HE HAD JUST A FEW minutes to swing by the hospital and visit a sick church member. Driving into the multistory parking garage, he was surprised to see that level after level revealed no empty parking spaces. As he entered Level 4, he saw a few open spots and headed for the nearest one.
Exiting his vehicle, he began walking toward the stairway when he heard it—a sound like a groan coming from a pickup truck parked nearby. He noticed the vehicle was not parked correctly. As he continued walking, he heard the sound again and turned around. He decided to check to see whether an animal in the truck might be in distress. What he found was a woman lying across the seat trying to reach her phone, which had fallen to the floor.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“No,” she responded instantly. “I’m having a heart attack.”
Startled into action, he immediately replied, “Don’t move! Stay right here. I’m going for help.”
He sped off down four flights of stairs and burst into the emergency room. Two nurses sprang to their feet and joined him in dashing back up the flights of steps. The suffering woman had exited the truck and was now crouched against a wall, moaning with severe chest pain. After quickly assessing the situation, the nurses called for transport help. Within minutes the patient was inside the hospital receiving treatment by the emergency room medical staff.
TIME IS MUSCLE
Complaint of crushing chest pain, as in this true story, is strong evidence of a heart-related medical emergency. However, symptoms of a heart attack don’t always present in such an obvious manner.
The heart itself does not have pain receptors. That means when it is in acute distress, effects can radiate as pain and discomfort to areas of the upper body. These can include not only mid-chest pain and pressure but also an ache or pain in either arm, the jaw, the neck, or the upper back. Additional symptoms can include shortness of breath, sweating, heartburn, nausea, vomiting, sleep disturbances, and, in an unusual case, persistent hiccups, which was the only presenting symptom by the patient in that unique situation.
Your heart is a pumper of blood, expanding and contracting automatically about 100,000 times a day. It provides life-sustaining oxygen-rich blood and nutrients throughout the body. However, the heart itself depends entirely on its own unique network of arteries, called coronary arteries, to provide the oxygen and nutrients it needs to keep its tissues and muscles alive and beating.
When blood flow is compromised by plaque blockage or injury to any of the coronary arteries, the area of heart muscle affected begins to deteriorate and die very quickly. “Time is muscle” is interpreted to mean minutes count in the need of restored arterial blood flow to stop this life-threatening process. The woman in the pickup wasted valuable treatment time by driving herself to the hospital and then having to deal with searching for a parking space.
OF HEARTS AND FLOWERS
Our hearts are essential to the life and well-being of our physical bodies, but there is more to the story of our amazing heart. The heart is also perceived as the center of our deep feelings and emotions. How many of us have not felt a quickening of our heartbeat when receiving a hug or special gift from a loved one? Or what about feelings of heaviness or painful pause upon hearing bad news?
Our brains take in and identify the information we receive through our senses—eyes, ears, nose, taste, and touch—and our hearts respond to the correlating emotions. Made in the image of God, we are blessed with the ability to experience emotions. Our God is an emotional God as demonstrated in these few (of many) Bible references:
1. He is a God who loves (1 John 4:8; John 3:16).
2. He longs after His children (Matthew 23:37).
3. He laughs (Psalm 2:4).
4. He experiences sorrow (Isaiah 53:3).
5. He feels compassion and sympathy (Matthew 9:36).
GUARD IT CAREFULLY
Proverbs 4:23 instructs us to guard our heart, “for out of it is the wellspring of life” (World English Bible). Wellspring can be translated as “a source of continuing supply.”
Protecting the workings of your heart against the risk of dangerous heart disease is easier than you think. Careful food choices, regular exercise, and adequate sleep can become healthful lifestyle habits that your heart will love. Vigilance is also necessary in maintaining a healthy weight and keeping blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol levels under control. Staying on track is the hard part, but we have promise of support and help from our faithful God. “My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:26).
In caring for our feelings and emotions, we are in urgent need of divine help. We can give our whole beings to God, who has promised the help of His Spirit to lead, guide, teach, and comfort our tender, needy hearts.
“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10, NIV).
INFORMATION SOURCES:
https://parade.com/1187612/michelle-parkerton/quotes-about-heart-disease/
https://www.qardio.com/healthy-heart-blog/10-mind-blowing-heart-facts/
https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/heart-attack/warning-signs-of-a-heart-attack
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/16818-heart-attack-myocardial-infarction
https://www.secondscount.org/heart-condition-centers/info-detail-2/nonheart-attack-sources-of-chest-pain#.Y9em-i-B2ik
https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/high-cholesterol-healthy-heart
https://www.scienceandnonduality.com/article/the-brain-heart-connection-emotions-feelings-and-health
https://everthinehome.com/the-emotions-of-our-hearts-are-a-reflection-of-god-himself/
https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/sites/default/files/publications/SelfCareTips-for-HeartHealth-508.pdf
https://dailyverses.net/heart
https://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/heart-bible-verses/
