We made a couple visits to the beach on the beautiful hot days before the rains came at the end of the week. Sara desperately wanted to find a sand dollar on the beach -- sort of a gift from God for her birthday -- so I walked about a mile up the beach, picking up shells and hoping for a sand dollar for Sara. I did find a piece of one, but that was all. When I got back to where we left the towels, I decided to lie down and enjoy the sun on my neon white skin for a short time. My kids are finally old enough that I don't have to watch them every minute, so I closed my eyes, listening to the sound of the powerful waves crashing onto the shore. I was thinking about the Scripture verses that told about when Jesus told the waves, "Peace, be still." Then I started praying for Sara, that she would find the sand dollar she wanted. In a while, I heard her voice -- she had found a piece of a sand dollar after I showed her what mine looked like. It wasn't the pretty white unbroken one like she later bought in a beach shop, but I was thinking that sometimes the peace of God is sort of like the piece of a sand dollar. You pray for it, but it doesn't all come at once. You have to search for it and pray for it, and sometimes it comes in bits and pieces.
I have felt the peace that passes understanding in some very difficult situations, but sometimes, before I know it, it has washed away like the footprints on the sand and I am again worrying about something. And then a song or a verse or a piece of a sand dollar shows up to remind me that I can rest in God's peace forever.
I am resting tonight in this wonderful peace,
Resting sweetly in Jesus' control;
For I'm kept from all danger by night and by day,
And His glory is flooding my soul!
Peace, peace, wonderful peace,
Coming down from the Father above!
Sweep over my spirit forever, I pray
In fathomless billows of love!
