All humans deal with anxiety, and some try to find relief for that anxiety through money or alcohol. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t work! Knowing God’s peace does not mean the absence of all anxiety, but it does mean the presence of quiet confidence. God’s peace, based on God’s promises found in the Bible, lends a calm that leaves witnesses marveling.

Quiet confidence naturally blooms in the heart of someone who lives in the peace of God. “The fruit of righteousness will be peace,” said Isaiah, “the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.”

I saw the peace of God at work in an amazing way in my mother. She became a widow at age thirty-four. She quickly lost the family business, and had to find a way to feed seven children on almost nothing. Yet she never suffered a breakdown and never let our extreme poverty get to her. While she didn’t enjoy our circumstances and did what she could to improve our lives, I still remember the songs that overflowed from the depths of a heart at perfect peace. She believed Jesus when he said, “Take heart! I have overcome the world.”

God’s peace does more than dull anxiety. It lends a quiet confidence that can sustain our spirits through the worst of times. Your decision to follow God results in tremendous peace - peace that can be your legacy to an anxious world around you.  

This is Luis Palau.