Like most busy moms, I feel like it’s hard to find peace. The kids are running around making messes, I have a million things to do, and the chaos exponentially increases. The more I try to do it all, the more I fail, and the more I need to remind myself I can’t do it all by myself.

I think that’s why 2 Peter 1:2 resonated so much with me recently. “May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.”

I really like how Priscilla Shirer presented it during the Going Beyond Simulcast last month: It’s a multiplication of grace and peace–it’s exponential. And the world can’t take it away.

Defining Peace and Grace

Priscilla also took the time to explain the meaning of peace and grace:

• Peace: the potential for calm in the midst of chaos. In the midst of a storm, it keeps you steady–like an anchor.
• Grace: an engine, an encourager, a second wind. God’s unmerited favor towards you. It saves you and sustains you.

Grown-Up Grace

Priscilla went on to talk about the concept of grown-up grace, with the context of 2 Corinthians 12, where Paul talks about the thorn in his flesh. He prays that God will take it away, but instead it remains. God uses it to show Paul that His grace is sufficient, multiplied, and perfect in our weakness.

We may not have physical thorns in our flesh, but we do have pain that makes things harder. But as Priscilla pointed out, if God took away our thorns, we wouldn’t get to experience his grace multiplying. That’s where we experience Him the most–during difficulty.

As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 9:8, “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.”

Taking Advantage of the Gift

Going back to 2 Peter, Priscilla pointed out that there are magnificent promises in everything you face, for life and godliness. Peter says, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.” God has already given us everything we need. We just need to turn to God to take advantage of it. 

I think it’s worth pointing out that “just” is much easier said than done. I know I have a tendency to get distracted by other things, caught up in everything I have to do. But the times I do slow down and focus on God, He multiplies grace and peace beyond what I can do on my own. I still don’t “get it all done,” but I feel calmness and peace that I know doesn’t come from me.