Peace Out of Pieces

"The road to inner peace depends on the inner state you travel on." - Sherry

So, how does a single mom, now head of her household find peace out of pieces?

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to it's a Single Mom Thing, the show for single moms by single moms. This is Sherri, your host, and I am happy you are here today. Remember it's a single mom thing and not the single thing that stops you. The road to inner peace depends on the inner state you travel on. Yes, girl, you can quote me on that as I reflect on my journey as a solo parent, there were many blessings, that is, blessings derived from lessons. That's what I call blessings, and this is one of my favorite that I look forward to sharing with you today.

Speaker 1: 0:41

Now, if I'm honest, even though I was the one that pursued divorce, the pursuit of peace is not what followed me, more like a bunch of pieces. I'm guessing you may feel the same in your single situation. No matter how you got there, you, like me, may find your life looks more like sharp, tiny splinters of broken glass around you, reflecting your brokenness and lack of inner peace. For me, it rendered my image unrecognizable, as there was no peace, only pieces of my life scattered like shards of glass from the impact of choosing divorce, now strewn in several directions, many pieces of which I was unaware of until my bare foot stepped on them, like glass on your kitchen floor. Those were the worst when I stumbled across them in the dark nights of my soul. They were the hardest to pull out, as they were hard to see and cut deep beneath the surface. Needless to say, for me, and possibly even for you, it was quite obvious to those around me interstate. I traveled on as I lacked inner peace, oftentimes leading me to the intersection and corner of chaos and confused. You may be there right now. Everything, every situation, every person, to include the world around me, also disrupted my peace and my fragile state of mind. Can you relate? So how does a single mom, now head of her household, find peace out of pieces? Welcome to another episode of. It's a Single Mom, thing my rock and a hard place.

Speaker 1: 2:32

For the first seven years of the too many to count years as a solo mama, my focus and it may become no shock to you was about piecing my life back together again. And what did this mama want most? Peace. I made it my pledge to my now small world to pursue peace at all costs. That meant some people and places needed to be deducted from my budget of time and energy. Walls went up and worries started to go away. Eureka, I must be on to something, or so I thought. As I learned how to become more self-sufficient and savvy, I could more succinctly streamline my family's little world and everything in it. My confidence grew, happiness returned, and my son and I were on our way to building a new world without the people, places and the things that disrupted our peace. This led to the belief that I could do all things by myself and for myself, and it actually worked For the first time in a lifetime.

Speaker 1: 3:48

Up until this point, my inner state was unaffected by the situation and circumstances around me, because I made it my mantra to no longer travel those dark and lonely roads, and I was not picking up hitchhikers either. Until the day I found myself at the intersection of my rock and a hard place. I lost my job, I lost my health, I lost my friends, I lost my mind, and on that Easter Sunday I was told I was going to lose my home too. I remember sitting down at our dining room table to a plate of piping hot food I had prepared for us. I thought to myself it's Easter Sunday. Who could possibly be knocking at my door? Now, let me digress for a second here. You see, up until this point in my life story, it was all about me and my sufficiency. So Easter was not about Jesus, it was about me and keeping things hoppy in my home. So let's continue. So I go to answer the door and I was handed a letter from a young man, 20 years my junior. That's odd. As I shut the door and I thought to myself what could be so important that I had to get it on Easter Sunday? As I curiously opened the letter, I noticed it was from Bank of America who, on Easter Sunday, was kindly letting me know that my landlord had not paid her mortgage. The home I rented was in was now in foreclosure and I had to be gone in less than a month. Hoppy Easter. Right Shortly after that, my inner peace and my inner state became more like a highway to hell, as I had no clue where I was going.

Speaker 1: 5:46

But most certainly it was going to be a dead end, scrambled Unlike the hard-boiled Easter eggs I had prepared that day. My life now seems scrambled, as I scrambled to find our way out of this new single situation between my rock and a hard place. Now, if you've been rolling with God, you certainly have experienced a God incidence At an intersection I like to call my rock and a hard place, am I right? Which, a few months later, after Easter, when I got saved, I began to understand this phenomenon called God incidents, and my rock I found in my hard places, much like a coincidence, which is a sequence of events that, although accidental, seems to have been planned or arranged, with one major difference A coincidence doesn't tell you who arranged the event, but a God incidence points to its originator.

Speaker 1: 6:48

You see, what I forgot to tell you early on in this podcast, as I forgot early on in my journey as a solo parent, was that I was not only looking for peace, but I was also looking for truth. Up until then, I was looking for it in all the wrong places. You see, I thought when I found peace that I also found the truth. I thought it was in me, I was the source of it and I could control it, much like the countries of this world. I thought if I could just build a wall around my homeland, I could protect and secure our peace and anybody who wanted to disrupt it.

Speaker 1: 7:34

Oh, we were going to war. Just take a look at our world today. How is that working out? That's all we hear about. You will hear of wars and rumors of war, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. Matthew 24, 6 through 8.

Speaker 1: 8:07

Truth, you see, up until that point, all roads pointed that I was in the right direction, until I came across the detour on that fateful Easter Sunday. The detour on that fateful Easter Sunday, my God incidents, my rock and a hard place. Truth was pursuing me and it will ask, you, seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you, for everyone who asks receives, the one who seeks, finds, and the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Matthew 7, 7 through 8.

Speaker 1: 8:47

Here's what I love about truth. Even though I didn't know where to find it, how to get it, and was failing miserably at it, my rock was looking for me. You see, truth was a person and it had nothing, no thing to do with me, but has everything to do with him, meaning Jesus, and I was looking for it and he was sure I was going to find it. On Easter Sunday, god rocked my world, just like the world that was rocked when Jesus took his last breath on the cross. And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from the top to the bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus' resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people. When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified and exclaimed surely he was the son of God. Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. Among them were Mary Magdalene, mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of Zebedee's sons, as was mentioned in last week's 100th podcast, if you listened.

Speaker 1: 10:22

So my question to you now that it is seven days after Easter Sunday do you find in your single situation, truth is pursuing you? Have you too been looking for peace and truth in all the wrong people and places? If you're a Christian sister or brother listening. Have you been looking in the wrong direction inwardly, as of lately, or even have some unrepented sins that has recently separated you from your peace, which you know comes only from him. And when you are right with him, the good news is you can repent, which means simply turn around. You can make a Y-O-U. Turn to get on that road of inner peace, making him the inner state. You travel on, of course, with the help of the Holy Spirit. Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it, but small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few will find it. Matthew 7, 13 through 14.

Speaker 1: 11:39

Listen y'all, I want you to find it, no matter what you've done or are going through. You can have peace when you find the Lord, jesus. Christ. Jesus answered I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14, 6.

Speaker 1: 12:01

Listen, here is what I want you to understand about peace. Peace is not possible without God. Peace isn't found in a sizable banking account. Thank you, bank of America, for showing me that Another person, or even the country you are listening in. It is only found in him. Peace I leave you, my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. John 14, 27. The world, just like a sharp piece of glass, is broken, scattered as it is, separated from divorcing itself from God when Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit. Therefore, the world can never provide which it will never have as long as it is without him, meaning Jesus.

Speaker 1: 13:02

As Christians, however, we can cultivate this inner peace and seek to promote peace in our relationships and communities, even in our single situations. We do so as we seek to live in obedience to God's will and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us. Thus we will experience the inner peace that transcends our circumstances. Experience the inner peace that transcends our circumstances. However, pursuing peace can be difficult, as it requires us to be intentional and persistent in our efforts. But peace is possible, even if you have an ex. We must be willing to confront injustice and work towards peaceful solutions, even in the face of opposition or difficulty. Sometimes we simply need to pray for peace, even for our ex. You can find an episode on that in our archives. You see, we also must be willing to cultivate inner peace, seeking to understand ourselves and others and practice forgiveness and compassion. By doing so, we can bring hope and healing to a world that is in desperate need of God's shalom, which simply means peace. No matter how broken your world is right now, you can have peace out of pieces.

Speaker 1: 14:25

So listen, if you're ready to turn around and accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, all you need to do is simply recite the following salvation prayer with me Dear God, I admit that I'm a sinner who has done many things that are against your principles and teachings. I have lived my life for myself, and today I repent of all my sins and ask for your forgiveness. I turn away from my sinful life and turn to you, lord. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who came and died for my sins. I invite you, lord, jesus Christ, to come into my heart and take control of my body, mind and soul, guide me as I walk in the right path of life, take away my sinful heart and put a pure heart and steadfast spirit in me. I commit my life to you as I seek the power of the Holy Spirit to help me live a life that pleases you, god, by faith I gratefully receive your gift of salvation. I'm ready to trust you as my Lord and Savior. Help me to grow in grace and the knowledge of truth in the word of God. May I rely on the power of the Holy Spirit daily to transform me, to become more like Christ Jesus. Thank you, lord, for your wonderful saving grace. In Jesus' name, amen.

Speaker 1: 15:53

Are you still unsure and want to learn more about his peace? Call us at 855-822-PRAY. Want to be part of a community of peace? Find more information and inspiration at Shepherdsvillagecom. There you will find resources, e-courses, blogs and in-person classes. Do you play pickleball and love to dink around? I invite you to participate in our first ever West Shore Services Florida HVAC Raisin Rally Pickleball Fundraiser on Saturday, april 27th at 2 pm. It's a charity event to benefit Shepherds Village, helping single moms and their kids face their future with confidence. It's Pickle with a Purpose. For more event information, to buy tickets or even make a donation, visit shepherdsvillagecom forward, slash pickleball. I will be there and be sure to stay out of the kitchen. Have a wonderful week and remember it's a single mom thing and not a single thing that stops you. Thanks for listening to. It's a Single Mom Thing. I hope you enjoyed our time together. If you have more questions on how to have a relationship with Jesus or your prayer, visit us at wwwshepherdsvillagecom. Backslash prayer. For more information and resources, check out our show notes.