Episode 100 – Unexplainable Peace

Speaker 1 (00:01):

Welcome to a podcast designed to bring biblical encouragement to your weary soul. We are so glad you’re listening and we pray God blesses you and strengthens you in your walk with him. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is brought to you by the cooperative efforts of Sweet Selah Ministries and Word Radio. Sit back and enjoy.

Nicole (00:29):

Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 100, Unexplainable Peace. Sharon, can you believe it? This is our 100th episode!

Sharon (00:39):

Wow and wow. No, I can’t.

Nicole (00:41):

I know.

Sharon (00:42):

It just doesn’t seem that long ago when my board asked me to consider doing a podcast, and I wasn’t even sure what one was. I’d never listened to one in my life. Nicole, it’s been so much fun. (Nicole: It has) And I am really, really looking forward to our podcast party on April 1st. It’s right around the corner now. Podcast listeners, there’s still barely time for you to email me. Either a voice clip or a written word about you, our listener. We’d so love to hear from you so we can put together a special edition podcast all about you, our other followers, and truly all about God, (Nicole: Mm-hmm) who has put this whole thing together, and whom we depend on every single time we meet. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) because we never feel prepared enough, do we?

Nicole (01:24):

No. No.

Sharon (01:25):

So anyways, if you wanna be a part of our podcast party episode, would you email me, please? My email is Sharon@Sweetselah.org. So how about you? Do you feel like it’s been a short time or a long time we’ve been doing the podcast?

Nicole (01:40):

It feels like it’s been a short time. This has gone so fast.

Sharon (01:43):

I know. It’s over three years.

Nicole (01:44):

I can’t believe that. I was like, wait a minute. Three whole years?

Sharon (01:47):

Yeah.

Nicole (01:47):

Maybe like, it feels like a year and a half maybe.

Sharon (01:50):

I know.

Nicole (01:50):

Time goes so quick.

Sharon (01:51):

It does. It does.

Nicole (01:52):

But Sharon, this podcast has been such a blessing to me. It’s so wild how God brought us together to do this since this was nothing on my radar either.

Sharon (02:00):

I know. I know. It’s a total God thing.

Nicole (02:02):

It is. And I actually really don’t like being recorded. It’s terrifying. So God has really stretched and grown me, and it’s so amazing because as I prepare and pray and read the scripture for these episodes, I am growing in my own walk with God. You know?

Sharon (02:15):

Me too.

Nicole (02:15):

There’s an accountability to teaching others and talking about God’s word. And that keeps me close to God, you know? And I just—. (Sharon: Uh-hmm) The fact that he could do all this without us, and he chooses to work through two broken, terribly imperfect women. (Sharon: Yes) To talk about his love. I’m just, I’m in awe of him and how he uses us. Just (Sharon: Me too) thank you, God.

Sharon (02:34):

Yes.

Nicole (02:35):

Thank you.

Sharon (02:36):

And you said it so well, two broken, imperfect women.

Nicole (02:39):

Yeah.

Sharon (02:39):

Who inevitably show up at Word Radio, feeling under prepared.

Nicole (02:44):

Every time.

Sharon (02:46):

Every time. Every time. And yet the Holy Spirit steps in and, um, we pray, pray., pray that He makes us not say things that we shouldn’t.

Nicole (02:54):

Yes, please Lord. And he always fills in our big gaps.

Sharon (02:58):

He does.

Nicole (02:58):

He just does.

Sharon (02:59):

He just does. So thank you, Father God.

Nicole (03:01):

Yes.

Sharon (03:01):

Oh man. Well, I love that our 100th podcast is on the beautiful Christian attribute of peace. Love that word, even. (Nicole: Yes) Now, the Jewish people value peace so highly that it’s part of their greeting to one another. When they say hello, it’s shalom. So shalom is a little more than just generic peace-iness. (Nicole: Yeah) So tell me, tell me, I asked you to look up the definition.

Nicole (03:26):

Oh, I did. It was fun. So yeah, you normally think of peace or peace be with you. And it is. It’s how they greet and say farewell to each other. I love that. That’s so sweet. But it goes a little bit deeper than that. Instead of just wishing a person a lack of war or struggle, but rather shalom goes deeper according to this article I read on christianity.com. It says, it is a completeness. ‘It’s completeness, it’s soundness wellbeing, complete reconciliation. True shalom can only be found through God.’

Sharon (03:55):

I love that.

Nicole (03:55):

Doesn’t that sound wonderful?

Sharon (03:57):

Yes. Yes.

Nicole (03:57):

Yeah. And one of the names of God is Yahweh Shalom, the Lord of peace.

Sharon (04:01):

Yeah.

Nicole (04:02):

So pretty cool.

Sharon (04:02):

The Lord of wellbeing, of wholeness. (Nicole: Yes, soundness) There’s a sense of just being all you. You know?

Nicole (04:09):

Mmmm, yes. Complete, not lacking anything, just together. (Sharon: Mm-hmm, Mm-hmm) So I love that.

Sharon (04:13):

I do too.

Nicole (04:13):

So now we’re gonna look at some Bible passages that celebrate that special shalom peace only found in God. And Sharon, how about you start us off today?

Sharon (04:22):

Well, I will. The first time shalom is mentioned in the Bible is in Genesis. God’s just made a covenant with Abraham and is speaking to Abraham about the future when this word is first used. So I’m gonna pick up the story in Genesis 15:12 and read through Genesis 15:16, “As the sun was going down,” (Abram, he wasn’t even Abraham yet, he was still, Abram at this point) “fell into a deep sleep and a terrifying darkness came down over him. Then the Lord said to Abram, You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. But I will punish the nation that enslaves them. And in the end, they will come away with great wealth. As for you, you will die in peace, Shalom, and be buried at a ripe old age.” (Nice)

Nicole (05:12):

That’s nice.

Sharon (05:14):

“After four generations, your descendants will return here to this land for the sins of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction.” (Nicole: Mm-hmm) This is such a bizarre, weird passage.

Nicole (05:25):

Yeah.

Sharon (05:26):

I’ve had so much fun sort of looking at it and thinking, okay. Terrifying darkness to start with. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) Well, yeah. If you, God’s big, right? (Nicole: Yeah) Abram’s just this little guy. And so of course it’s a little terrifying when God comes down and speaks and then what does he say? Abram has no kids.

Nicole (05:46):

Right.

Sharon (05:46):

And he says, your descendants are gonna be enslaved for 400 years. What? I don’t even have a child.

Nicole (05:52):

Not such a peaceful thing to be told right away.

Sharon (05:54):

I know. So that’s kind of strange. Yeah. So, but they’re gonna come away with great wealth, which is of course exactly what happened. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) The Egyptians were so glad when finally, Pharaoh kicked the Israelites out.

Nicole (06:07):

That’s right.

Sharon (06:08):

They’re like, here, take our jewelry. Go.

Nicole (06:09):

Just take our stuff. Just go. That’s so funny.

Sharon (06:10):

So it exactly happened the way God said.

Nicole (06:12):

Wow.

Sharon (06:13):

But what assurance to Abram that at least he’s gonna die in peace. (Nicole: Right) Shalom, at a ripe age. Can I pray this prayer for me? Because, I really like this.

Nicole (06:25):

It does sound like a rather pleasant way to go. There’s some terrible ways to die. And this sounds like a nicer way to go.

Sharon (06:29):

It does. It does. So Abram is reassured that he at least is dying in peace and that he will, and God’s talking about the descendants, like they’re really gonna happen. (Nicole: Yeah) And Abraham believed that for years and years, which we’re gonna study that later on in one of our episodes. He, he just believed it (NIcole: Mm-hmm) even though he had no kids. And that has always just astounded me. So, I’m glad he got shalom death.

Nicole (06:52):

Yeah. After a rather big prophecy to kind of mull over.

Sharon (06:55):

Right.

Nicole (06:56):

Yeah. Very nice. There’s always peace with God in the middle of big things.

Sharon (07:00):

There is. There is.

Nicole (07:02):

So now I’m going to read in Numbers. It is the most ancient of blessings and it’s still so beautiful to read and to pray over those that you love. Numbers 6:22-27, “Then the Lord said to Moses, tell Aaron and his sons to bless the people of Israel with this special blessing. ‘May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace. Shalom, whenever Aaron and his sons bless the people of Israel in my name, I myself will bless them’.” I like this passage a little bit better. <laugh>.

Sharon (07:37):

I love it. Yeah. This is a little easier to understand

Nicole (07:40):

Yeah. Well this is a beautiful song that we sing in church now too, and it’s one of my favorites. It’s just called ‘The Blessing’. And it’s such a beautiful thing. I love when God gives us rich words that we can use too, cause sometimes you don’t know what to say to your loved ones and you want to bless them.

Sharon (07:54):

That’s so true.

Nicole (07:54):

Here’s this beautiful thing to pray, like the Lord bless you and protect you and show his favor on you and give you peace. So I need to pray that more over my children. I like this one.

Sharon (08:02):

I do too. We pray a blessing over our grandchildren the last night we visit all the time.

Nicole (08:08):

Oh, I love that.

Sharon (08:09):

And they sit, one at a time in between Nina and Papa. (Nicole: Yeah) And this would be a great blessing to pray, you know. (Nicole: Yeah) Yeah, yeah.

Nicole (08:14):

A good thing to send them to bed with at night. I’m always like, oh, I’m out of stories. I’m out of songs. Just go to sleep babies. I’m gonna try this one.

Sharon (08:21):

Try this one. Yes, yes

Nicole (08:22):

Yes. This is so good.

Sharon (08:23):

And tell your girls just how rich Shalom is. You know, I want your full well being.

Nicole (08:28):

Yes, his peace is going to be so much deeper than anything else you can find in this world.

Sharon (08:32):

Absolutely. Oh my goodness. I had the hardest time choosing the passages for this Nicole, because there’s so many times that Shalom is mentioned in the Bible.

Nicole (08:40):

Oh, that’s so cool.

Sharon (08:41):

But one of them was so interesting to me that I just couldn’t not do it. And it’s in the book of Esther, Esther 2:10-11, and at the point that the shalom word shows up (Nicole: Yeah) Esther has been taken to the king’s harem and is is being prepped for her night with the king in this crazy contest of who would be the next queen of Persia? Oy! How awful for these girls. I mean, I never think, oh, how exciting. I always think this is awful.

Nicole (09:07):

It is.

Sharon (09:07):

That those poor girls had to do that. (Nicole: Yeah) So anyways, um, starting at verse 10, “Esther had not told anyone of her nationality and family background because Mordecai had directed her not to do so. But every day Mordecai would take a walk near the courtyard of the Haram to find out how Esther was doing” (what was happening to her). Literally what this passage means, according to my Bible, is Mordecai was checking on Esther’s shalom.

Nicole (09:33):

Oh. Interesting.

Sharon (09:33):

He was checking on her wellbeing.

Nicole (09:35):

Yeah.

Sharon (09:35):

How are you?

Nicole (09:37):

Yeah.

Sharon (09:37):

You know, not just, is she living, but are you, are you handling this nightmarish situation? (Nicole: Mm) Do you still have your peace?

Nicole (09:46):

Yes.

Sharon (09:46):

Are you still whole? (Nicole: Yeah) Even with all the things they’re trying to do to you to make you attractive to the king.

Nicole (09:52):

To change you on the outside. How are you inside?

Sharon (09:54):

How is your inside? How is your shalom? (Nicole: Wow) You know? And that’s what a true friend does. You know, you know, if you’re just passing someone briefly, it’s how are you doing? Oh, I’m fine.

Sharon (10:04):

Oh yeah, I have said that. And then thought later, I just lied.

Nicole (10:08):

I’m not fine.

Sharon (10:09):

I’m not fine at all.

Nicole (10:10):

I didn’t have time to tell her all the things that happened this morning.

Sharon (10:12):

Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I just said this simple, I’m fine. (Nicole: Right) It’s just like the standard greeting. (Nicole: Yeah) But when someone says, no, no, no, no. How are you really? (Mm-hmm) How’s your shalom?

Nicole (10:22):

Oh, that’s so good.

Sharon (10:23):

Then they’re saying, I have time.

Nicole (10:26):

Yes.

Sharon (10:26):

To sit and listen to you and hear the nitty gritty. I have time to hear what inside you is roiling and is making you not shalom-y. (Nicole: Right) Right? So anyways, I love that.

Nicole (10:40):

That’s awesome. That’s so good.

Sharon (10:40):

So when you and I get together sometimes, Nicole, I’m gonna say to you, how’s your shalom?

Nicole (10:44):

Is it feeling shalom-y, or not so much?

Sharon (10:46):

Yeah.

Nicole (10:47):

That’s really good. I love that. Oh, okay. So let’s transition to the New Testament. We’re gonna look at Isaiah 9:6, “For a child is born to us, a Son is given to us, the government will rest on his shoulders and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Shalom.

Sharon (11:08):

I love it. And there’s our transition. We’re still in the Old Testament, but we’re looking to the Prince of Peace.

Nicole (11:14):

Right. So all that shalom from the Old Testament is wrapped up into Jesus. (Sharon: Yes) He is the Prince of Peace. (Yes) Then he came down to us and brought that peace with him. (Mm-hmm) Ah, then he left the Holy Spirit with the peace inside of us.

Sharon (11:27):

Exactly. Ta da.

Nicole (11:29):

That’s a lovely transition.

Sharon (11:30):

Isn’t it?

Nicole (11:31):

Peace is you Lord.

Sharon (11:31):

It’s Perfect. And also when you think of shalom as being, you know, wholeness. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) Jesus had it. (Yeah) We so often lose our shalom because of guilt. Because of unconfessed sin.

Nicole (11:44):

Yeah.

Sharon (11:44):

Because of secrets we harbor. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) Because of nasty little bitterness that’s crept into our lives. (Mm-hmm) All those things rob us of shalom. Shalom comes when we freely confess and are forgiven. You know, God offers it all the time. That’s Jesus the Prince of Peace.

Nicole (12:01):

Right.

Sharon (12:02):

He died, he took all the stuff we feel guilty about on himself and took the punishment on himself so that we’re free. (Nicole: Yeah) But as long as we’re, you know, beating ourselves up about it, not confessing it, trying to hide it, there’s no shalom.

Nicole (12:18):

Oh no. And even if we’re busy like Peter looking at those waves that can steal that shalom pretty quick.

Sharon (12:23):

It sure enough can.

Nicole (12:23):

The trials around us, we need to keep our eyes focused on Jesus or we’re gonna get it swept away by all that.

Sharon (12:28):

Right. Right. So he’s our hero on peace cause he’s—

Nicole (12:31):

He is.

Sharon (12:31):

The one that does it right. Oh my goodness. Well, this kind of peace can be rare because we are so prone to worry and (Nicole: Yes) bitterness and hiding,

Nicole (12:41):

Distraction and—

Sharon (12:41):

All the things. So, but I’ve, I’ve felt it before sometimes in the most unlikely of circumstances. I can remember being so bone weary, taking care of Dad Gamble in the midst of a trying situation and suddenly God would swoop in in his tender mercy and remind me that I’ve got this, I’m carrying you. (Nicole: Yes) Give me the load. You do not have to carry it. And all of a sudden there’s this unexplainable peace.

Nicole (13:10):

Isn’t that wild?

Sharon (13:11):

This situation hasn’t changed.

Nicole (13:12):

Nope.

Sharon (13:12):

At all.

Nicole (13:13):

Nope.

Sharon (13:14):

But all of a sudden I’m reminded that I am not doing this by myself. I have God within me helping me. It’s weird and wonderful and unexplainable.

Nicole (13:23):

Unexplainable. It really is. Oh, absolutely.

Sharon (13:27):

So good.

Nicole (13:28):

And it’s funny cause you feel, I feel like that those times when that deep shalom peace comes, it’s usually during the harder times in life.

Sharon (13:35):

It is.

Nicole (13:35):

Like there’s that peace of like a quiet morning with the birds and coffee, Oh, thanks God, what a beautiful world. (Sharon: Mm-hmm) And then there’s that deep seated peace that you cannot manifest on your own that just washes over you. Almost like a warm like shower kind of thing. Like, oh, okay, we can do this. God, you’ve got us and that— (Sharon: Yeah) What a gift that he gives us.

Sharon (13:55):

It is, Paul calls it the peace that passes understanding.

Nicole (13:58):

And he is right. That’s a great description of it.

Sharon (14:00):

It is, you know, it is. Yeah. And you can feel it in the midst of war, which I did when Ray was literally at war.

Nicole (14:05):

Right.

Sharon (14:06):

In the Persian Gulf War. (Nicole: Right) You know, you can still feel that unexplainable peace.

Nicole (14:10):

Oh, absolutely.

Sharon (14:11):

And it’s a gift.

Nicole (14:12):

It is.

Sharon (14:12):

It’s such a gift.

Nicole (14:12):

It really is. Oh

Sharon (14:13):

Man. So we’re gonna only look at two New Testament examples of shalom because of time, but it’s all over the New Testament too. One of them that I just love is Jesus uses this beautiful word right after he heals the woman with the issue of blood who touched the hem of the garment. (Nicole: Oh) So it’s Mark 5:32-34. So, she’s just touched his garment when I enter into the reading, “But he kept on looking around to see who had done it. Then the frightened woman trembling at the realization of what had happened to her, came and fell to her knees in front of him and told him what she had done”. She must have been so scared.

Nicole (14:50):

Oh, I know, right.

Sharon (14:51):

Oh my word. And instead of him being like, why are you doing this? (Nicole: Mm-hmm) He’s like, “he said to her ‘daughter, your faith has made you well, go in peace’. Go in shalom. Your suffering is over. I just love that. Not only are you healed of the, the issue of blood, you know that (Nicole: Right) tormented her. You are whole. You don’t have to feel unclean anymore. You have made peace, may the shalom go with you.

Nicole (15:19):

Ah, and isn’t it just like Jesus to completely heal us? (Sharon: Yes) And we think, she must have thought maybe it just was the issue of blood. That was her, her, you know, ailment. But Jesus healed her in a way that she probably wasn’t expecting. (Sharon: Yeah) Healing from the shame, you are shalom, you are whole, sound, complete. Oh so cool.

Sharon (15:36):

Yeah, yeah.

Nicole (15:36):

Oh, I love it.

Sharon (15:38):

Just beautiful. Just beautiful. So.

Nicole (15:40):

Yeah. So Jesus used that word a lot and so does Paul. It’s one of his favorite greetings and blessings to the churches that he loves. So here’s an example that’s repeated often from 1 Corinthians 1:2-3, “I am writing to God’s church in Corinth, to you who have been called by God to be his own holy people. He made you holy by means of Christ Jesus just as he did for all people everywhere who call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ their Lord and ours. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.” Shalom.

Sharon (16:15):

I’ve started doing this when I do birthdays on Facebook.

Nicole (16:19):

Oh yeah.

Sharon (16:20):

I say grace and peace to you on your birthday. (Nicole: Aww) Because those are words Paul used over and over again. Grace, may you give it and receive it, right. Which is undeserved pardon? So when you’re giving grace to people, you’re like, okay, so you do not deserve how nice I’m being to you after the way you just treated me.

Nicole (16:37):

Right.

Sharon (16:39):

Anymore than I deserve the grace God gave me (Nicole: Mm-hmm) when I have been such a rebellious child. So you offer grace and then shalom. (Mm-hmm) Wellbeing, what I want for you is wholeness. (Yeah) You know, and oh, I just love the word. I just do. So, okay.

Nicole (16:56):

It’s a good word.

Sharon (16:57):

We’re gonna get practical now. How do we practice this Christian attribute of shalom or peace with four different categories? God, family, Christians and non-Christians. And so we’re gonna talk about it with God first. How can we seek God’s shalom? And I really, really think that the key is confession. I have to tell you.

Nicole (17:18):

Oh yeah.

Sharon (17:18):

It is keeping short accounts with God. (Nicole: Yes) If I have a sin between me and God that I have not confessed because I really am ashamed of it and I really don’t wanna talk to him about it, there is no peace. There is no shalom. The wholeness only comes when I am the same inside as I am outside. (Nicole: Yes) When I am transparently me. (Yes) And I’ve talked before about the awful African elephant story in my life. But, but it just, that was such a stark reminder to me of what not telling a sin does for you. I was in England, I’ll just repeat it real quick. We were staying in a borrowed house and, um, I kept wrecking things in their house.

Nicole (17:58):

That’s right.

Sharon (17:59):

So first I borrowed their car and I stripped their gears and they needed a new transmission.

Nicole (18:05):

Oh no, Sharon.

Sharon (18:05):

Well, I did confess that one because how do you not confess that one? The car doesn’t work, right? (Nicole: Mm-hmm) So they fixed the transmission. They were so nice. They didn’t charge me for it. They said, oh, it was going anyways, la la la. So the next thing I do is I open a door, which is a French door that you’re just supposed to pull the knob. It’s a decorative knob, not a turning knob. (Oh)So I just, instead of pulling the knob like I’d done every other time for some bizarre reason, I thought it wouldn’t turn. And I turned it so hard, I broke the knob.

Nicole (18:33):

Oh no.

Sharon (18:34):

Also something I needed to confess. So now I’ve broken two things in one week of living in this home. So I confess it, they fixed the knob. So then the third thing that happens is the guy that had lent us his home, was living in his in-laws’ home so we could have his home for this period of time when we were in England, had gone to Africa. And when he was there, the people on the missions trip had bought him these huge wooden elephants. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) Beautifully carved, I mean, not something I can replace, okay, because I don’t go to Kenya that often. So, so there was a daddy elephant, a mom elephant, and a baby elephant. And they were in their decorative fireplace in like the hearth area.

Nicole (19:15):

Sure. Yeah.

Sharon (19:16):

So the girls and I just decided we’d do ballet in the living room. I’m not sure why. And so we’re flailing our arms and legs around and one of us kicks over the father elephant and breaks his leg. (Nicole: No) Yep. So there’s this broken leg of this elephant I can’t replace. (Yeah) And I did the wrong thing. I put the leg back on the elephant and balanced him there.

Nicole (19:41):

Right.

Sharon (19:42):

And I left it alone.

Nicole (19:43):

Like, nobody touch the elephant.

Sharon (19:45):

Nobody touch the elephant. Nobody go in the living room for the entire time we’re staying there. (NIcole: Right) I never told them. (Oh) And the longer I didn’t tell them, like after we went back home from England, I still hadn’t told them about the elephant. The more I, I lost my relationship with the Lord. (Mm-hmm) God was not happy with me.

Nicole (20:01):

Yeah.

Sharon (20:02):

I had basically lied by omission.

Nicole (20:04):

Right. Right.

Sharon (20:05):

I had damaged their home and I hadn’t told them and small thing, but not to God.

Nicole (20:10):

No.

Sharon (20:10):

No ma’am. I, all the closeness I had with him was shadowed by my guilt (Nicole: Mm-hmm) that I had not done what was right. (Yeah) Out of shame and embarrassment. Took me six months. (Oh) At Christmas I finally wrote them a letter, confessed my sin, sent them $50. I, I don’t know why.

Nicole (20:31):

Right.

Sharon (20:32):

What can I do? I did not fly to Kenya and buy a new one. And then I had my relationship back with the Lord. (Nicole: Oh) But there was, my point is, this was a really long story. My point is that if I want shalom with God (Mm mm) I need to do the right thing. (Yeah) I need to confess to him and to others, there cannot be secrets. (Mm mm) There just can’t. So.

Nicole (20:54):

Oh, so good.

Sharon (20:55):

That’s my example of how to seek shalom with God. (Nicole: Yeah) God knows you’ve sinned. You might as well confess it and move on.

Nicole (21:00):

Why? Why do we think he doesn’t? Or that we can explain it away before like, well, let me just kind of like work it out in myself God, and then I’ll come to you when I think I’ve got it. I always try to do that.

Sharon (21:09):

Yeah.

Nicole (21:10):

You know, even one of my daughters recently had something they wanted to confess and I could tell was bothering them. They were just so, like everything was affected by it. And as soon as they finally told me and they just felt so much better, mom, I feel wonderful. I’m like, yes, honey. Like quick confession is what God wants for us.

Sharon (21:25):

It is.

Nicole (21:25):

And it’s kind of for our sake, it’s not—

Sharon (21:28):

It is.

Nicole (21:28):

It’s not for his benefit. Like he doesn’t get anything out of us telling him.

Sharon (21:32):

God is fine sitting on his throne.

Nicole (21:32):

Right.

Sharon (21:33):

Yes.

Nicole (21:33):

His day is continuing as normal. He wants us to have that peace.

Sharon (21:37):

Right. Right.

Nicole (21:38):

That wholeness with him that we can only have through honesty with him.

Sharon (21:41):

Absolutely.

Nicole (21:42):

It’s for our benefit.

Sharon (21:43):

Yes. So that’s how to have shalom with God.

Nicole (21:46):

Yes. Absolutely.

Sharon (21:47):

Just be you, be real. Confess it.

Nicole (21:48):

Yes. And then when we have that shalom, I think it’s the staying, when we find shalom with God, trusting that God can sustain it, and just staying close to him, keep that, you know?

Sharon (21:56):

Yeah. Yeah. And as many times as we have to confess, which is frequent.

Nicole (22:00):

Mm-hmm. Yes.

Sharon (22:01):

We do it. We just do it.

Nicole (22:02):

Just get it done.

Sharon (22:03):

Okay. Family. What happens when a family has no shalom? You know, because sometimes that happens.

Nicole (22:08):

Yeah.

Sharon (22:08):

So in my case with just a husband at home now, the things that give us shalom in the home is, you know, again the confession, that we don’t hide things from each other, that we’re real with each other. (Nicole: Yeah) Rhythms for Ray and I, (Mm-hmm) we have a Sunday rhythm together. We have, you know, our walking every day rhythm. (Mm-hmm) Having patterns that keep us connected and close (Yeah) give us shalom. And the freedom to tell each other everything, there aren’t secrets between us, is a just a wonderful thing.

Nicole (22:42):

Yeah.

Sharon (22:42):

And I want Ray, I want my Ray to wanna come home.

Nicole (22:45):

Yeah. I always said that.

Sharon (22:46):

I don’t wanna be the kind of wife where the second he gets in the door, I’m like, well, it’s a good thing you’re home because—

Nicole (22:52):

Right. And here’s the list of what you’ve done.

Sharon (22:53):

And he’s like, now I’m leaving.

Nicole (22:55):

Right. This is not fun.

Sharon (22:57):

Right. I want, I want home to be where he wants to be. (Nicole: Mm mm). And that means creating an atmosphere of peace where he’s safe. (Yeah) Where he’s not worried every time that he’s gonna be berated.

Nicole (23:09):

Where they can be themselves.

Sharon (23:10):

Because he’s not perfect, you know?

Nicole (23:11):

Oh yeah.

Sharon (23:12):

So that’s mine. How about you? How do you, with family?

Nicole (23:14):

I think I need to get a poster, say ‘Shalom in the Home’. I really love that.

Sharon (23:18):

Oh, I kind of like it.

Nicole (23:18):

You said that so cute.

Sharon (23:19):

I like it. Yeah.

Nicole (23:20):

Shalom in our home. Yeah. I had asked Josh, I said, what do you think? Like, what are good things that we do? Or what can we do when things feel unpeaceful in our home? And he’s like, slowing down, you know, taking things out of the schedule again, cause we’re in the thick of it with little ones (Sharon: Yes) where you can just keep adding things to the schedule. (Mm-hmm) Oh, it’s a quick little thing here. And just this night a week and then all of a sudden it feels like there’s hurry and there’s no time for that peace. So slowing down, making sure we have family dinners.

Sharon (23:45):

Yes.

Nicole (23:45):

Do you know how many things pop up at family dinners? Even if they’re fairly short ones over frozen pizza, that the kids will tell me about their day. And those, it gives space for those moments for good conversations.

Sharon (23:56):

And that’s the key.

Nicole (23:58):

And that’s when that peace comes. after the kids have confessed or we’ve talked about a big issue or something.

Sharon (24:02):

Yeah. Yeah.

Nicole (24:02):

So for us, slow down, and then we are, we have a few rhythms set up. We’re trying to get more with the kids cause those are so helpful to have a, a schedule, or a pattern of rhythms that we can look all look forward to, you know, like, oh, this is when we all get to rest and catch up on, at this time. So.

Sharon (24:16):

Right. Right. I think they’re important. I do.

Nicole (24:18):

Yeah. Absolutely.

Sharon (24:19):

So, okay. Third category is Christians. The church needs to practice shalom as well. And we can be really bad about that sometimes.

Nicole (24:26):

Why are we so bad at it?

Sharon (24:27):

We can. But part of that is quick confession again with other fellow believers.,

Nicole (24:32):

Yeah, with each other, yep.

Sharon (24:33):

And, um, letting people be them, I think. You know, part of Shalom, a wholeness is, is being you; not having to put on, do you know what I mean?

Nicole (24:44):

Right. Right.

Sharon (24:46):

So if I have a problem, I should be able to share it. (Nicole: Yeah) And sometimes church can feel like the least safe place to share because you feel like you have to be perfect (Right) which is totally the opposite of what church is supposed to be.

Nicole (24:58):

I know.

Sharon (24:59):

It’s supposed to be the place where you can be real.

Nicole (25:01):

And you can confess with each other.

Sharon (25:02):

I’ll never forget Nicole, we were at, it was a little house church we were going to when Ray was stationed at Fort Devens. And we were, we had the sermon and then we had table talk afterwards. People sat at tables and talked. And this lady was shaking like a leaf. (Nicole: Oh) And she said to us, she said, I need prayer right now because I need a fix so badly and I’m here and I’m trying to kick drugs.

Nicole (25:21):

Oh my goodness.

Sharon (25:22):

Okay. So that’s real. (Nicole: Yeah) That’s not wearing your pretty dress and talking about Jesus loves me.

Nicole (25:27):

No. And hiding it all. Right.

Sharon (25:29):

So we did, we laid hands on her. We prayed that, you know, that the cravings would go away. (Nicole: Yeah) That’s, that’s her being able to be herself. (Yes) And feel safe enough to say it. And I think church at its best is when we do that.

Nicole (25:43):

Oh yeah. No, I agree. I was thinking too, just being able to be there to help and comfort in times of trouble.

Sharon (25:49):

Yes.

Nicole (25:50):

Because God comes to us with that shalom in times of trouble and crisis, (Sharon: Uhhuh) and if we as Christians are available and willing to help fellow Christians during times of hardship, that’s a great way to be Jesus to them and help them find that shalom if they’re in the middle of a big storm, speaking God’s peace into their life and being able to actually physically help them with things.

Sharon (26:08):

I love it. Yeah.

Nicole (26:09):

Like laying hands on her and praying for her.

Sharon (26:10):

That was a help.

Nicole (26:12):

Right. That was a help. That was an actual thing to do.

Sharon (26:13):

And when we’re doing like meetings and things like that, and we’re leading them, especially, not to be so rushy and brisk, brusque, (Nicole: Mm-hmm) I think that’s the word, brusque, that we don’t create that peaceful atmosphere.

Nicole (26:27):

Right.

Sharon (26:28):

You know, and I know with our team meetings, one thing that I think is huge is we start with not just, okay, Lord, bless the meeting quick, we gotta get going.

Nicole (26:35):

Right.

Sharon (26:36):

We start with a devotion.

Nicole (26:37):

Yeah.

Sharon (26:37):

We start with an attribute of God, we start with praise. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) We spend, you know, fifteen-ten minutes, ten to fifteen minutes, just honoring God. And that sets to me the shalom tone (Yes) that we need, that it’s not all about us and the stuff we gotta get done.

Nicole (26:55):

Right, and there’s breaks throughout it too, where we even pray more.

Sharon (26:59):

We pray more.

Nicole (26:59):

We’ve created space for the shalom.

Sharon (27:01):

Right.

Nicole (27:01):

Because when we’re stopping to pray, it is such a ‘Okay, catch your breath’.

Sharon (27:06):

Isn’t it? Yeah.

Nicole (27:06):

Hi God, thank you that you did this. (Sharon: Yeah, yeah) Because we could so easily bust through the agenda.

Sharon (27:10):

Oh my goodness.

Nicole (27:11):

Without him and be like, uhhh?

Sharon (27:13):

Yes. Yes. Church should be a place of prayer.

Nicole (27:15):

Absolutely.

Sharon (27:16):

And meetings should be a place of prayer. Christians do life differently.

Nicole (27:18):

Yes.

Sharon (27:18):

The more we pray, the more we stop and be with God, the more we get done. Our board meeting does that too. We have so much to cover in a board meeting. But we spend the first 45 minutes in prayer.

Nicole (27:29):

That’s so good.

Sharon (27:29):

And amazingly the rest all happens.

Nicole (27:33):

It does.

Sharon (27:33):

Because we’ve, we’ve come to a point of worship and quiet.

Nicole (27:37):

Right.

Sharon (27:37):

So anyways, that’s how we do it with Christians, I think. And lastly, what about non-Christians? How do we show shalom to non-Christians. And the best I could come up with there was my home. (Nicole: Yeah) I want my home to be a place where strangers can come and immediately feel like I want ’em there. (Yeah) Where, you know, people will be like, should I take off my shoes? And it, and it’s okay if you’re the kind of person that makes people take off their shoes.

Nicole (28:01):

Right. Doesn’t mean you’re un-shalom-y.

Sharon (28:03):

Okay. That’s alright. But I like to say no, you know, and stick ’em on the furniture if you want. You know? (Nicole: Right) Be you. (Yeah) Be you here and here’s the fridge. Open it up, grab what you need. (Yeah) You know, I just want that kind of atmosphere where they’re not afraid to touch things.

Nicole (28:19):

Right. Oh yeah.

Sharon (28:20):

Right.

Nicole (28:21):

That does make it more comfortable just to come in.

Sharon (28:22):

What do you think, what are some other ways to show Shalom to unbelievers?

Nicole (28:26):

Yeah. They, they’re watching us more than ever. They’ve always been watching us. (Sharon: Mm-hmm) They do. (Mm-hmm) And I think how we handle difficult times in crisis, how we we’re gonna, we’re gonna freak out our knee jerk reaction. ‘Oh no, this is terrible’. (Yeah. Yes) But how we recover and how we allow that shalom to abide in our hearts and then shine out, I think is huge.

Sharon (28:44):

Yes. Yes.

Nicole (28:46):

Like, okay, everyone’s freaking out, but that lady’s not freaking out. Why is she not freaking out? Shalom. It’s Jesus!

Sharon (28:52):

Exactly. It is.

Nicole (28:53):

And I think living out that peace is such a great testimony to them, you know?

Sharon (28:57):

It is. It is.

Nicole (28:58):

But being brave enough to show that.

Sharon (29:00):

Yeah. Yeah. I think that’s lovely. I remember a man that died recently in our church and our pastor said, he was trying to comfort the doctors. The doctors are like, we’re so sorry. There’s nothing else we can do for your cancer. And he is like, it’s okay, don’t worry. You know? I mean, why? Because he knew where he was going.

Nicole (29:19):

Yeah.

Sharon (29:19):

And that honestly, the end of life can be an incredible time to show Shalom. (Nicole: Yeah) Because we know we’re stepping out of these broken bodies and we’re walking into heaven. (Wow) Man. So I hope I really do death. well some day.

Nicole (29:34):

I know. We should start praying now for it. Lord, prepare me for death well.

Sharon (29:37):

Cause I also pray for the Abraham death, which is dying at a ripe old age with shalom in my heart. Yeah, sounds good.

Nicole (29:44):

God, if I’m in the hospital dying of cancer, help me to have some shalom.

Sharon (29:47):

Exactly. Oh man. Well, it is time to pray. So let us, let us pray. Oh, Father God, how I praise you that you are the God of Shalom. That you offer us wellness, fullness, healing, total peace within us because there’s a way to deal with the yuck. You take it, you cleanse us, you make us free. Thank you so much, Lord God. This week, Father, when any one of us feels frazzled and hurried and crabby, would you just breathe shalom into us? It’s a gift of the Spirit, Lord. Peace is a gift and a fruit. And I just pray that that fruit would blossom in each one of us this week. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Nicole (30:41):

Amen. Oh, Sharon, how I want my children and family to experience Shalom in their lives. I want to walk in it myself too. How about you listeners? Any ideas on how to think differently about shalom the unexplainable peace? What can we do to increase shalom? We’d love to hear from you. Write us about shalom. Send us your voice clip or email telling us who you are and how you discovered our podcast and what you like about it. Tell us how we can improve it. We really want to hear from you. Pray for our podcast party on Saturday too, please. We want it to honor God and all He has done. We’re so grateful God chose us, two average women, to study the Word with you. And speaking of that, come back next week for episode 101, Practicing Patience. Oh boy. I know. I’m going to learn a lot from this one. Until then, shalom, friends.

Speaker 1 (31:34):

We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found@sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for joining us.you for joining us.