On a recent visit to America, I wanted to pick up a small gift for each of our Braverly women. But I’m a person who doesn’t like to just give any old gift–I want the gift to carry a meaning, to be unique or special to the person receiving it. So I was racking my brain to come up with what that should be.

I absolutely love Mud Love–a small ceramics studio built on giving back. (You should seriously check them out: www.mudlove.com)

Since this studio is not far from my home, I wandered through their doors one sunny day as I was weaving in and out of the shops along The Village at Winona Lake. Standing there in front of their wall of bracelets, I began thinking about the women of Braverly. As I read through the words in front of me, the Lord began to place a specific woman on my mind with each one. And so I thought, what if I get each of them a bracelet with a word that represents what I see in them–a prayer, encouragement and challenge for each woman to walk in?

I quickly scooped up a handful of bracelets and began to make my way over to checkout when the Lord said, “Kristy, there’s one for you too.”

I hadn’t planned on grabbing one for myself, but curiously made my way back over to the wall of bracelets.

“Okay Lord,” I whispered, “what do you want to say?”

There were so many words to choose from–each one inspirational in it’s own way. I’m not sure how long I stood there gazing at the wall before the Lord whispered back, “Peace is the promise I want you to carry.”

The Lord is funny in the way He works. Maybe not so much funny as He is strategic–or maybe better said, intentional. Well, He’s all of those things, but peace is a word the Lord has continued to unpack in my life these 3+ years I’ve now lived in Thailand.

Peace is a word that continually draws my anxious or overwhelmed heart back to the Father–a word that calls me to deeper trust in the One who leads me forward.

Before moving my life to Thailand, peace was the driving word in the verse the Lord gave me to walk in…

“You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in You. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD himself, is the Rock eternal.”

(Isaiah 26:3-4, NIV)

I had no idea what I was really walking into. I had only been to Thailand once before, and it was only for a 5-day visit to a friend! But peace was a promise the Lord gave, a promise He has kept time and time again.

“Kristy, as you keep your mind steadfast on me, as you walk in trust to the places I call you to come, peace is a promise I will keep.”

This word, this promise doesn’t mean things will always go smoothly–no fear to battle against, no effort needed on my part, no hardship. Believe me, I come up against plenty of those things…daily!

But peace is the Lord’s promise as we walk with Him. There’s peace in knowing and hearing His voice. There’s peace is knowing He goes before, beside, and behind us. There’s peace in the midst of the chaos that surrounds us when we know who the Father is and who He says we are. There is peace in knowing what we have access to, in knowing what we are capable of because of the One who has called us!

His peace is a promise He keeps, a promise we can carry with confidence.