Peace in the Midst of Chaos

This month I was blessed with the opportunity to take a trip to Italy with my family. Prior to leaving, I was unsuccessfully trying to pull myself out of a space of being misaligned and overwhelmed. So when I left for Italy, I asked God for one thing–that the trip would be filled with peace and leave me feeling rejuvenated. I knew this trip wasn’t just a necessary moment for me to slip away from all my work responsibilities, it was also an opportunity for me to reset and recharge, something I so desperately needed. So, I prayed for peace.

But God is funny, because he must have interpreted my prayer request wrong. He must have heard me say, “Lord teach me to have peace when everything is going batsh*t crazy.” That’s not what I prayed for, but that’s exactly what happened. 

It all started at the JFK airport when they announced our flight was delayed. Now, any other time it wouldn’t bother me. But I had been reading about the mayhem that has plagued airports and travel schedules post pandemic - and it’s not pretty. So when I heard, “delayed” the hair on my neck perked up just a tad. 

What resulted next was an hour-delayed flight to Munich, Germany, (and once there) a mad dash up stairs, on trams, and between people with two Olympic sized carry-ons. Only to make it to our gate and hear the attendant tell us there’s nothing we can do, “the door is closed” (que Nene from RHOA). With sweat dripping down my back and my husband dropping the bags in exhaustion, I was crushed—but not defeated. Then problem solving kicked in. We asked the attendant what to do next, and she told us we’d have to go to the “help desk located at D23”. Yall, we were at D3, D23 is where we sprinted from!!

Again, crushed, but not defeated.

When we got to D23 we were greeted by THE longest line we’d ever seen (At that point. Later in the trip we’d see an even longer line at the Amsterdam airport when our flight was canceled). 

We stood in that line for 2.5 hours. In that time, I made friends with other passengers and we were all on chat lines, phone calls and ear hustling conversation trying to hear how others were maneuvering through this situation. Then the update came, “Your flight will leave tomorrow moring at 10:30am.” 

Say, what? You mean I have to stay in Munich overnight and forgo TWO days on the Amalfi Coast??? Not on my peaceful vacation!

That’s when I looked at my husband with tears welling in my eyes and said, “I think I’m about to break”. It was as if God never heard my prayer for peace, and had left me high and dry. So naturally, I called the only one I knew who could get my mind right. My mom (y'all thought I was going to say God, huh? lol). And do you know what this woman said, “Did you pray about it?”

What?! No, I didn’t pray about it! At that point, I didn’t even know what to pray for! I had done everything I could to fix the situation and I was still in a long a** line, challenged with the potential reality of losing two days of my trip, and out about €500, and filled with anything but peace. 

But, per usual, my mom asked a valid question, “Did you pray about it?” So with my eyes closed I said a prayer asking God to make a way and bring me peace, because I was at my wits end. 

And do you know what happened? My mood did a 360. So much so that the people around me started saying “I’m trying to figure out why you’re so happy, what changed?!” In reality, nothing had changed. The only thing that changed was that I invited God into the situation and took my hands out of it. 

I invited God into the situation and took my hands out of it. 

The end result: We not only made it to Italy that day, we flew into the airport closer to where we wanted to be, got a discount on our driver, and didn’t miss any time on our trip. The best part about it all, I learned a valuable lesson that I carried with me throughout our time in Europe. 

The only way to find peace in the midst of chaos is by putting your request in God’s hands with confidence. 

During our time in Italy we experienced delayed flights, missed connections, canceled flights, taxi strikes, the loss of money due to missed reservations (thanks to said taxi strikes), we even had to book a new Airbnb while still having an additional Airbnb reservation in place!!! Y’all! The amount of opportunities we encountered to turn our trip upside down, to have me in a place of despair, to open up the door for my husband and I to be at each other’s throats were ENDLESS (and I’m putting that mildly).

Learning how to find peace when things weren’t going my way, allowed me to enjoy the peaceful vacation I prayed for.

This is what I learned:

Take a Breath

Yo, these situations were WILD. I mean, it took everything for both of us not to throw our hands up and scream our lungs out. When things get chaotic, take a breath. Don’t let your situation get the best of you. Decision making gets cloudy when you’re on 10. Take a breath and bring yourself down to at least a  5 (lol). Ecclesiastes 7:9 (NLV)

Control your Controllables

Ok, so I actually got this from watching Naked and Afraid, but that’s besides the point. In every challenge I faced, I did everything that was in my control. God will do his part, but he also expects me to do mine. Doing so sets the stage for the miracle that will follow, and gives you a better appreciation for how God is able to make a way when you can’t figure it out yourself. James 2:7 (NLV)

With Confidence, Give it to God

Crazy enough, this was the hardest part for me. It was hard for me to come to the understanding that I couldn’t solve the problem. That I couldn’t make the taxi strike end, that I couldn’t book a flight home with less than two layovers, that no matter how much I rationalized I couldn’t get reimbursed for tour reservations we’d planned in advance. It was all out of my control. I did everything I could do and I had to hand it over to God. But here’s the thing, with every “setback” I grew stronger. I found myself laughing everytime we encountered a new challenge and I started handing things over to God (with confidence) in the quickness! Philippians 4:6-7

Accept the Outcome

You would think this was the hardest part, but because I gave my chaos to God in confidence, I already set myself up to have peace in whatever happened next. The bus ride turned into a chance to see different parts of Rome, the canceled flight turned into an opportunity to stay the night in Amsterdam, and the missed reservations opened up the opportunity for us to view other attractions that we otherwise would have skipped. And the best part is, I had peace about it all. Isaiah 55:8-9

Life is going to keep ”life’ing” and the ability to find yourself in the midst of a chaotic situation is real, but employing the tactics above (and tweaking them in ways that fit for you), will allow God’s peace to reign supreme in your life!