Tim Keller says that peace is the confident trust in God’s control over your life. The opposite of peace is anxiety.

For most people, parents especially, obtaining that peace is a daily battle. It seems like anxiety is the norm, rather than the exception. My friend and collector Ale says the hardest thing about being a mom is the worry she feels for her two boys, Noah and Samuel. You worry that they’ll get sick, she says, or that someone will hurt them. You worry about how you're performing as a parent, and if what you're doing now will permanently damage your kids. On the flip side, you worry about the fact that you have absolutely no control over their lives.

You worry to gain control and then worry because you have none. It's enough to drive anyone insane and rob them of the joys of being a parent.

But there's hope. Ale says that prayer is the ways she deals with her fears. She believes that God has absolute control over her children's lives, and that He is good and she can trust Him. My other collector Kristen puts it like this: she says she couldn't even be a mom without her faith. There are too many things to worry about. It's the belief that God loves and her and her girls even more than she does that allows her to put her trust in Him.

Ultimately, the source of all of our worries is a lack of belief in God's promises. We just don't trust Him, with our lives or the lives of those we love. Thankfully, His goodness is not dependent on our faith (or lack thereof). But still, wouldn't it be great to say with absolute confidence that no matter what, God is totally and wholeheartedly for me and will work all things out for my (and my kids’) good?

That, my friends, is peace.