THAT Peace

I was caught off guard yesterday when my mom said to me, "I wish I was perfect like you." My first reaction was to quickly tell God, "She didn't mean that, LORD!" and "I'm SO sorry for conveying that to her! Please forgive me!" And then it was totally the Holy Spirit who intervened and said, "No, no, that's what He wants her to see!" What?? "He wants her to see THAT Peace in you (His Peace), because that is what she is so desperately wanting and that's what she is missing. Tell her."
Yesterday had been an especially stressful day for my mom. Her Care Giver who comes to take her to get her hair done was rude and unkind to her and told her she's not coming back. Mom is 92 and has dementia and greater and greater difficulty with speaking. Since accepting Christ 2 years ago, she has stuggled with self-centeredness, still trying to do everything on her own as she did her whole life. She forgets to say please and thank you, and to pray, and battles with focusing all of her thoughts on herself and things she doesn't like. So I guess I'm saying that I can see what a thankless job taking care of her can sometimes be, but...the Care Giver crossed the line and fell over the cliff by telling mom that she's the worst client she's ever had, the most ungrateful, and nobody likes her because of it, and she's not coming back.
Looking back on it now, I can see that this was probably the Lord preparing my mom's heart. After piecing much of what happened together since I wasn't getting full sentences out of her, I thought about what to do.
And then the Holy Spirit filled me with words that could have only come from Him. I was able to explain to her about what she see's in me is God's peace, not perfection, and if she truly wants that peace, the key is to place God first and to focus on Him. Pray to Him and give Him thanks for who He is and all that He does for her, instead of focusing on what she doesn't have and what she can't do. I reminded her that everything is about God, not about us. The peace comes from keeping ourselves in that relationship with God and letting Him be in control. It doesn't take away our problems, but we can feel calm and secure in the midst of them. I especially reemphasized how it takes our effort to keep that relationship.
Well that was the gist of it, and I wasn't sure what was getting through at the time. Later that night she called me before going to bed and said that she wanted me to know that she was feeling THAT Peace and thanked me and was even laughing in our conversation. I still couldn't understand all of what she was saying, but that woman has always had a great laugh--one that doesn't happen nearly as often as it used to.