{"id":21396,"date":"2025-01-05T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-05T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=21396"},"modified":"2025-01-04T07:16:45","modified_gmt":"2025-01-04T13:16:45","slug":"lets-settle-the-score-about-ups-and-downs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=21396","title":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s Settle the Score about Ups and Downs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I saw this graphic and right away, I knew a blog was coming. I am not ready for a flat line! Okay, I am ready, but I really believe God has more work for me to do! How about you? Here\u2019s what I know for certain: If there are no ups and downs in our lives, we are flat lining, and it means we\u2019re dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yikes! I know &#8212; not exactly the cheerful coffee cup quote you&#8217;d expect from me, but isn\u2019t it the truth? This heartbeat graphic with all its peaks and valleys isn\u2019t just a hospital monitor; it\u2019s a picture of real life. And praise God for every rise and fall, every ache and joy, because it means we\u2019re still breathing \u2013 we\u2019re still here \u2013 so we\u2019re not done!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Every day isn\u2019t a mountaintop, but even the valleys offer a view. I\u2019ve learned to celebrate both. That knot in my back? It means I spent the day putting away all my Christmas d\u00e9cor! And what an accomplishment that was!<br><br>The flat tire? Maybe it kept me from an accident down the road. And those peaceful mornings, when nothing hurts and the coffee tastes just right? They\u2019re small reminders of God\u2019s mercy and grace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some days are a walk of faith. Other days feel like a sprint toward victory. But let\u2019s be real, there are also those days when crawling is the best we can do. God doesn\u2019t measure the pace. He is cheering us on because we&#8217;re still moving!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I don\u2019t want to wait until heaven to start celebrating life. I want to live with gusto right now, knowing full well that tomorrow could bring a flat line. But today? Today, I\u2019m alive. You are too. So, let\u2019s make it count.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even when the skies are cloudy, the Son is still shining. He sees us through each stumble and laugh, every prayer whispered between tears and every song belted out at the top of our lungs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, if today feels more like a valley than a mountaintop, remember this \u2013 you\u2019re still here. And God isn\u2019t finished with you yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Breathe in. Breathe out. That\u2019s your heartbeat of faith. Celebrate it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.&#8221; Philippians 1:6<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I saw this graphic and right away, I knew a blog was coming. I am not ready for a flat line! Okay, I am ready, but I really believe God has more work for me to do! How about you? Here\u2019s what I know for certain: If there are no ups and downs in our&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21397,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[31057,1210,4154,1769,12145,1392,267,31054,8149,229,27157,31055,40,31060,31053,31061,31058,1828,277,7574,23019],"class_list":["post-21396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-ache-and-joy","tag-blog","tag-breathe","tag-christian","tag-dead","tag-facebook","tag-faith","tag-flat-line","tag-flat-tire","tag-gods-grace","tag-heartbeat","tag-hospital-monitor","tag-inspiration","tag-peaceful-mornings","tag-settle-the-score","tag-sprint","tag-still-breating","tag-ups-and-downs","tag-valleys","tag-walk-of-faith","tag-were-not-done"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21396"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21400,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21396\/revisions\/21400"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}