His Peace Reigns

 John 14:27- Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 

      Hey :) I just got back from an extended weekend trip to Orlando with my Nana, Papa, and best friend. I'm extremely sleep deprived but honestly this is more important to me than sleep right now, lol. 
      A lot of really cool things happened while we were gone, and I have a lot of stories (for another time), but there's one  in particular that stood out. It's not so much of a fun story, but more of a praise report that my best friend and I were kept safe. 
      It was our last night there and we were wanting to go down to the lazy river (which is actually more of a long, well-lit pool with a current and a bunch of families with rafts). Nana was very cautious about it but she let us go and we stayed in touch with her most of the time. The river was nice, and we started to head back to our room in the evening.  As we walked from the pool to the lobby, a man was behind us, but I seriously didn't think anything of it since a lot of people had been heading inside. We walked over to the elevators and he followed us and I started to feel slightly restless in my spirit. He didn't even hit an elevator button to go up or down, he just stood there waiting for us to do it while very clearly staring at us and making me really uncomfortable. Before getting on the elevator, I prayed and felt very strongly that we needed to walk away. So I whispered to my friend to follow me and we made our way to the tables across the lobby and sure enough he looked panicked, stared me down, and then pretty much disappeared outside, like he had been caught in his act or something. He never even went in the elevator, meaning he was not really waiting there strictly for an elevator in the first place. Later, my friend told me that she saw some sort of weapon in his pocket. How thankful I am that I was in tune to God and was listening closely to what I felt I needed to do. He is a protector, I cannot express that enough. 
      I think the thing that stuck out most to me during that situation was the complete peace I had. I'll be the first to admit that I am literally the easiest person to scare in the world, but this time I was totally calm, ready to hear God's voice and follow His direction to keep us safe. I found this verse, and it describes this feeling perfectly. "Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." I give Him complete credit for keeping me at peace last night. If He hadn't been right with me, the situation could have taken a much darker turn, but God is bigger than that, and He's definitely bigger than the scary situations you are going through. Always be aware that His peace is up for grabs at ANY time, not just when you feel alone, but any time, any place. 
      In this verse it says that His peace is not the same peace that the world provides. The definition of peace that the world gives us is "free from conflict", but the peace that Jesus gives us is the presence of God. It's so reassuring to know that we may have conflicts in our lives but God's presence is still there, and His peace reigns over our situations. It's clear that last night we were not free from conflict, it was a genuinely scary circumstance, yet we still had peace, and that's only because we were relying on His definition of peace instead of the world's. 
      Jesus is so faithful. Nana asked me what I would have done if something had happened, and I really don't know. But I do know that God would still be present there. He doesn't leave, and He wouldn't have left us stranded there, He is much too big for that, in my life and in yours. He hasn't left you yet, and He won't in the future. Your situation may be scary, but you never have to be afraid that He's left you. 
      All in all, it was an amazing trip, and I'm so, so thankful. 

​- Sophia Light