Peace Treaty

As part of women's retreat we each had the opportunity to write a peace treaty, and it was supposed to be a written promise to God and to yourself.  I had never thought of writing something like this, but I definitely loved the idea of writing a special prayer to God about how you want to find peace with Him.  I thought I would share what I came up with:

I will believe in my inherent beauty as a beloved daughter of Christ, created and knit together with great care.  I will not pick apart the unique and sometimes quirky parts of who I have been made to be.  I will never allow any thing or place I invest my time to define or distort my perception of worth.  I will surrender the passions God has placed in my heart to be used by God and poured out in love.  They will enrich my identity in Christ without adding or subtracting any worth or loveliness in the eyes of God, my Creator.  I will hold tight to the Lord and let His truths wash over me, bringing a wholeness and completion only possible in Him.  I will stumble and fall but I won't be ashamed of my great need for a Savior.  I will delight in coming to the feet of the Lord, holding on to nothing, to be filled and made whole again.  I will place my focus on the Lord's great love and grace instead of my own broken ability to understand why God would always want me.  I will claim my identity in Christ and own every unique and special detail He has placed in me.  I will doubt this and continue to stumble, but I will look to the Lord to be my hope, to be bigger than my doubts, and to help me in my disbelief.

This is my peace treaty and the prayer of my heart; I long to be united with Christ as I seek living out my calling to be a disciple and daughter of Christ.  I hope to hold fast to His truths and let them be where I draw my strength and purpose.  God has created each and every one of us with great care; out of the dust He formed our innermost beings to be a reflection of Himself among the world.  This is a truth we are called to live out and find a peace with so it can manifest itself in our relationships with ourselves, with others, and with God.  How will you seek an inner peace with God and be united with Him - maybe you could start with your own personal peace treaty.

No matter how we come to find that peace, let it be one that restores us and makes us new.  As a song in Rent proposes, the opposite of war isn't peace, it's recreation.  Let's allow God to calm the war within us and restore peace in our souls as He recreates us.