Saturday, March 17, 2012

My Heart My Help

Last Monday was a very scary day. Just when I start getting comfortable with day to day life, God gave me a reminder that I need to trust in Him and not in myself. Monday was that reminder for me.
I had been having some heart palpatations over the past couple weeks. I would get dizzy, light headed, my heart would beat very fast, and then it would stop for a few seconds before regulating itself again. Matt started getting a little worried about these events because they were getting more intense and more frequent. He suggested that I go into the doctor first thing on Monday morning.

So I went in to see my GeneralPpractitioner and she did an EKG to see if everything looked okay. After they did the EKG, the doctor came into the room with a very worried look on her face. She told me she was going to call an ambulance and have me transferred to the ER. Apparantly my EKG was abnormal and along with some other symptoms and having had radiation and chemo she wanted to rule out a heart attack. I tried to tell her that I was perfectly capable of driving to the ER, or that my husband could come and take me there, but she insisted on the ambulance. Well, the ambulance experience alone was about enough to cause a heart attack! 
They did another EKG at the hospital which again came back  abnormal. They did several other tests and soon ruled out a heart attack. Praise the Lord! Soon after my tests, Matt arrived at the hospital. We waited for a couple of hours, and eventually a cardiologist came in to meet with us. He had suggested admitting me for tests and monitoring, but that didn’t seem necessary (and I wanted to get home in time to take Lydia to gymnastics!). So he gave me a small heart monitor to wear for 24 hours.

I met again with the cardiologist yesterday (Friday) and he did an echocardiogram (ultrasound) of my heart. His speculation is that my abnormal heart rhythm is something caused by my chemo treatments. But he still wants to do a stress test and have me wear a heart monitor for 30 days. Just another reminder that my body is broken, but one day will be whole and perfect! 
Today I was reading a daily reading by Charles Spurgeon from Morning by Morning, which I have posted below. It was such a good reminder that God will help me. He is the Almighty Heavenly Father. If He can care for my soul by sending Jesus to pay for my sins on the cross, how easy is it for him to heal my body? It is my responsibility to trust that he is loving and faithful and will not harm me. 
This morning let us hear the Lord Jesus speak to each one of us: "I will help thee." "It is but a small thing for me, thy God, to help thee. Consider what I have done already. What! not help thee? Why, I bought thee with my blood. What! not help thee? I have died for thee; and if I have done the greater, will I not do the less? Help thee! It is the least thing I will ever do for thee; I have done more, and will do more. Before the world began I chose thee. I made the covenant for thee. I laid aside my glory and became a man for thee; I gave up my life for thee; and if I did all this, I will surely help thee now. In helping thee, I am giving thee what I have bought for thee already. If thou hadst need of a thousand times as much help, I would give it thee; thou requirest little compared with what I am ready to give. 'Tis much for thee to need, but it is nothing for me to bestow. 'Help thee?' Fear not! If there were an ant at the door of thy granary asking for help, it would not ruin thee to give him a handful of thy wheat; and thou art nothing but a tiny insect at the door of my all-sufficiency. 'I will help thee.'"
O my soul, is not this enough? Dost thou need more strength than the omnipotence of the United Trinity? Dost thou want more wisdom than exists in the Father, more love than displays itself in the Son, or more power than is manifest in the influences of the Spirit? Bring hither thine empty pitcher! Surely this well will fill it. Haste, gather up thy wants, and bring them here-thine emptiness, thy woes, thy needs. Behold, this river of God is full for thy supply; what canst thou desire beside? Go forth, my soul, in this thy might. The Eternal God is thine helper!
In the hymn How Firm A Foundation, the hymnwriter says “Fear not I am with thee; O be not dismayed! I am thy God, and will still give thee aid.”
"I will help you," says the Lord.
Isaiah 41:14