Peace in Christ.

Jo Cameron, 71 years young, had always thought she had a high pain tolerance. Funny thing was, she never could recall what pain actually felt like. She had been told that childbirth was painful, yet, having babies never bothered her – even without an epidural. She had undergone several surgeries in her life. A wrist surgery and a hip replacement surgery and, surprisingly, recovered without a single complaint of pain or a need for medication in either surgery.

Sound too good to be true? She thought so. So, after some coaxing from family and friends, she finally went in for some testing and researchers made a discovery.

In a paper published a few weeks ago by the British Journal of Anesthesia, researchers found that Jo Cameron has a mutation in an unidentified gene which led to a virtually pain-free life. Literally, in her 71 years of living, she has never felt pain or struggled with any form of anxiety.

Incredible.

Where can I sign up? 😉

How great would it be to live a life completely void of pain and anxiety? Truth is, pain and anxiety for the rest of us are all too real. There’s physical pain, of course, but there’s also emotional pain. There are emotional wounds that last not just for an instant, but much longer. And can we talk about anxiety? Perhaps you get a daily dose of those anxiety storms that seem to come up out of nowhere.

Well, good news for you today, friend. There’s a remedy for you found in the person of Jesus.

Just as Jesus met the disciples in the midst of their very real storm in Mark 4, He also meets you in the midst of your storms and reminds you that His peace is found within Him. Or, maybe you find yourself in a place of isolation. Maybe you’re living amidst the tombs and chains of sin. Just as the man living among the tombs in Mark 5, Jesus walks towards you today reminding you that wholeness and His perfect peace come to meet you as well.

I love what Jesus tells His friends in John’s gospel:

My prayer for you today, friend, is that you would know His peace. That, in the midst of whatever storm or place of isolation you may find yourself standing, what you would see there, in your midst, is the God of peace.