Psalm 119:165 Steps to Peace

I used to have a general attitude of peace about life and my future. When I laid down in my bed for sleep, I could drift off into slumber with a peaceful feeling. If I woke up in the night, I'd roll over and drift back into the stages of sleep.

During my days, I'd go about my business with a vague sense of well being, comfortable in my habits. My diet and exercise were based on a general understanding of what all the self help books recommend.

I had peace like a river.

Until the night my my river plunged me over the edge of a massive waterfall and dumped me into rapids that threatened to pull me under.

A heart attack messes with that vague peaceful feeling. You no longer trust your heart to keep on beating like it's supposed to. You begin to seriously question your habits.

I have a different kind of peace now. It's based on a fully awake awareness that, as my cardiologist says, I am now a heart patient and always will be. There's a lot to be said for knowing exactly where I stand and what my circumstances are.

I also have a confidence that comes from knowing there's a stent in my heart, helping to keep things pumping along. That horrific three and a half hour heart catheterization was no fun, but at least now I know the doctors have taken a long (really long) look inside my heart and done the invasive and intricate work my heart needed.

That experience gives me motivation to eat and exercise and live with a more realistic approach.  Oddly, that gives me a sort of peace about my health I didn't have before.

Great peace have those who love your law,
and nothing can make them stumble.

Psalm 119:165

The more I dedicate myself to spending time in the Word of God, the greater I open myself to the expert work of the Great Physician. He implants His Word - the expression of His very own heart - into my heart. With His Word written on my heart, I have a greater confidence each day to  be in tune with His plans for me. I'm better able to notice the opportunities He places before me to exercise my spiritual fitness in my world.