THE STATE OF THE CHURCH
O God, You’re So Good To Me!
Dear Heavenly Father,
Just five years ago, You sent me to Deborah Heart and Lung Center to do some work for You. To get me there, You used my faulty mitral valve that was flapping and not pushing blood to the rest of my organs. The experience was breathtaking to see the cooperation between medical people to open up and fix my heart, and to get a real life example of how the Church should function to save souls. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to share my testimony with so many people.
And now just days ago, I had a heart attack. This time, You sent me to Kimball Medical Center and then to Jersey Shore Medical Center on another mission for you. My heart was really hurting on Saturday morning as the EMTers drove me to Kimball. They couldn’t help the pain with anything they did. But they delivered me safely to the ER. The pain remained as they worked all day to determine what was happening. Finally, they admitted me and got me a bed in Kimball’s telemetry unit.
There we met Luella, my nurse and the wife of a Methodist pastor from Union. What a joy to share our Christian testimonies – and for my wife, Patty, to relate to where they lived in Union before coming to Barnegat to live. This pastor’s wife shared a problem they were having, and so we were able to encourage each other. And that’s where You relieved the pain through nitroglycerin, blood thinners, and morphine. When they did an enzyme test to determine if there was heart damage, they found that there was damage at a level 9. So they verified I had a real heart attack, and sent me to the Cardiac Care Unit.
That’s where they really wired me for sound – they constantly measured pulse, respiration, and blood pressure using about a dozen different wires going to my chest, finger, and arm. I was right in front of the nurses’ station in a room with a floor to ceiling sliding glass door front entrance, without toilet, and only a curtain for privacy. It was only by Your strength that I stood up to use the urinal and the portable commode, moving the wires around to untangle myself!
That’s where I met some of the most beautiful, caring, dedicated, and sensitive people who worked together to heal my body. You showed me, once again, through these precious nurses how the Church should function together. Their names were Jane, Margaret Ann, Jennifer, and Barbara. How special they made me feel as You used them to care for all my needs. They treated me as a unique person not just as a generic patient – it was interesting to hear them discussing each patient when they changed shifts at 7am each morning, reporting each person’s unique strengths and weaknesses as well as the care each one needed.
One of them told me that I must have an "aura” around me because I was assigned all the best doctors and nurses without asking for them or even knowing them. I told her that I was in Your hands, Father. What was interesting about those “best doctors” was this: I write books and together Patty and I send them free to pastors and missionaries in India and Africa. Over the years many thousands of our books, Run The Race of Life - The Real Way, have been given free to these missionaries and pastors. And You arranged that the doctors who were assigned to me came from India. It's like You, Lord, were giving back to me the best medical care from the people that I’ve had in my heart and to whom I had given books. How true it is that in giving we receive!
Very unexpectedly, one of the nurses said that what was special about me was that I seemed confident in spite of my critical condition. I remembered Lord what you said, “in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.” (Isaiah 30:15). I just told her that my times were in Your capable hands, and in whatever situation I find myself, I always know You’ll supply my need and give me all I need. Even if I make mistakes, You will always help me learn from the experience.
Thanks Lord for moving on the hearts of Your people to make so many phone calls and send so many emails or cards to us – for motivating Your people to pray for me and Patty. We felt the effect of all those prayers, helping us to remain confident in the outcome, and to keep trusting in Your great faithfulness. Thanks for taking me through the catheterization process. I didn’t get into the lab till 9:30pm on Wednesday night because two of the four labs were shut down due to equipment problems. So we were the last ones in that night. The good news - and the answer to everyone’s prayers - is that I had absolutely no blocked blood vessels, and so it was not necessary to insert any stents into me! The doctor did detect that a small part of my heart had stopped functioning as normal. The doctor said that I had "broken heart syndrome", which is usually brought on by stress. It is very treatable with medicine only. Thank You Lord!
Lord, I’m trusting that my assignment for You was accomplished to Your satisfaction. Please bless all the wonderful people You sent to care for me – the EMTers, the doctors, nurses, assistants, dieticians and food servers – and my roommate Wes and his family. Please encourage and build up all those who sent emails, cards, phone calls – all those who prayed for me. Please lead those who were unsaved to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Please continue to do the work in Patty and I that this experience has begun – make us a blessing to others – and help us to hold all those we’ve met on this recent journey close to our hearts. Father, as Christ came to heal the broken relationship between You and man, please heal my broken heart as well!
O God, You’re so good to me!
Jim leads New Jersey Christian Ministries, a teaching arm in the Body of Christ, which is celebrating 50 years of service. You can reach him at (800) 363-4410 or mantle1@att.net.
