Open Heart Surgery

Thursday's are my week day specifically set aside to exercise in God's Word. Although I read His Word every day, on this day, for me, it's a more intense, seeking time with my Father. So I'm not going to talk about how many miles I walked on the treadmill. Sometimes clarity of balance comes when dealing with the unexpected. Today, right now in fact, at 7:00 AM in Iowa, a dear friend is beginning to undergo open heart surgery. I spent a couple hours with her last night at the hospital and after a long hug, some laughter and catching up, she shared her frustration with "just not knowing what's going on. I just wish someone here would tell me somthing! I've been in the hospital since Thursday and no one's telling me anything. I'm really scared." She's got several things going on. Her carotid arteries have blockages and they were viewing her heart (she's had 2 stints in the past 10 years)and the doctors thought the aortic valve was blocked as well. She turns 75 on April 1st, has diabetes, knees and hips that need replaced and is looking at Mt. Everest health-wise. She has a right to be scared and frustrated, yet as we talked and she spoke of her relationship with Jesus, a lot of that tenseness in her shoulders and carriage seemed to relax. Sometimes the best medicine is in a listening ear. We prayed together and asked God to fill her with His peace. We prayed for the doctors, surgeons and nursing staff. We prayed and thanked Him for the wisdom He is giving them and the insight to best care for her physical heart. I was reminded this morning of the verse in Ezekiel 36:26 that the Lord gave me when my husband had angioplasty back in the 1984: "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." This isn't necessarily speaking of the physical heart but He gave it to me so I'm claiming it for my friend. Turns out, just as I was preparing to leave a doctor walks into the hospital room and begins to tell her "what's going on." How like our heavenly Father to show up like that, just when another pair of ears is needed to share the information with her family. We were please to hear that her aortic valve is fine and won't need replaced. But they are going to do a bypass on the front of her heart and bypass the stints. Her carotid arteries will be taken care of in weeks to months in the future. The greatest concern right now is the blockages in her heart and that is being taken care of now. (Just got a text from her daughter that they just took her back for surgery, it's now 7:15 AM). Yes, we could chastise one another for not taking better care of ourselves and telling ourselves we shoulda, coulda, but she didn't, and still God has her in the palm of His hand. He loves her and is with her and will see her through this (if I may)"exercise" of her life. One thing it does do, it spurs me on to be more aware of what I eat, to eat healthier, to walk more, to spend more time with those I love and with my Father, to speak life into my actions, words and thoughts and to live more fully. Thank you Father for your peace and comfort for my friend and her family. Thank you for never leaving us, nor forsaking us. Thank you for being our strength, our hope, our refuge in times when we are weakest. Thank you.