Ricky Skaggs Undergoes Quadruple Bypass Surgery

Ricky Skaggs revealed last month that he underwent a quadruple bypass surgery, sharing with PEOPLE that he had the procedure performed in June 2020. The 66-year-old explained that on June 11, following his six-month checkup and a subsequent CT scan of his heart, he was informed that his doctors wanted him to come in for an angiogram.

"Scripture tells us God always knows the thoughts of man," the Grammy winner recalled. "That was proven to me at that moment, because while I did not speak it from my mouth, I thought about putting the angiogram off for a week. When I thought that thought, it was like I saw the Lord with a jeweler's eye glass on. He was peering at me but never said a word. But just by His look, I knew He was saying, 'Absolutely no.' It put the fear of God in me. He had given me so many grace situations, but He was serious that I needed to take care of this now."

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Skaggs was off the road at the time due to the coronavirus, and he underwent a quadruple bypass on his heart at Centennial Medical Center in Nashville on June 15. "I have thanked the Lord hundreds of times that I wasn't out in the middle of Texas on a tour bus, miles away from a hospital," he said. "It was a major blessing I didn't have a heart attack. Nothing was hurt, and nothing was destroyed or irreparable. It was just by the mercy and grace of God that all of this happened in this way."

Throughout the first half of 2020, Skaggs was receiving signs that he needed to make his health a priority, including finding Life Line Screening letters in his mailbox, hearing about Amy Grant's recent open-heart surgery and learning that his sister-in-law suffered a mini-stroke on the day of his six-month checkup.

"God gives us grace, but we all have a tendency to kick in the boundaries of that grace," he mused. "Sometimes, we are like a bull running through the fence of grace. But then, there comes a time when He has to come after us. I knew that I couldn't stand in the shadows of my heart situation anymore. I had been fearful of a heart attack or getting a stent put in all of this time, but now, I was in a corner. I had to address it."

After recovering for four days with his wife Sharon and daughters Molly and Mandy by his side, Skaggs now feels "150 percent," walking without getting winded and working to strengthen his heart. "Don't put off tomorrow what you can do today," he urged. "That surgery gave me a brand-new heart. Not only a real heart, but a spiritual heart that has now been cleaned out, so I can hear Him better than ever before."