Devotions

Recently a friend of mine asked if I could pray for peace for her. That was all she said, so I'm not sure what specifically she needed peace for, but it got me thinking about peace and surrender.  Because if we go to Scripture, it's pretty clear about God's peace, given freely: «The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace.» Psalm 29:11 NIV Jesus himself said: «Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.» John 14:27 NIV He's basically like "stop being afraid and just let me give you peace, please! I want to!" And yet-- it's hard for us, for some reason. It's difficult for us to rest in His peace-- hard enough that we ask for people to pray for us to be able to accept it. Why is that? Why can't we just be like, "Okay, Jesus! I believe you. You offer Your perfect peace and I will take You up on that fabulous offer....

So, I'm a single college student and it's summertime. This may seem like an average statement but when you break it down, it becomes much clearer the confusion I face at this time in my life: 1. I'm single. (translation: I don't have a husband, a boyfriend, a lover, or a fling, or anything of that nature) 2. I am a college student. (translation: I'm surrounded by a hookup culture that is fueled by a reverent belief in "living in the moment" and "only living once" and basically intentionally screwing up because it's what everyone does at this age) 3. It's summertime. (translation: I'm bored sometimes, I miss my friends, and everyone and their sister is getting married and posting cute relationship pictures on social media 24/7) Put them all together and  BOOM-- I've been struggling lately with singledom. Everyone seems to have their own opinions on this "stage" in life, and they've been quite adamant about ...