The Prince of Peace Restoration

By Mary Hudson

You may not have peace in your family or your life during this Christmas season, but God is an expert in turning your life around.

Never give up on Him.

The world might try meditation or cutting out sugar to find inner tranquility (not a bad idea, especially after Christmas), but peace-seeking efforts such as those don’t bring lasting results. Only Jesus is your solution here. He is the Prince of Peace, or shalom, a word that means, wholeness, completeness, restoring things that ought to be.

Do you have anything in your life that needs restoration?

During the 1970s I was an antique dealer in the moors of England; we would find an old 18th century desk in someone’s back room in a cottage and buy it. The patina was gone, it looked rough, but you could tell by the wooden dowels holding it together that it was original. We would take it to the master refinisher, and he would carefully clean it then wax it until it reached its former glory. Its value came out and the piece was restored and sought after.

A Time of Fasting and Feasting

When God created Adam and Eve, there was true peace. Everything was shalom. There was no strife; they got along, and they enjoyed life in the garden of Eden. God was walking with them in the cool of the day. There was an open relationship. But then, what happened? The enemy came in and brought a kingdom of chaos. This is rooted in a broken relationship with God. However, God had only just begun. He then sent his son to restore his peace back to Earth, which is why we celebrate Christmas, to mark the birth of the savior of the world.

Other religions have great teachers, but none offer eternal salvation.

The word Christmas comes from the Old English term ‘cristes maesse’ which means “Christ’s mass.” Medieval Christians began observing Jesus’s birth with Advent, four Sundays before Christmas. This was a solemn time of fasting. The twelve days after Christmas were a time of celebration and feasting, ending on January 6. Christians looked forward to the midnight mass of Christmas Eve with great anticipation, since it marked the transition from fasting to feasting.

Check out Colossians 3:15 in the Bible: “The inner calm of one who walks daily with Him, to this peace you were called…” this is what the Prince of Peace does, he brings you back into a relationship with God. Jesus came to restore the day the locusts have eaten.

All you have to do is come back to Him.

In Search of Peace

As the first female reporter for KTMS, the former Santa Barbara News-Press radio station, I was loving my life in the late ‘70s here, running around reporting on whatever could grab listeners’ attention. I had moved back to Santa Barbara from Rhodesia, where I was living in a tempestuous marriage, and before that in England, to try to find peace in my life.

But the Holy Spirit had other plans.

In 1977, I moved to another radio announcing job in Las Vegas, to a new 50,000-watt start-up station there. Reporters arrived from all over the western states. We covered the death of Elvis Presley, and Howard Hughes’s contested “will.” Unfortunately, the owner of the station arrived after just six weeks and told us we were all fired; they had run out of money to finance the station.

No peace there.

I went back to my apartment. looking over my balcony. I could see this odd shaped geodesic dome building in the distance. Somehow, I knew it was a church. Desperate for a solution in a city I had no relationship with, I went over there on a Sunday morning and listened to the service. I filled out a contact slip but made no commitments. I soon learned that these Assembly of God Christians don’t give up easily. They sent out follow-up teams for first-time visitors every Tuesday night, and I was on their list. When I heard the knock on my door, I was apprehensive but opened it to find three church members standing in the hall ready to explain the Gospel to me.

They did exactly that.

The Surrender

Finally, they asked if I wanted to ask Jesus to come into my heart, and I promptly said “No!” Their follow-up question was, “Where would you go if you died tonight?” That was it. Being raised as a half-breed church goer at All Saints by-the-Sea in Montecito with my mother, and Easter and Christmas at Mt. Carmel with my dad, I knew heaven and hell were real.

I surrendered to the Lord and asked Jesus in my heart. He was so real. Immediately I no longer wanted to party, drink, or go out with my boyfriend. The conversion was dramatic, and my peace was tangible. Two years later, I met my husband, Keith. Forty-five years now, three children and two churches in Santa Barbara have brought great peace to us after following the Prince of Peace.

Chaos always tries to rear its ugly head, but surrendering to Jesus in prayer always brings a heavenly solution. Consider asking him to bring you his answers to your situation this Christmas season. It will mark a turning point in your life.

The merriest of Christmases to you and always keep in mind: He is the reason for this season.

•••

Mary and Keith have started a worship celebration every Sunday night at the Montecito Library on East Valley Road. The gathering, (not a church) begins at 6 pm. right next to El Montecito Presbyterian Church; there is good parking in the back of the building.