Physically and Spiritually
May 14, 2009 (Thursday)
Last night on the Letterman show, Robin Williams was a guest. He reported that he had undergone open heart surgery, and took the time to thank his doctors by name. Several years ago, Letterman thanked the doctors who performed his own open heart surgery by having them appear on his program for the recognition. Both are very thankful for those whose work has improved their condition and probably kept them alive.
I had a stint installed about seven years ago, and it is still doing the job. I did not require the more extensive open heart surgery. Not long after that, however, I was visiting a friend who had had the open heart surgery. Visiting hours were restricted, and at first I was refused admittance, but the nurse changed her mind and allowed me a brief visit. She was with me when we went to my friend’s bedside, who told the nurse I had had the surgery not long before the visit. “You’ve had open heart surgery recently?” she asked me. “No,” I replied, “I had a stint installed.” Very casually, almost under her breath, she told me, “Good luck with that,” as if to say she had very little confidence in the stint. About a year later, my doctor told me all my tests were good, and he seem surprised. “Sometimes it works,” he said. Well, I’m glad it’s still working. I’m alive, and well.
I’m also thankful to be alive spiritually. Jesus said that everyone is in need of the Great Physician of the soul (Mark 2:17). So today I’m thankful to my doctors for the stint, and I am also thankful to my Savior for the healing of my soul and the renewal of my spirit. I thank Him every day for what He has done for me. On the day He saved me, as the song says, “Heaven came down and glory filled my soul.” Another great hymn says, “He lives within my heart!”
You, too, can be blessed. “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved” (Romans 10:9-10 CEV).