Grace and Peace

At the moment it feels a bit like the world is spinning far too fast, there is too much going on in my life, and I would just like an extra week or so to catch up and get back on track…but we all know that's not going to happen any time soon.

A while ago when wrestling with the deep question of how best to sign off emails - just my name; yours sincerely / faithfully seemed a little formal; God bless… - I was reading through the New Testament and noted that Paul often uses the phrase 'Grace and peace' in his introduction to a lot of his letters. I thought that this was a great phrase - both a reminder of God's grace and peace, but also a prayer that goes with the email that the recipient would know God's grace and peace - particularly relevant with some emails that I send.

But in the middle of all the busyness and stress of these last few days it has been a real encouragement and also a challenge for me to write those words. Whatever is going on we believe that God is in control, that he is working out his plans and his purposes, and he has promised that he will be with us. It's great to be able to remind others of God's grace and peace in what they're going through. Sometimes I need to be reminded that this applies to me too.