Operation Transformation

       She started the day out just as any other. She woke up, went to the gym, came home, showered and grabbed a banana as she ran out the door. Running late to her annual doctors check up she almost forgot her briefcase for work sitting on the counter. She thought she would have a quick appointment and make it to work before lunch. However, that day turned out a bit differently than expected.

        As any other check up her doctor checked her blood pressure, but today the numbers were much higher than normal. He then checked her pulse and that was higher than normal as well. He checked her heart and it was beating out of rhythym. He grew concerned and asked if she has had problems with her heart recently. She remembered a time the week before that she had to stop on the treadmill due to a sharp pain in her chest. Then she remembered a rapid loss of breath the other day walking to get the mail. Once the doctor heard about these symptoms he decided to take an x-ray of her chest. He wanted to examine her completely. He had a feeling of what it could be but he wanted to check her before giving her false information. He took the x-ray and asked that she return the next day to look it over with him. She was instructed not to do any physical activity in the next twenty four hours and to be very careful of what she ate.

        The next day, same time she showed up at his office. She was called back to a room and told that he needed to look the x-ray over one more time before talking to her. The five minutes he was out of the room felt like an eternity as she sat and waited. She wasn't sure what to expect. Was she okay? What was wrong with her heart? She uncomfortably prayed as she sat in that silent doctors office room alone. She knew God was there even though she hadn't believed in Him fully for a little while now and she had let Him slip from the forefront of her life. The knock on the door interrupted her prayer and the somber look on her doctors face as he came back into her room made her realize something was seriously wrong.

       He explained that three of the four main arteries in her heart were clogged and she needed to go in for a triple bypass surgery right away. She knew from this moment on, her life would never be the same. She was rushed to the hospital and underwent a quick, but very painful procedure of inserting stints in those three valves that were already over 70% blocked. As she was waking up from the anesthesia, she questioned how this happened to her. She always thought she was so healthy. This was one of the things in life where she used to say, "That wont ever happen to me." But it did, and she lay helplessly relying on the wisdom of the doctors, and vaguely beginning to rely on the love of Jesus Christ once again.

       The doctor came in after the surgery to check on her and mentioned that they had caught it just in time. At any time she could have had a heart attack and things could have been much worse. The doctor also explained what caused this was by filling her body with junk. She exercised, but the things she was eating clogged her arteries and began to shut her heart down. She was instructed from that day forward to eat only the things her body needs and be careful of what her body does not want. She was allowed to continue exercising but was encouraged to take her heart very seriously and if she ever felt that her heart was acting up to always get it checked out and take precaution.

       As the doctor in this story caught the character's heart issue, so God shows mercy on us and helps us when we need it most. The last chapter in my life was very much like that of this character's life before surgery. I was feeding my body the things of this world. I was allowing myself to be filled up with things that were not of Christ. I have always known God was there but havent always believed it. Just like the girl in this story I had a lack of faith before this trip.

       However, this trip symbolizes the operation. My heart is continually being renewed and restored every day. God shed mercy on me by guiding my footsteps onto this trip. My heart has already gone through a huge transformation and my life will never be the same. From here on out I will continue to feed my mind and soul God's word so I can be filled up by Him daily, for He is the thing my heart craves most. I know that there are times when I will fail, but God continues to pick us up and show us grace. Before this trip I believed that I was healthy in my faith, but by taking a step back I now realize I had so much more to learn and had so much growing to do.

       I am still not perfect and I have a lot more growing and healing to undergo, but God remains faithful always. God cleans out the junk in our lives and shows mercy on us. This trip has radically changed my life and i'm so excited to see where God is going to guide me in the future.

　

"Then i will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean.
Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols.
And I will give you a new heart, and i will put a new spirit in you.
I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations."

Ezekiel 36:25-27