Well I am back on-line again.  Still very tired; very.  My heart once again went into A-Fib.  The operation I was to undergo this morning had to be postponed. 

When the Doc sat down with me in the ER Wednesday, he said the last time I was in the hospital I gave the nurses a real scare and, tongue in cheek, he asked that I not do that again – he was referring to the fact my heart went into overdrive and I almost died.  I assured him I would do my best. 

He said they would be taking it very easy, trying to find a medication that might put me back in rhythm without the requirement of once again shocking me. 

He started the medication and placed me in ICU overnight.  While it did lower my Blood pressure and heart rate – somewhat - while I was at rest, once I moved around it shot right back up.  I was having heart rates in the 180 range – not a good thing.

The following day they tried something else and continued to closely monitor me – it seemed to start working and while it was still too high, it was coming down and they were pleased.  Now they just needed to find the right dose.  However, that night my heart went from 180+ when I moved around to 20 and even ‘paused’ a few times from 2 – 4 seconds; once again I was ‘scaring’ the nurses.  They stopped the medication.

The next day they again shocked me and my heart is now in a better rhythm, so to speak.  More tests, probably including trip(s) to Portland, appear to be in my future.

Prayers will be appreciated – also for poor Carla who has to watch me go through all this. 

Now, I will be writing my thank you notes to the staff at the hospital, they have some very good people up there.  

Psalm 100:3 Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Mathew 26:39 And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

There are times that we just don’t understand why we are going through trials; we have done the best we can, why are we suffering?  It just doesn’t make sense, what good can possibly come of our struggles?  Please, God, we pray, why are you doing this to me?

It is okay to ask.  We may not understand, even then, but it is okay to ask.   

Man was created by God, for God.  We sometimes forget that, but it is important that we remember that fact – it helps put things in perspective.  We really are not our own, even before we accepted Christ, God was God – and He had legitimate claim on our lives.

Once we accepted Christ then that claim is solidified and it becomes even more important to our spiritual well-being to obey Him.

Sometimes God asks things of us that are incredibly difficult to accomplish.  It may require more of our time, or strength; it may require we give up other pursuits to obey Him.  It may appear we cannot do it; we just don’t have the strength, skill or even the faith to follow Him where He seems to want to take us.  But what we feel doesn’t excuse us from obedience to Him.

We also sometimes forget that Jesus was a man, He was God, but He was also a man.  The part that went through the torture and humiliation of the arrest, trials and death on the cross was a man.  Like us, He was subject to pain and suffering, both physically and mentally. 

Jesus knew what was about to happen, He had been telling His disciples for the past years and particularly that evening that He would be undergoing something terrible. 

In His prayer to God, His and our Father, He asked to be relieved of the burden He was about to endure.  As a man He didn’t want to go through this, as God’s Son, He knew God knew best and subjected Himself to God’s Will – and relinquished His own will.

On the surface what happened to Jesus was intolerable and should never have occurred, it was a set-up from the very beginning.  The leaders didn’t like what He had to say, so they wanted Him killed to stop Him.  He didn’t deserve any of it.

He didn’t deserve the trial, the humiliation and the painful torturous death that followed.  Yet, without all of it, we would not have a means to enter into God’s family.  We were separated from God, but through this death, as painful, tragic and unlawful as it was; we are now God’s Children. 

It was the only way that we could be redeemed.  Christ HAD to die and had to die in a manner that was foretold in the scriptures to verify His Claim of being the Christ.  The unblemished lamb had to be slain so mankind could be saved.

I am learning as I continue my walk with Christ that He has a job for me to do, and it can be different each day.  I am learning to ask of Him, show me how I can serve you better.

As I stayed in the hospital, I asked Him to show me what He wanted me to do.  I didn’t have any bright light revelations, I didn’t have a voice that said speak to this person or that one, I didn’t lead anyone to Christ – yet I did talk to people, I did share my faith in Christ and I did do the best I could to represent Him to the employees and patients.  I just lived for Him.

I don’t know why all of a sudden I had A-Fib again – after almost a year without a sign of it – but God knows.  I don’t know what He has in store for me over the next few weeks, the Doctors are concerned that medication doesn’t work for me and are discussing alternatives.  AND I still have the prostrate problem that has not been resolved!

I cannot see what possible good came out of being in A-Fib, being extremely tired, even now as I write my body and mind is still in a fog because the heart is still recovering and the body is still adjusting. 

I do know that God has a reason, I am His, and He will lead me as long as I allow Him to do so.

Later, Art :-)

From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous
May Our Good Lord Bless and Keep YOU....’til we meet again