How to Keep the Peace when Your Life (or maybe just your car) is in Pieces

“Mom, don’t freak out…”

Yes. Those are the words that every mother longs to hear.

One of my kids, (who has asked to remain nameless,) had a little accident.

OK it was more than a little accident. I mean, just look that that license plate.

Thankfully, no one was hurt. No one, except for my car. (BTW, I have to give it up for my 11 year old Toyota Sienna. It has had rocks reign down on it, a tree fall on it, and taught teens to drive. That is the Energizer Bunny of Automobiles.)

All this occurred just hours before I am suppose to leave for a retreat. On peace.(Go ahead. Laugh ironically. I did before I cried.)

I have to tell you honestly. I wasn’t feeling it.

There have been work issues, family issues, and health issues. Plus, we have been moving rooms around. (Want to test a family’s peace level? Have them switch rooms around. I. Dare. You.)

I was jumpy, my heart kept racing, and I was on the verge of tears all the time.

But if there is one thing I have learned about peace it’s this: You don’t get to choose your circumstances, but you do get to choose who you let handle them.

When I respond with my oh-so-human response, I continue to be jumpy, my heart keeps racing and I am on the verge of tears all the time.

But when I finally, eventually, start praying and remembering what God has promised me, that is the only time that I can even begin to taste anything resembling peace.

The verse I go to in times like this is Isaiah 26:3

You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.

It is conditional. I get peace because:

1. I keep my mind on Him
2. I trust in Him

And when I do those things, I have peace.

So here is my question for you: What are the verse you rely on when you need to keep the peace? Because really, I am going to paste them up in my car. When it gets back from the shop.