I Give You My Peace

I have some links for you guys. I had originally posted them on my Facebook wall but as I looked through the images, some of them, honestly, were a little too disturbing/upsetting to put out on FB like that. However, some of them are breathtakingly beautiful and stunning and gutwrenching and.......wow, it has been quite a year in this world. I can't not share them.

There are 3 Parts:
The Year in Photos Part 1 of 3
The Year in Photos Part 2 of 3
The Year in Photos Part 3 of 3

I don't know why my reaction to some of these surprised me so much but I just found myself thankful that God sees all of this and knows what we are going through.
He has a solution,
a light at the end of the tunnel, if you will, that is available to everyone.

There are days that I find myself feeling much like the Israelites might have been when Jesus first came:

Save me Jesus! Take me away from here!

But what if He did that every time we called out to Him? Who would step up and be Light in a world of darkness, evil, tragedy, selfishness and sin? Who would be the Hope?

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33

It's a promise. We have images like the ones I linked to going on all around us. More than images, events. Events so graphic that they will forever attempt to poison our hearts.

But take heart! The Lord has overcome! He has warned us it will not be easy but He reminds us to have Hope. He even tells us the end of the story! (See the Book of Revelation.)

So despite the fact that you can find end of the year lists for some of the worst and saddest news stories of the year but have a hard time finding even one story containing the Uplifting News Stories of 2011 (perhaps for a blog post you are currently writing) I still encourage you to take heart! HE has overcome the world!!