A wise mentor once said, “Your authority will never be established until it is challenged.” Over the years, there were times when I wanted so badly to respond in fleshly tones to the challenge but held back my negative response.  Through personal failure, I learned it was a response crafted with integrity and honor that would eventually disempower the threat.

My mentor’s statement can also apply to our ability to maintain personal peace. Our sense of peace will never be experienced to the fullest unless we deal with the issues of life that challenge its existence. These threats can be the unresolved personal issues we carry, whispers from hell, or individuals and groups determined to make our life miserable. All of these issues are powerless to rob our peace unless we allow their thievery to take place unchallenged. 

In 2020 we will be offered the blank canvas of a new year upon which God wants to paint peaceful strokes of His presence. His peace surpasses all we can consider or calculate as a remedy for the challenges that will come our way. The peace of God quietly arrives and fills our soul when we take our eyes off the threat and look into the face of God. Only in that image is true peace possible. No challenge can withstand the power of His gaze.