Have you ever truly thought about what the word “peace” means?  What does peace look like in your day to day life?  Is it knowing you have a family, home, car, money, career or is it something you still can’t seem to find in this chaotic world we call life?  I think peace is a powerful word that many people take for granted or don’t care to grasp the concept of the word.  However, I believe you cannot live an abundant life without a sense of peace.  I have mentioned before that I’m doing a Bible study from the book Life Is _ _ _ _ by Judah Smith and one of the chapters is entitled “Life is to be at Peace with God.”  It has really made me think about the word peace and what it means to me in my life.  Judah states, “When we discover peace with God, we discover peace that filters down into every area of life.  We find peace despite our mistakes and failures.  We find peace in the midst of our difficult situations.  We become peaceful people, restful people, beautiful people.  When everything is right with God, everything is right with the world.”  I struggle with peace in my life through uncertainty, identity and failures.

As this baseball season is nearing the end, I have found myself referring back to this chapter frequently and praying I can understand reasons for things and have a sense of peace.  For me, its hard to have a sense of peace during baseball season because of every uncertainty that comes with it.  At any point, a player can be told your released and that means no more paycheck and the fact that your dream to play baseball might be over.  Also, you can be traded, called up or down or go to a lower level when you have already had time in the big leagues.  The uncertainty of this lifestyle is endless, but it is all in perspective on how you decide you will deal with it.  I like the saying “roll with the punches.”  Growing up, I was always the friend who was laid back and went with the flow.  I was very carefree and thought the world will never get me down.  Now, I feel as if I “roll with the punches,” but I still struggle with the reality of this lifestyle simply because there’s nothing you can do about anything.  I can’t go out there and catch S’s pitches, field his ground balls, catch his pop ups, dive for the hits in the gap!  (Even though it could be quiet humorous)

Identity can be something very hard for any wife of a professional athlete.  You get pushed to the side because all people want is your husband’s autograph and no sense of the woman behind such a great man.  The woman while her husband is on the road is back in a town across the country doing his laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping for his return, doing finances, etc.  The woman who when he has a bad game she’s there to tell him it happens to everybody you will get them next time and bakes him brownies to see him smile.  The woman who loads up the car after spring training and drives 20 hours to the new job site.  The woman who loads up the car and moves out of the apartment by herself after he is moved up, down or traded.  (You get my point)  I decided after getting married I wanted to be with my husband and travel and that is the peace I have with my identity.  I’m more than just Scott Copeland’s wife….

• I’m a friend
• I’m a daughter
• I’m a granddaughter
• I’m a sister
• I’m a financial guru
• I’m a writer
• I’m a cook
• I’m a budgeter
• I’m a traveler
• I’m domesticated
• I’m a professional packer
• I’m able and willing to make sacrifices
• I’m an awesome driver in 2 countries
• I’m a navigation system in both the US and Canada
• I’m created in God’s image
• I’m a child of God

Yes, most importantly I’m a child of God who knows me by name.

Lastly, it is hard for to find peace with failures in life.  When things are not going your way you seem to think you have failed at life but what if we turned that failure around into something positive.  Isn’t that what life is about?  If you fail, learn from it and move on.  God does not expect us to be perfect because sin came into this world and the cross made us flawless.  Judah states, “In fact, much of life on this planet seems to be a search:  for purpose, for significance, for identity, for acceptance, for belonging, for confidence, for satisfaction.  If I could sum it up in a word, I would say we are searching for peace.  We are looking for an authentic, permanent, all-encompassing sense that everything is okay.  That we are going to make it.  That things will work out.  Ironically, this searching for peace is stressful.  Life can be confusing, contradictory, and uncertain, and the tension of trying to make sense of it wears us down.”  I love this because it hits the nail right on the head.  The search for peace cannot be found in this world because we have to look to God.  He’s the only one who can provide true peace to such a hurting world.

I wake up every morning with a peace that no matter what the day holds God is with me no matter if its in New York, California, Canada, Dominican Republic, Taiwan, Japan or wherever this crazy nomadic lifestyle takes me.  I can see him guiding me through it all and know that peace comes from Him.  He is the giver of true peace!

Thanks for reading!

XOXO,

HC