Finding Peace - Amy Schisler

A couple weeks ago, we set out on an evening adventure to see the Neowise comet. The outing was a bust. There was too much cloud cover; and, with no visible stars, we weren’t sure we had the right angle. It was a pleasant evening, though, sitting on the dock, listening to music and talking as we waited to see if the clouds would make way for the brightest comet to appear in our skies in over a quarter century. We didn’t see the comet, but we were treated to a beautiful twilight sky, and we certainly couldn’t complain about that!

Though we weren’t able to see Neowise that night, we were undeterred. We looked at the weather forecast and chose another night two days hence. We anxiously awaited our next attempt, and guess what…

You would never know it by the picture, but we did see the comet! Through a telescope and also binoculars, we were able to identify it above the trees. It was so thrilling, and we were all four excited, clamoring for our turn at one viewer or another.

The entire ride back to the house, we talked about what we saw, what it looked like, how cool it was to be able to witness something so unique, and how lucky we were to do it together.

For two evenings, we sat on a dock, overlooking the calm, rippling mirror of water, talking, singing, joking, and admiring the view. For a little while, we forgot about the rest of the world, the riots, the virus, the fear, and the unknown. We were one with the sea and sky (to paraphrase a line from Frozen’s Elsa), and it was a glorious gift.

Amidst all of the angst going on in the world, we have one daughter back in school, one leaving this weekend, and another planning her wedding. Life has been chaotic to say the least. What a blessing it was to have a couple evenings of solitude and peace. I believe that God knew we needed that. He knew we needed some quiet time to be together and focus on something beyond this world.

Think about it. This comet is truly beyond this world in more ways than one. It was not made by man; it was made through the will of God. It was not manufactured in a lab but has been around since the creation of the universe itself. Comets are snowballs–ice mixed with gases and dust–that are remnants of the cosmic phenomena that created everything. No matter what some may say, there is only one cosmic phenomenon powerful enough, intelligent enough, and good enough to create everything in existence in just an instant. Whether that “instant” took place in one massive bang or over the course of seven days, it came about through some sort of intelligent design.

The point is, there are times in life when we just need peace. We need rest. We need to be cut off from the world, to quiet our minds and give rest to our souls. It is at those times, in those little moments, when we can forget the chaos and disorder of everything around us and find the quiet, the peace, the sheer beauty of just being. It is in those same moments when we can sit back, relax, and know that God has this. God will make everything right. He will bring order and right to the world. I know it’s easy to doubt. It’s easy to give into fear. It’s easy to ask, where is God right now? But in His time, for His purpose, at His will, everything will be made right. “For God is not a God of disorder but of peace” (1 Corinthians 14:33).

May you find your moment of peace today.

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Amy Schisler is an award-winning author of both children’s books and sweet, faith-filled romance novels for readers of all ages. She lives with her husband and three daughters on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Her books, Picture Me, Whispering Vines, and Island of Miracles are all recipients of Illumination Awards, placing them among the top inspirational fiction books of 2015, 2016, and 2017. Whispering Vines was awarded the 2017 LYRA Award for the best romance of 2016. Island of Miracles has outsold all of Amy’s other books worldwide and ranked as high as 600 on Amazon. Her follow up, Island of Promise is a reader favorite. Amy’s children’s book is The Greatest Gift. The suspense novel, Summer’s Squall, and all of Amy’s books, can be found online and in stores. Her latest novel, Island of Promise, was recently awarded First Prize by the Oklahoma Romance Writer’s Association as the best Inspirational Romance of 2018 and was awarded a Gold Medal in the Independent Publisher Book Awards 2019 for Inspirational Fiction. It is the 2019 winner for Best Inspirational Fiction in the RWA Golden Quill Contest, Best Romance in the American Book Awards, and a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Award of Fiction. Amy’s 2019 work, The Devil’s Fortune, a finalist in the Writer’s Digest Self-Publishing Awards and winner of an Illumination Award, is based, in part, on Amy’s family history. The third book of Amy’s Chincoteague Island Trilogy, Island of Hope, was released in August of 2019.