The Condition of Our Heart

by Terry Shanahan, Northeast Regional Minister

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

In January of this year I was diagnosed with a heart condition known as atrial fibrillation. A-Fib is an irregular heartbeat that is treatable and rarely results in death, but at the same time is not a benign condition, as it can lead to further complications, ranging from stroke to further heart issues. In consultation, my brand new cardiologist recommended not just treating it with medications, which I would in all likelihood remain on for the rest of my life. His plan was to aggressively treat the condition through a procedure called cardioversion. This amounts to shocking the heart back into regular rhythm. I had this particular “shocking experience” on six different occasions with a total of ten shocks to my heart. This had limited results in that my heart would go into regular rhythm for short periods of time and then return to an irregular beat. This was disappointing to say the least, and led my doctor to comment that I had a “stubborn heart.”

I subsequently went into the hospital for a procedure called ablation. This procedure, designed to rid me of A-Fib, is one in which they placed probes into my heart, diagnosed where the beat was misfiring and either cauterized or froze those areas and restored the heart to a regular heartbeat. This procedure appears to have worked, as my heart is now in rhythm, and I will be monitored the next couple of months to make sure it remains that way.

This entire process was an eye-opener for me. Being dependent on others and having them decide for me where I would go and what would be done to me was extremely uncomfortable. I was annoyed that this interruption of my plans had happened at all. I had the added frustration of a recovery period that lasted way too long in my opinion. With full disclosure I need to say that I am not a good patient. I know I was tense and caused stress for those around me. I regret that.  But God knew just how to humble me at this time. He slowed me down to get my attention, and there was nothing left to do but rely on Him and reflect on the doctor’s comment that I had a “stubborn heart.”

In fact that is the case for all of us, isn’t it? We are afflicted with a heart condition that is stubborn beyond all measure. Our selfish heart wants what it wants, when it wants it, and doesn’t care how it gets it. Unless we surrender that heart to Jesus, no amount of “shocking” it or “probing” it will cause it to change.

In retrospect I praise God for this interruption in my life and the opportunity to consider my heart’s condition beyond what is going on with it physically — to be reminded in the spiritual sense that a heart not fully yielded to God is corrupt beyond all measure. Truly a lesson of which I needed to be reminded.