Phil. 4:7 The Peace That Passeth All...what?

[R. S. Martin]

 

That's the second time I see reference on here to the "peace that passeth understanding (religion). I had a very definite "new birth" experience at the very moment when I completed plans to leave the church. The practical details of the plan were in place. I hung up the phone. Suddenly I was flooded with a peace and joy and freedom I'd never known even so much as to dream about or pray for. It was the peace that passeth understanding alright, except for the fact I did not understand it. It went beyond understanding. Maybe that's what it's supposed to do.

 

That experience carried me through many a bitter persecution. I KNEW I was right. I just did not know HOW COME it was right. It made absolutely no sense. So far as I knew, the new birth can come only from God. And it CANNOT come at the very moment I turn my back on God. I was one very confused person. It took the better part of seven years to sort that one out. I believe now that it's simply the natural outcome for a person who is released from very serious and very deep turmoil. That may be the sudden insight that Jesus will answer all your questions, forgive all your sins, or that you are free from the church and still alive.

 

Just felt to share this since you said you have finally found peace. If only they could know! My family will never know or believe. They've been in this church since time immemorial...at least for a century and a half, and more likely for four centuries--ever since the Anabaptist movement started in 1525. At least, that is what we'd like to believe. Except that I've left.