"For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be onhis shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. " ~ Isaiah 9:6
I ask myself daily what does that look like? As the author of my devotion urges me to focus my heart on Jesus, these last 4 weeks leading up to Christmas have been challenging for me to do so.
Every year, I plan to have my shopping done early, enjoy the season, rest in the peace. And, every year this never happens. Today, I ventured out to exhange my jeans and hopefully look for something for myself at the mall. I had Reagan, Jordan and Lily with me but I was pysched as I drove up to town at 9:00 figuring I was ahead of the game. My excitement quickly dissipated as I wandered Jcpenney, finding a scarf for myself, which I ended up putting back after I received my text from our bank showing today's balance. Ugh, how could it be so low and yet I wasn't finished with my shopping and still had grand ideas of sharing acts of kindness to strangers along the way- 'sharing the peace of Christmas'. As, I started feeling sorry for myself and finally got through exchanging my jeans and spending 15 minutes at the register. God, the Prince of Peace came down to meet me in my moment. A man came up to the counter and gave the cashier $20 to pay my bill and kindly stated he wanted to share 'an act of random kindness'. Wow! I was humbled. I don't usually feel like I need to be given money, yet at this moment I felt that I could surely use it. Thanks Lord! However, my feeling of humility and gratitude would continue as I made our way to the playground with my rambunctious crew that grew weary, after only 30 minutes in the mall. A young girl came by as I walked near the food court and presented me with $20, stating she had an excess of money from her work and wanted to buy us lunch. Again, I just stood for a moment feeling God showering his love on me. Yet, my story would continue. After, a short while of playing we made our way back to the bathroom for the second time. I began to grow frustrated, as I realized I wasn't going to make it to another store and would not be able to buy something for myself. I got Jordan out of the stroller and placed him on the changing table, to find ANOTHER RANDOM ACT OF KINDNESS. I opened the envelope, which said on the outside ' I love your hair' and found a gas card for $10. I couldn't believe it. I had thought I would use my money to buy lunch and I toyed with the idea of continuing my shopping but my kids were saying 'no, take us home'. I found peace. Although my shopping for gifts is not done and I still don't have anything new, I discovered peace in having all that I need. I pray that you too will find peace in the midst of the chaos this Christmas.
