Peace that surpasses understanding

It is so true that God rescues us to give us Life and a peace that surpasses understanding! Mmm, just read this from Nests Above the Abyss, by Isobel Kuhn.

Sharp Winds from a Bitter Height! There is the Wind of Merciless Heathendom. In 1938, just 30 or 40 miles to the south of us, a young heathen girl killed her husband and eloped with her lover. According to Chinese custom, she had been married (I suppose) against her own will, and when her true love came she eloped with him. They were caught and she was punished by being skinned alive. She was only 18 years old. Poor little wind-torn nest! What a horrible abyss that is! Contrast with that this other little nest, hit by the very same Wind.

Going out along Sunset Trail one evening, I met a fellow villager climbing up laboriously. She was carrying a babe tied in a sling in front of her bosom so that it could nurse easily. On the mother's back was a tall basket full of corn on the cob. The basket was so tall that it towered above her head. As she saw me descending, she rested her load against the hillside and her face lit up with a smile. "Ma-Ma," she said softly, calling me by my Lisu name. "S... !" I replied, greeting her by name. I was deeply moved and said, "How do you come to be carrying such a load? Don't you know that your body is not back to normal yet? This could give you life-long weakness. Where is your husband?"

"Oh, he's at home. But Ma-Ma, you know him. He never does any work -- just lives for the opium pipe. There was no food in the house and the little ones were hungry, so my mother gave me this load, but I have to carry it myself from Pine Mountain." (Pine Mountain is five miles away.)

I was very indignant, for her husband is a big, husky young fellow. "How did you ever come to marry such a man?" I asked.

"Why, Ma-Ma, it was arranged for me. You know our old heathen custom." She went on to tell me of the disappointment to find that the husband chosen for her was almost a devil. He was an opium-smoker, a thief, and would even sell their house furniture when she was absent in order to get money to buy opium. Yet in the telling of this her face was not bitter. There was a sweet peace upon it. As we parted she again thanked the Lord for meeting me and said, "Ma-Ma, take some corn out of my basket; they taste good roasted by the fire. I'd like to give some to you!" But I could no more accept that corn on the cob than David could drink of the water from the Well of Bethlehem. As I left her I thanked my Lord that He can bring an inward peace that passes understanding, that though the body is suffering, the spirit may dwell with Him in heaven. This little Nest had found the Cleft of the Rock hewn out for her, and when the Sharp Winds blowing upon her were too awful to bear, she could find peace in that Cleft.