As I watch the birds at my feeders this chilly December morning, I have a lovely sense of peace. The wrens, thrashers, bluebirds, woodpeckers, titmice, and towhees are enjoying the start of a new day. They feel no threat from the feral cats that roam the neighborhood, and the red-tailed hawk hasn’t visited us in a while. They are comfortable, happy, and doing what they were made to do.

But just like that! A perceived threat causes them all to fly away to the safety of the trees and bushes that surround my yard. There is a flurry of wings, squawks of warning, and then silence – they are all gone. The hawk lands on one of the low branches and scans for a bird that didn’t get the memo – and will become his breakfast.

Isn’t that just like life? You are happily going about your life when, suddenly, BOOM! You are hit out of nowhere with a catastrophe. A loved one falls ill, your car breaks down, and there is no money to fix it, things get rocky at work, or tensions in a relationship mount to new highs. Your sense of well-being and peace is shattered. But it doesn’t have to stay that way.

“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13)

Is that a thing? Really? Can you really be filled with peace, even when your comfortable little life falls apart? Yes! God promises to fill us with peace because our peace doesn’t depend on our circumstances. It depends on God’s unchanging character and the amazing grace we are given with Christ.

“The fruit [we produce when filled with] of the Spirit is . . . peace” (Galatians 5:22). Like fruit trees produce the specific kind of fruit they were made to grow, we are specifically equipped to produce peace when we are filled with the Spirit of God. And He gives us this Spirit as a promise of more good things to come when we believe in Him.

“Let the peace of Christ, to which you were indeed called in one body, rule in your hearts; and be thankful” (Colossians 3:15). The peace of Christ can control and rule in your heart, even during the worst of crises. We can keep our focus on Him (Hebrews 12:1-2; Matthew 14: 29-31) and not be shaken by the storm. Interrupted? Yes, but not stopped. Have to change course? Yes, but He will still be there with us.

We can have peace like a river – free-flowing, deep, wide, and long despite whatever is intruding in our lives. He promises it, and He will deliver.

Philip Bliss, 1873, “When peace, like a river, attends my way. When sorrows like sea billows roll. Whatever my lot, You have taught me to say “It is well, it is well, with my soul.” Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, let this blessed assurance control, that Christ has regarded my helpless estate and has shed His own blood for my soul! It is well with my soul. My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought! My sin, not in part but the whole, is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more! Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord! O my soul!”