Encouragement from Romans 5 + A Brief Announcement

Hello, readers!

I hope you are all having a lovely summer. I know that posts on A Purpose and A Promise have been rather erratic lately, but honestly, I've been okay with that. Before, I would have been all stressed out that my posting schedule got messed up, but God's been teaching me a lot lately, and that's included the real meaning of peace. Peace isn't always calm and quiet; it's isn't always the feeling that everything will turn out alright for you. To a degree, peace is knowing that God is in control and trusting fully in that promise, no matter what. At least, that's what God has been showing me about peace lately. 

Reading in Romans 5 has been a real encouragement lately- not only about peace, but about the hope we have as children of God, why there are trials in our lives and how they actually are for our benefit, and a reminder of the best news of all- how Jesus gave His life so ours could be reconciled to God. The first eleven verses are below, but you can read the whole chapter here.

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. // Romans 5: 1-11 

That said, I do have a small announcement. I will be taking an official break from posting on A Purpose and A Promise for at least three weeks, perhaps a little more. At the moment, I'm not planning on stopping indefinitely, but I think hiatuses are good for everyone. =) I wanted to say it in an actual post, instead of just abandoning the blog for a month. No, I haven't come close to doing that this month.

Thanks again for reading, following, and commenting on A Purpose and A Promise! I have been so blessed by my wonderful readers for this year and a half, learning and growing on this adventure. 

Have a wonderful remainder of your summer, blessed with peace that can only come from Jesus. ♥