Peace That Endures Every Outcome

A few days before our annual church conference, I was sitting at my desk preparing the message I was going to preach that week. Immediately after I sat down to write, I felt this horrible sensation in my chest. It felt like heartburn at first, but it was so overwhelmingly painful, and I’d never experienced anything like it before. I remember going downstairs and saying to my husband, “I think I need to go to the ER.”

One thing you need to know about me is that I don’t go to the ER unless I really believe something is wrong. I went to the ER, and they immediately did an EKG. Praise God the tests came out clear, and it wasn’t a heart attack. At that point, they suspected that I might have a stomach ulcer. They sent me home with a prescription for an antacid and told me to come back if it got worse.

As the evening progressed, I was in agony. I’d never felt such pain in my chest, and it was excruciating. I did not sleep at all that night. I tossed and turned as the pain increased. My husband knew something was very wrong as he watched me writhing in pain, so he called the specialist. She said she couldn’t see me until the following day, but if I started vomiting blood, Henry should take me back to the ER. No more than five minutes went by after that conversation before I began vomiting blood. I couldn’t believe it. Henry put me in the car, raced me to the ER, and had to drop me off at the door because it was during 2020 when the COVID-19 restrictions were at an all-time high. He reluctantly left me there as I stood alone with a bucket of blood.

The nurses immediately scrambled to get me into a room. They pumped me with morphine, the doctor came and immediately scheduled an endoscopy, and to my utter amazement, they found a mass in my stomach.

I lay there on that hospital bed with so many unanswered questions. I was completely alone with my thoughts, with nothing else to distract me or pass the time. I sat in the hospital by myself for four days, completely alone, and yet I was at perfect peace. I was reminded of the scripture that says, “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You” (Isaiah 26:3 NKJV).

I sensed Holy Spirit say to me, This is a spirit of affliction that has come upon you. It will not lead to death, and you will show others how to walk through a season of uncertainty with faith. You will show people how to depend on Me. 

I walked through that season of being diagnosed with stomach cancer for four months at the age of forty-seven, and I had never felt so near and present with the Lord, who led me daily into His presence. Because I had been spending years in His presence, I was able to be in perfect peace. It wasn’t a peace that made any sense in the natural, but a peace that could only come from Holy Spirit.

Even when I was fully convinced the tumor had disappeared and the CT scan showed it was still there, I took that to Jesus and declared in faith that I was healed. God encouraged me with the story of Hannah in the Bible. I chose not to sit and wallow, but instead “stand up” and petition God again in prayer for my miracle. In December 2020, I went back to the hospital for my third scan, and to the doctor’s amazement, the tumor had totally disappeared. I had been healed supernaturally.

I think the most powerful part of this testimony wasn’t the healing or the disappearance of the tumor. It was the deep peace I had, no matter the outcome. We all long for peace. It’s one of the deepest desires of the human heart. It’s what the world is craving, and it is what we have living inside us. When our lives are full of peace, the world takes notice.

I understand life can be hard at times. Make no mistake, life is difficult for me at times, but I am an overcomer. I am living proof that Jesus’ power lives inside me. Because He has already won the victory, I am able to fight the battles alongside Him as I meditate on His Word.

As you allow Holy Spirit to lead you into all truth, you too will be able to write your story and testify to others of what He has done in your life. I pray you will become a reflection of the glory of God here on earth and lead others into the freedom you have found.

Alex Seeley and her husband, Henry, founded The Belonging Co, a Spirit-led church based in Nashville. Adapted from The Divine Counselor by Alex Seeley. Copyright © 2026 by Alex Seeley. Used by permission of Nelson Books, an imprint of Thomas Nelson. Listen to Alex’s recent interview on LIFE TODAY.