Names of God: Part 2

On Saturday I wrote about the way I experience God.  I understand him best through the picture of "father".  One of the challenges that was presented to us during our study on Friday evening was to think about what names or attributes of God we need to practice understanding better.  It really did not take me much time to come up with an answer to this question either.  I came up with 2 names that I need to work on understanding better.

Here is a list of the names of God: http://smilegodlovesyou.org/names.html

The first name that I recognize I need to work on identifying with more closely was "master".  See, I'm a do-it-yourself kind of girl.  I know what I want to do, and I can generally form a plan about how to get there, and I go for it.  I struggle at times to really slow myself down and let someone else (God) be in charge.  I work on it, I recognize it's a difficulty for me and so I try hard, but man I really am pretty stubborn at times and when I've got a plan, I've got to do it.  (That's probably where my boys get their stubbornness from).  So here I am, sitting on the edge of my sleeping toddler's bed admitting to myself and whoever else feels like reading this: I'm stubborn, I like to do it my way... I need help to learn that God is my Master.  A good, gentle Master - but he's the boss!

The second name that I knew I needed to work on is "Shalom" or "Peace".  I remember a time in seminary that a professor pointed out to me that maybe I feel tired because I am always doing so much.  It was true.  I was always on the go, doing school work, working at a daycare, helping at my church, and enjoying a healthy social life.  I still am very active -- I have a toddler and well, an almost toddler -- I stay home, but we're active even at home most of the time.  I do give myself a little more down time now than I used to.  It sure feels like I get less done!  Still, I don't give myself enough time to just relax and really experience the peace of God.  I'm working on that though - that was my personal assignment for the next week: Set aside time to just experience God's peace.  That's hard for me sometimes, but I'm getting better at it!

What about you?  How do you experience God?  Are there ways that you want to experience God but haven't really explored?