Peace Like a River

     As a child, I remember singing "I've Got Peace Like a River" (sorry: couldn't find a really good, simple version) along with the other kids in church.  I love the message: Absolute freedom in the Lord.  Yet, I've been far from that freedom lately.  I've been rocked by circumstance after circumstance.  My emotions were in control the past few weeks, as I battled the flu, then struggled through my newest running issue: Hip bursitis.  I have stressed through exams and grappled for control that should be God's.
     It was yesterday, in the middle of all this chaos, that I remembered my volunteering experience a few weeks ago.  I met a young woman who was blind.  She also happened to be a very gifted pianist.  She was excited to show me her ability on the piano.  So when it was her turn, she sat down at the bench and motioned for me to join her.
     "Do you know 'Peace like a River,'" she asked me?  "I do," I responded enthusiastically.  "It's one of my favorites!"  She said she loved to sing, but had a quiet voice.  "I'll sing along then, if that's ok," I offered.  She nodded and began to play.
     As her slender fingers brushed the keys, I was swept with the power of the Holy Spirit.  All week, I had been struggling with the rush and roar of life.  Trials and lies of the devil had been surrounding me on all sides.   There, in a classroom at the school for the blind, I was finally able to breathe in.  I breathed in the peace and joy of God that I'd been restlessly scrambling to find all week.  It came in that simple moment as her voice quietly echoed the lyrics, "I've got peace like a river in my soul."  Peace was what I'd been missing.  I'd been striving to find it, and there it was: In the simplest of forms.
     As I began to sing along with my new friend, I heard what I can best describe as a "glimpse of Heaven."  Around the living room area of this classroom, four or five voices piped up.  They began quietly but grew as each one joined in.  Some were wildly off pitch and others were hushed and beautiful, but all the voices created a sweet melody to Christ.
     I will never forget the sweet joy of of the father that I saw in that precious time with my new friends.  Their joy and peace blessed me by exhibiting the love of my heavenly father, who I was so desperately missing during the days of searching for Him.  I found that I really just needed to be still and listen.  And as I listened to those young and eager voices singing of the peace, joy and love of God- I heard Him.