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Heart Search - Are you paying attention?
August 1, 2009
Heart Search - Are you paying attention?
"No pain just rapid beating, I can hear it in my ear, feels like my heart will pop right out of my chest", I told the doctor as he held my wrist in his hand checking my pulse. "One hundred eighty beats per minute", he says as he beckons to his assistant to hook me up to the EKG machine.
I had gone to the doctor recently, one of those yearly checkups that are not fun but gives me peace of mind for a year. They found a minor problem that required medication. This is the down side of getting older. When I stopped by the pharmacy to get my prescription my normally professional pharmacist expressed 'shock' at the dosage the doctor prescribed. I suppose that should have been my first 'red flag' that there may be trouble ahead. A week into taking the medicine I experienced a rapid heartbeat with dizziness. It was scary but I was busy and it was the first time it happened so I just got through it. A week later it happened again...this time in the middle of the night. It was scarier but I didn't want to wake my husband and scare him so I just got through it. Two days later it happened again. Okay, this time I'm not too busy and off to the walk-in clinic I go. With a shaky voice I tell the receptionist why I want to be seen. You get quick service at my age when you tell them your heart is racing. The doctor tells me it's the medication I was prescribed. I am standing on the edge of 'stroke city' and need to back up and take only half of the dosage or none at all. I choose to take none at all.
How many 'red flags' do we need before we pay attention? Obviously I need a lot! What could I have avoided by going to the doctor the first time I had symptoms? For me an eventual trip to the hospital!
How many 'red flags' do we need in our walk with God before we pay attention? Red flags tell us there is trouble ahead and we should be paying attention.
By not paying attention I have won myself a trip to the cardiologist. He will look at my heart, take a picture and see if there is anything amiss. Then he will give me directions on how to proceed.
My experience with my physical heart is much like that of our spiritual heart. What 'red flags' do we not pay attention to? 'Red flags' mean God is trying to tell us there is trouble ahead, much like my physical heart was trying to tell me there was a problem.
Ps. 139:23-24 says God wants me to ask Him to...Search me, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Will you let Him search your spiritual heart at the first sign of a 'red flag' or will you wait until the stakes are higher and you find yourself in even more trouble?
Enjoy the sun/Son,
~ Rhoda
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