Embracing Life's Seasons: 31 Days of December Peace

December 20, 2013 By Stanton Lanier Leave a Comment

The 31 Days of December Peace eBook is available for only $4.99. Download at stantonlanier.com or the Amazon Kindle Store.

“For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.”
– Ecclesiastes 3:1

I remember December 2000 like it was yesterday. I was graduating from nursing school with hopes to start caring for children at a local pediatric hospital. I had met the man of my dreams, and knew that God had finally led me to my future husband. My family was looking forward to celebrating our first Christmas at our new mountain home in beautiful Blue Ridge, Georgia. It was as if God had brought everything together in perfect harmony.

I had also finished an amazing year of Bible study learning the foundations to live out my faith, and was so encouraged each week by watching God’s work take place in the relationships and lives around me. Celebrating Christmas this year felt different. Snow brought a rare white Christmas. Most vividly, there was a December Peace in my family, not only for me, but also for my sister and my parents. My twin sister had also met her future husband, and my parents were happier than I had ever remembered.

I paused and reflected on the above scripture found in Ecclesiastes 3:1 during this season. I was so thankful for this SEASON I was in, so thankful for this time to embrace, this time to quit searching, this time to love, and this time of peace.

It was in January 2001 when I felt God telling me a different season was coming. I remember thinking He was probably preparing me for my new life with a career, living independently from my parents, and taking care of all my own needs. I remember reflecting in my Bible studies. I had not had a true season in my life where I had to learn about true faith. Maybe this new season would be my time of refinement and growth.

It was January 8 when suddenly my season changed. My amazing mother passed away at the young age of 53. It was not the season I was expecting to go through. I had not focused on “a time to grieve” or “a time to cry” previously. It was through God’s incredible grace I was given that December Peace as the year 2000 came to a close. My life continues with many different seasons. To this day, I look back on that December with such gratitude and hope for the future. This season was “defining” for me personally. It brought me to a new place spiritually. I learned firsthand of my dependence on God to give me that peace that surpasses all understanding. I don’t look back with anger or bitterness. I look back with gratitude. Gratitude for an amazing mother who walked with me for my first 23 years. Gratitude for God teaching me to embrace each season of life. He has taught me how to weather each season that comes, focus my thoughts on what is true and good, and find JOY even when it is not the season I was expecting or looking for.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 ~ A Time for Everything

For everything there is a season,
a time for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest. A time to kill and a time to heal.
A time to tear down and a time to build up. A time to cry and a time to laugh.
A time to grieve and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
A time to search and a time to quit searching.
A time to keep and a time to throw away. A time to tear and a time to mend.
A time to be quiet and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate.
A time for war and a time for peace.

12/19/13 – 31 Days of December Peace

December 18, 2013 By Stanton Lanier Leave a Comment

The 31 Days of December Peace eBook is available for only $4.99. Download at stantonlanier.com or the Amazon Kindle Store.

Peace took on new meaning for my family in 2004. That December found us holding our first and then only daughter, Hayley, close in our arms, day after day, as we awaited her final breath. Years of faith, prayers of loved ones, and Scripture-inspired music surrounded us daily and reminded us of the eternity we one day would share together; the knowledge of Hayley’s imminent death, though, remained wrenching. I remember constantly kissing her forehead, as I had a lifetime of love to fit into an unknown, but certainly short, number of days. I wanted the warmth of her cheek on mine and the memory of holding this cherished gift from God to be etched on my heart forever.

Hayley would pass away from an aggressive form of leukemia on December 19, 2004, having been home under hospice care for several weeks. A year filled with hospital rooms, intense chemotherapy, more than 60 blood and platelet transfusions, full-body irradiation, and a cord blood transplant would come to an end that evening with our daughter taking her last breath…six weeks before her second birthday.
December Peace is His Peace. His Peace brought tears of joy to my eyes and compelled my heart to sing praise as my precious daughter smiled, took her last breath, and left this world forever. His Peace was joy amidst anguish.

His Peace continues to turn my fear, anger and confusion into faith, love and compassion, and helps me look forward for comfort rather than backward for explanations. And it is His Peace that now fills my Decembers with visions of my baby girl running into His arms.

This life is full of difficult, sometimes nearly impossible-to-bear circumstances. His Peace reminds me that there is an eternity beyond what we can imagine. His Peace reminds me that all that is ahead is so much greater than anything we will leave behind. His Peace reminds me that He is in control AND that I am loved.

His Peace frees me. His Peace brings me to contentment, even when my heart aches… especially in December.

Singing in the Ocean Deeps

October 29, 2013 By Stanton Lanier 4 Comments

You can listen to Singing in the Ocean Deeps from the new album Open Spaces at stantonlanier.com, iTunes, Amazon MP3 and many other outlets. I can remember visiting Myrtle Beach, South Carolina as a young boy growing up in North Carolina. There were no condos or tall buildings on the beach. It was just sand and camp grounds. That was my first time to hear the ocean waves. The sights and sounds of beach and ocean invited me into their wonder and adventure through the whispers of gentle breeze. Then we moved to the Florida panhandle just before my eleventh birthday, and I was introduced to another new world — the Gulf of Mexico, with the finest white sands, sea oats swaying, and gorgeous shades of blue and green waters, sending smaller waves on shore than the Atlantic. Little did I know that Psalm 8, which entered my life about twenty years ago (and happened to be twenty years after those boyhood memories), would tie together the wonder and mystery of the ocean with a piano melody expressing the marvelous ocean deeps, with its whales symbolized by French horn (my new friend Richard “Gus” Sebring, Principal French Horn for the Boston Pops Orchestra joins me on the recording, as piano and horn dance like oceans and whales). Psalm 8 (NIV) opens “Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.” Then, a little ways down, in the words of The Message Bible…”You put us in charge of your handcrafted world, repeated to us your Genesis-charge, Made us lords of sheep and cattle, even animals out in the wild, Birds flying and fish swimming, whales singing in the ocean deeps. God, brilliant Lord, your name echoes around the world.” What is your favorite ocean animal which symbolizes peace, rest, and beauty to you? Think about this as you view this new music video. Enjoy!