We live in a world that knows no peace. It is a complex world, that can be very stressful at times. It is a far cry from the world God had created for us. We can only dream of the peaceful life that Adam and Eve knew in the Garden of Eden. 

Philippians 4:7 tells us when you belong to Christ Jesus, God will bless you with peace that no one can completely understand. And it will keep guard over our hearts and minds.

“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled; do not be afraid.” (John 14:27)

Jesus knew that if there was one thing we needed here on earth it was to have peace in our lives. He knows the trials, heartache, troubles, and uncertainty each of us faces. The peace He gives us allows us to face each day no matter what it brings.

In 2022 I suffered a very severe heart attack. My wife rushed me twenty miles to a small local hospital, where I was given clot blockers and blood thinners to stop the effects of the attack. From there I was rushed by ambulance to a larger regional hospital, where I was stabilized until surgery. The emergency nurse at the local hospital told me later that people normally don’t survive a heart attack like mine. The heart surgeon at the regional hospital told me at least three times that I was lucky to be alive. He said I would never have made it to Marquette, that I owed my life to the staff at the Munising Hospital. I thought at the time that luck had little to do with it. It was God.

I was to have quadruple bypass surgery, but because of the blood thinners I was given at the Munising Hospital, I had to wait for five days for them to get out of my blood before they could operate.

I can say that there was never a time when I was really worried.  I was at peace because I knew that God was in control. While I lay in the hospital awaiting surgery, I was at peace. To tell the truth, I believed that I would be fine until, during, and after the surgery. There had been too much happened already that showed God was taking care of me. He wouldn’t have brought me this far to let me die now. 

For Instance, I never had the heart attack, until I was working along a highway where my wife could find me easily and get me to town quickly and where I had cell phone coverage to call her. For the weeks before the heart attack, I was away from cell phone coverage most of the time. I was getting ready for bear hunting season, carrying five-gallon buckets of bait into the woods to several baits for myself and my friends. A couple of these were a quarter mile or more into the woods and cedar swamps, there was no cell phone coverage. We live in the middle of the Hiawatha National Forest in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where we are surrounded by woods. I love being in the woods, therefore I spend as much time as possible there. We have a cabin back in the woods a few miles from our home. I was spending a lot of time there. We have no utility service there and again there was no cell phone coverage. The weekend before the attack, my daughter and I kayaked down the Indian River. This is a wilderness river that has a lot of obstacles in the way of trees and a portage. I would never have made it out of there if the heart attack had occurred then. It wasn’t until I was where I would be able to survive the attack that it happened. This was only one of the things that happened that showed God’s hand in things.

 Our pastor visited me at the hospital. While there he asked me how I was feeling about the upcoming surgery and everything. I repeated something I had heard an old saint say years before that summed it up nicely. That was that if God decided to let me live and be able to spend more time with my family, it would be a win. If however, He decided to take me home to Heaven to be with Him, that was also a win. It was a win-win situation, there was no way I could lose. 

This is the kind of peace those of us who know Christ as our Lord and Savior have. We know that no matter what we face, God is with us. He keeps us. He gives us the strength to persevere. He supports us when we are weak. He guards us and protects us. He carries us in His arms when our faith has been exhausted. He is with us always. We are sealed as a child of God until the day we are redeemed. 

This world and our earthly bodies are only temporary. We will face many difficulties while here, but there is a much better time coming. A time of Joy and no more suffering (Revelation 21:4). Do you have that kind of peace? You can! 

I like to tell people that it is easy to become a Christian, but it may not always be easy to be a Christian. To become a Christian, all you have to do is believe that Jesus lived, was crucified, rose again, and is in Heaven with the Father. Ask Him to forgive you of your sins (we are all sinners) (Romans 3:23) and come into your life. He just wants to love you and have you love Him back. It is that easy. Heaven awaits!

Books by Jerry, many of which you may read for free with Prime: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jerry-Blount/author/B06XK4GJT1

1. Things You Probably Didn’t Learn in Chruch
2. Basic Christianity: Living a Joy-Filled Life and Making a Difference
3. The End Times: Signs and Prophecy
4. Noah and the Great Flood: Proof and Effects
5. Following Jesus and Fishing Along the Way: Stories of God’s Great Outdoors
6. The Rapture: Coming Soon