As an outreach of encouragement, Umbrella Ministries is e-mailing a weekly devotional “Thoughts Under the Umbrella”. This devotional ministry addresses numerous aspects of the believer’s walk with God, a walk that is intended to nurture us on a personal level while we pursue the "new normal" God has for us.

Umbrella Ministries is a non-denominational, biblically based ministry with the sole mission of offering comfort, hope, and encouragement to mothers who have suffered the loss of a child. If you wish to receive this weekly devotional please e-mail Bev at bleckie@sbcglobal.net, and specifically ask for the Umbrella Ministries weekly devotional.

  
“The Gift of Peace”

“I am leaving you with a gift – peace of mind and heart!
The peace I give isn’t fragile like the peace the world gives.”
John 14:27

Webster has several definitions for peace but the one I like best is tranquility and quietness. In this pressured, stressful, fast paced, noisy world we live in there is no permanent quietness, tranquility, peace, aside from God.

Romans 5:1 says our peace comes from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit took up residency in our lives the day we invited Jesus into our hearts. The result, a deep and lasting peace.

When lack of peace is a result of a tremendous loss in our lives that we can do nothing about, we must trust God and know that He cares, that He loves us and He is going through our pain with us. We need to keep our minds focused on God, not on our pain.

Isaiah 26:3 says “I will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusts in thee.” Perfect, complete … God is waiting to give us complete peace. Be confident that God is going to do what he says. His word says that he left us with a GIFT … peace of mind and heart.

For those of us who have lost loved ones, holidays are especially difficult. Memories flood our minds as we yearn for the yesterdays when all was intact and well, times when all loved ones were present and we had not tasted of that terrible enemy, death.

But God knew we would one day have to struggle through the holidays with that one all important family member missing, and that is why He saw fit to send the comforter, with the GIFT of peace that passes all understanding.

As you are facing this Christmas season, and reliving the pain of your loss, would you open your heart to the gift from God right now, that beautiful, sacrificial, heaven sent gift of peace, and allow it to permeate your life like a sweet perfume.

Philippians 4:6-7 says “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs and don’t forget to thank him for his answers. If you do this you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Jesus.”

Can you think of any time of year when you need that promise from God more than now? This is a difficult time … so, no better time to open the GIFT from God, the GIFT OF PEACE of mind and heart. It is what our loved ones would want us to do.

AS WE CELEBRATE THE GREATEST GIFT THE WORLD HAS EVER KNOWN, WE THANK YOU, FOR YOUR PRAYERS, ENCOURAGEMENT, AND GIFTS OF LOVE THAT MAKES THE ONGOING WORK OF UMBRELLA MINISTRIES POSSIBLE.

Under His Umbrella of Love and Peace,
Daisy, Donna and the entire Umbrella Ministries Board

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