranquility and calm, but it is also blessing. When Jesus said that He was leaving His peace with them, He was certainly not saying that He was leaving them with an absence of war or conflict or that their lives would be in a perpetual state of calm. Just a few moments later He tells them how the world will mistreat them and hate them for His sake. That doesn’t add up to much tranquility! He tells us in this verse, “No, no, don’t be confused….this is not the kind of peace that the world offers you…it is my peace. And while that may not mean peaceful situations, it does mean the quiet assurance that God knows what He is doing and I can trust Him. It is a quiet wrapped around your heart no matter what is happening in the world.

This Christmas, as things become busy and hectic and you are tempted to be overwhelmed by it all…”Let not your heart be troubled” because Jesus tells us we do not have to be afraid. His peace is available to us. His blessing is on us. We are not facing anything alone.

Family Activity

Together look in God’s word and find a verse that you can memorize that will help you remember God’s peace through all the things that happen during this season. Practice it this week until you know it and remind one another of that verse throughout the Christmas holiday craziness.

Things to Ponder

Hope - Week One - Saturday

“But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.”
Luke 2:19

Christmas was just around the corner. We were in Kansas City and I was great with child. The doctor had given his orders…I would not be going home for the holidays. Every time I thought about it tears ran down my face and the words seemed captured in my throat. Christmas, for the Embry family was very traditional. My Uncle Paul would most likely be wearing his “candy cane” shirt. Mamaw would make pretzel salad and pies. There would be too much food, an abundance of laughter, and when it came time to gather around the tree, each one of us would find ourselves in the same spot where we had sat last year and the year before that. Papaw would have chewy peppermint nougat candy and the music we would listen to would be on vinyl records, not CDs or cassette tapes. When we sat down to open presents, because I was the oldest grandchild, I would have the privilege of reading the Christmas story. This year my spot would be empty. We would spend our Christmas in the tiny seminary apartment in Kansas City without family near. I was brokenhearted. My Papaw got on the phone and told me that we would celebrate again when I arrived. My husband bought me the peppermint nougat candy. My parents came to visit prior to Christmas. They brought with them my other grandparents with whom I had always spent Christmas eve, where we would stay until late at night opening gifts from handmade stockings from beneath a tree overladen with ornaments. On the way home, no matter how old I was, I kept my eyes trained on the night sky looking for signs of St Nick and eight tiny reindeer. Disappointment did not begin to describe the way I was feeling about Christmas that year. We decided to make a video to send back home so that we could be a part of the holidays with the family. Walking around the plaza we shot footage of the snow glistening against the thousands of tiny lights that outlined each building. Then we came home and I sat on the couch and though I was a little choked up, I read the Christmas story aloud. As I sat there and read about Mary I felt a certain kinship with her. Both of us were great with child, both of us were longing for home, and both of us were about to be blessed beyond measure. I think Mary was probably a little less whiney than me, although she did ride all that way on a donkey which I think entitles her to just a bit of whining without being judged. Reading that passage and ending with, “And Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart” brought me to a place of quiet within my own heart. Pondering is rarely a quick thing. It does not imply a fleeting thought. It says to me that she thought carefully about all the things that were happening to her and tucked them away in her heart to remember again and again. I think if Mary lived in our times she would have been scrapbooking a little hay…a scrap of swaddling clothes...perhaps some wool from some small lamb brought in the arms of a shepherd. Mary pondered…took time to remember and tuck those thoughts away in a place where she could remember again and again.


This is a time of year that can often be remembered by the number and size of the gifts received and the culinary delights served. Why not spend this season watching to see how God will work in the life of your family? Rather than simply remembering things like it being the year you bought the wii, why not make it a Christmas in which you have gifts to remember like hospitality to others, sharing the love of Christ, and spending time together as a family. What will you ponder in your heart when the decorations are placed back into the attic?


Discussion Question


When each of you thinks back over past Christmases, what are the things you remember….the things you ponder in your heart? What do you want to remember if you are asked the same thing next year? How can you make those things happen?


Family Activity


How about starting a journal in which you record the special moments of the season. Leave it out in a place that any family member may write in it. Is there a new baby in the family? Even a precious little footprint or handprint can be a joyful memory of that Christmas season. Keep your journal Christ-centered. At the end of the holidays tuck it away for the next year. This can be something that not only allows you to ponder the presence of Christ in your Christmas, but imagine how it can touch others in your family in years to come.

Living in the Edges

Hope - Week One - Friday

"Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways, And how small a whisper we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power who can understand?" Job 26:14"

When I think about hope I think of looking beyond a situation to what might be in store. It can be seeing beyond the present to the promises of God and believing and hoping in Him.

When I was just out of college my first teaching position was in Sequatchie County, Tennessee in a little school nestled beneath the edge of Signal Mountain. The drive there from Chattanooga each day was long but it was such a beautiful drive it allowed me time to reflect and notice all the spectacular things God was doing in nature. One day I noticed that high upon a cliff overlooking the beautiful Tennessee River Gorge a house was being built. From my vantage point below, it seemed it sat on the very edge of that cliff and I wondered at the bravery of having a house built teetering on the edge of a cliff. Regardless of the beauty below I would not want to slide down into it from all those feet above. I took the time one afternoon to drive over and see it up close. What I found was there was some space between the house and the cliff’s precarious edge but hardly enough to even call a yard. It was clear the house was to be grand. I looked at it and the view and I was hooked. I went by at least weekly to see the progress. I lurked around when it was time for the workers to go home so I could get a closer look. I kept telling one of my best friends, “One day I will have dinner in that house”. It was a joke between us because it was evident these folks did not run in the same circles as I did but it was a nice dream. One evening when the house was moving nicely toward completion, the walls and some windows in…flooring, fixtures and doors not in…my friend and I took a picnic meal and headed toward the house. Because there were no doors I felt fairly sure that a breaking and entering charge would not stick…entering maybe but certainly not breaking. We ate dinner on the subflooring beneath the supports that were most certainly made to hold an opulent chandelier. The windows in the great room were two stories high and on the second floor above the spot prepared for a huge garden tub were massive windows. I thought, “Why would you put windows above your tub but as I looked out at the wooded mountains and their beauty and realized that the only way to get a good look into this window was a helicopter, I thought, “Why wouldn’t you?”
This house was unfinished and yet its future splendor showed through so magnificently it was if I was seeing the finished product. The truth was I was only seeing the mere edges of its greatness. I would not get a look at the finished fireplace or the shiny fixtures. I would never see it painted or floored. It was only a whisper but a whisper that made me long to see more.
This verse today made me think of that little adventure that I had not thought about in many years. We praise God for His power. We are blessed by the things He does in our lives but how small a whisper it is compared to the thunder of His awesome true power. We see only a bit of how He is working and sometimes we don’t like the way it all looks but that is because we are not seeing the big picture. In His thunderous, mighty way He is working to make something amazing and wonderful and designed by Him. When we give Him our lives and the freedom to do as He will, we have the opportunity to grow in our faith and to hope in the One who will never let us down. This season, look at what God is doing in your life. If it looks dismal, start looking for the ways God might be working through your situation to show the thunder of His power. Trust in Him, although you only see a small whisper…the mere edges of His ways and never lose hope in Him.

Family Activity

Think of something your family really would like to do or have. Maybe it is a game you have wanted to play together. Perhaps it is a special overnight trip. Maybe it is tickets to a game. Decide as a family what that item will be. Set aside a jar or a vase or some other container that can be in a visible place and throw your change in the jar. Periodically count and roll the coins as a family. You will find that it is a very different thing to wait for something special and save for it together as a family project than just to receive it without any effort. It is a good picture of waiting for special things.

What Kind of Love

What Kind of Love?

Hope - Week One - Thursday

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

I Corinthians 13:4-7

Shortly after my Papaw died my Mamaw called me and asked me to come visit with her for a few days and help her go through some of Papaw’s things. I agreed to come in the next few days and after making arrangements at home drove to Louisville, Kentucky to the home my grandparents had shared for many years. I was eager to help Mamaw, who was legally blind from macular degeneration, but also knew that it was a difficult task that was before us and was dreading the resurfacing of all the emotions I had tried to tuck away since the funeral. The house felt quiet and I was missing the infectious laugh of my Papaw and the mischief that always twinkled about the corners of his eyes. Mamaw brought me out of my thoughts with a box. She sat down next to me on the couch and told me that she had something she wanted me to do that would be difficult to do but she wanted me to promise I would really do it. Of course I promised. I would have promised her anything at that moment. Her look was solemn and resolute. At that moment I would have promised her anything. Then she opened the box which was filled to the brim with greeting cards, all of them from my Papaw. I was thankful that Mamaw did not have a clear view of the tears that immediately sprang to my eyes. Mamaw asked me read each card to her and then throw them away because she could no longer really read them and they were deeply personal. She wanted to hear their precious words one more time and then throw them away so that they would not be handled and read and reread.

That night I read card after card to my Mamaw. I wondered if the tears streaming down my face were evident in my voice. The cards were funny, poignant, serious, romantic….It was a beautiful display of my Papaw’s love for my Mamaw. As I read each card, Mamaw would tell me the story behind that particular one. I watched her face as she relived the moments in each of them. Then I pulled out a small card from near the bottom. I read the card and then read the words he had penned at the end, “You are all I really need”. Mamaw was quiet a moment and then said, “Your Papaw gave me that card the day after our house burned to the ground and we lost everything.” I thought of a life of building a home together, of working hard and buying the things they needed and then losing it all but your family and saying, “I have all I really need”. What kind of love is that?

As we look at the verses penned by the Apostle Paul in I Corinthians 13, verse seven, “hopeth all things” when interpreted from the Greek could be worded this way,

“…love never quits, never surrenders, and never gives up”.

This is the kind of love that anticipates the best in others and for others. It is an agape love that says, “I am in this for the long haul and no matter what I refuse to give up. I am staying put and I refuse to move!” This is a tenacious, I don’t even know how to surrender, I am doing what God wants me to do and I refuse to let go kind of love. This love sometimes calls us to wait…to hold on...to anticipate that the best is yet to come. It is a love that when everything seems to be a pile of ashes you can nestle in close to God and say, “I have everything I really need. I am not letting go. I am going to hold on and see what You have for me.”



This is a year when many have experienced loss and while they might not be looking at a house burned to the ground, they may well be looking at a bank account that is mostly empty and a pile of bills that is mostly unpaid. We have the opportunity to share God’s love in ways we never imagined this year. Think of that person who you have given up on…a son, a daughter…a friend…a loved one. Find your opportunity to show them agape love this Christmas season. It might be a card. It might be in the way of financial help. It might be inviting them to share a special day. And in the doing of it, you might just find that you are the one most richly blessed!

Discussion Question

God is so powerful and can do things in any way He chooses. Why do you think He so often chooses to reach out to people using personal relationships? If He can give you what you need, why does He so often take care of your needs through the hands of others? What relationships do you have now that He might want to use to meet the needs of others?

Family Activity

Prepare a Christmas party to go for someone who is homebound. Take plates and cups, refreshments, and other items to celebrate the holiday. Pack it up in a basket and go share with that person. For younger children you could take a game or craft. For adults you could take a jigsaw puzzle or movie. Spend time being with them at this time of year when they might really be longing for some company.