Why Study Doctrine?

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Doctrine can seem like a cold, dry concept, something stuffy theologians fuss over when they should be trying to reach others. We’re more excited by a group study on relationships or parenting or womanhood or just about anything rather than a doctrinal study. We don’t usually approach our time in the Bible or church rubbing our hands eagerly anticipating what doctrine we’ll learn about today. We’re usually looking for help, encouragement, affirmation. We want to feel something. But feelings don’t last. If I get a warm fuzzy spiritual feeling in my devotions, that can dissipate in seconds when someone crosses me or something goes wrong. Winsome sermons and books may inspire me for a short while, but unless there is meat to them, that inspiration won’t last.

But doctrine is vital. You can hardly read a NT epistle without coming across a mention of doctrine and warning against false doctrine. If we think of sound doctrine as a manifestation of God’s truth and character, we can in turn worship Him by knowing and sharing the doctrines of His Word.

A.W. Tozer once wrote that “there is scarcely an error in doctrine or a failure in applying Christian ethics that cannot be traced finally to imperfect and ignoble thoughts about God.”

So what are some advantages to studying right doctrine in the Bible?

Doctrine leads us to true worship. When we don’t worship God for Who He truly is, then we are worshipping a god of our own making, and that is idolatry. Now, of course, all of us are imperfect in our knowledge of Him and are, or should be, ever growing in Him, and He’ll correct our understanding along the way. But that is different from not knowing Him for Who He is due to neglect or misapplication of the Word.

Doctrine increases our intimacy with God. We can’t know Him aright apart from what He has revealed of Himself in His Word. As we learn more of Him, we love Him and worship Him more, and what seemed like “dry doctrine” then does become something that warms and thrills our hearts as the Holy Spirit brings that truth to mind.

Doctrine protects against error and therefore the wrong path. For example, years ago when cult leader David Koresh was in the news, I watched an interview with someone from his compound. I was shocked to hear her say that she was impressed that he knew his Bible so well. Nearly everything he brought from the Bible, he twisted. Knowing doctrine would have kept this person and others from being deceived by him and others like him.

Doctrine bolsters our faith and confidence in God.  Recently I was troubled by a question I had no answer for that cast doubts on God’s character. I still don’t have an answer for it, but I rested on the previously studied truth that He is good, righteous, kind, and merciful.

Doctrine meets our deepest needs at the most basic level. If I am feeling lonely, what most helps except the truth that God is present everywhere, even with me? If I am afraid, what helps most but meditating on God’s power? When a trial comes and people feel forsaken, what most comforts but the precious truth that God will never forsake us? If I am feeling ashamed, sinful, and unworthy, my only help is turning to the only One who can wash away my sin and remind me that I am in Him and beloved by Him.

Doctrine is stabilizing. “So that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes” (Ephesians 4:14, ESV). I’ve known women and read women who do just this, float around with whatever is popular with little discernment. 2 Timothy speaks of “silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” who are “lead captive” by a whole host of wrongdoers in the “perilous last days” (2 Timothy 3:1-7, KJV). By contrast, Titus 2 exhorts us to “speak thou the things which become sound doctrine” (v. 1, KJV).

Doctrine determines deeds. Our beliefs affect our behavior. When a lie seems the only way out of a tough situation, what keeps us from it but the knowledge that it will displease a God whose essence is truth? Even the Titus 2 admonition to older men and women is couched in the context of sound doctrine.

Doctrine honors God. He is the one who determined what sound doctrine us. If we love Him we should want to know what He says and live accordingly. It’s so important to Him, He inspired John to write, “Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works” (1 John 1:10, ESV).

Doctrine is not an end in itself. If it is, then it does become dry and stale. The point of doctrine isn’t to line up our beliefs in neat, orderly systems and leave them there. The point is to know God better, serve Him in the ways He desires, and minister His truth to others.

People concerned about right doctrine can seem pesky and picky, and, true, it’s too easy to be that way. We shouldn’t be nitpicky just to be so. But we should “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15, NASB), and as kindly and gently as possible bring His truth to bear in our conversations and interactions. We have to remember to let our speech be always “with grace” (Col. 4:6) and to speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15). We don’t need to “pounce” on every comment or reference another person might make, but graciously seek what the Lord might have us say. We also have to distinguish between clear doctrine and those areas where good people can differ or personal preferences.

II Corinthians 3:18: “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (KJV). We “behold Him” through His Word. And, the more we behold Him, the more we are changed into His likeness.

Learning doctrine doesn’t necessarily mean digging up systematic theology books, though some might like to do so. In our everyday reading and Bible study, it means looking for the truth about God when we read. The Bible is so much more than moralistic stories (“Be like Joseph and Daniel; don’t be like Jonah and Judas”). Look at what God is doing in the passage, what we see of His character and wisdom in what He is doing.

So, don’t be dismayed by that word “doctrine.” II Timothy 4: 3-4 says, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” That is a warning to us not to turn away from sound doctrine, but also possibly an admission that sound doctrine needs to be “endured.” Learning doctrine may not always feel warm and fuzzy, but the Holy Spirit will use it in our lives in blessed ways.

(Sharing with Inspire Me Monday, Literary Musing Monday, Wise Woman, Tell His Story, Woman to Woman Word-filled Wednesday, Faith on Fire)

Friday’s Fave Five

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It’s Friday, time to look back over the blessings of the week with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and other friends.

I usually start my FFF posts on Thursdays, but this week I was drawing a  blank. It wasn’t a bad week, but nothing really stood out at first for this week’s post. But, as always, once I start to think about and look for blessings in the week, I find them.

1. A quiet week. Just the fact that it was an uneventful week, spent mostly at home, was a blessing, especially after last week’s ER events.

2. Zaxby’s Grilled Cobb salad. My errand-running usually occurs later mornings, culminating in my bringing home something for lunch for Jesse and me. One of our occasional lunch places is Zaxby’s, and I love their chicken strips, fries, toast, and sauce. But I’ve been trying to make better heart-healthy choices lately, so I got their grilled Cobb salad. It was wonderful! I can’t wait to have it again. I’ve been trying to choose grilled instead of fried at restaurants, with mixed results, but this was so good. The calorie count, which they helpfully put on their drive-through menus, was still pretty high, but I have to believe the choice was still a better one with all the fresh veggies. I’m not usually one to have a salad for a meal – I tend to think of them as appetizers or side dishes, even with meat in them. But this lasted me until dinner.

3. Timothy’s “playground,” as he calls the set we got for him. It took Jim and Jesse, with help from Jason as he had time, a couple of Saturdays to put it together. Timothy was taking a nap when it was completed, and we couldn’t stay til he woke up, so his parents filmed his first reaction to it and sent the video to us. Priceless! When he climbed up to this little perch, he said he was “so high in the sky!” And then he wanted to FaceTime with us so we could watch him play on it.

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4. Surprise visits. Sometimes when Jason, Mittu, and Timothy are out in the evenings, they ask if they can stop by to visit. I treasure living close enough to have that happen!

5. Naps. I don’t know why I seem to be unusually sleepy this week, but I’ve been grateful for naps in the daytime to give me enough energy to then get something else accomplished.

As a bonus, we found out that some of my family is driving down from up north this summer to visit two of my sisters in SC. We can’t stay overnight because of Jim’s mom’s care, but we’re making plans to at least meet halfway between here and there for lunch one day. There is even a possibility the rest of the family in TX might come – if they did, that would be the first time since my mom’s funeral 11 years ago that all six siblings were together, so I hope it works out!

Happy Friday!

When the Message Isn’t For Me

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Courtesy offreedigitalphotos.net

(Photo courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

A week or two ago I came across a blog post that got me to thinking about how we respond when a meeting, church service, or even a Bible passage seems to apply to someone other than myself. When there is an ordination service or a Mother’s or Father’s Day message or children’s program, do I skip them because I am not a part of any of that?

I don’t think so. Here’s why:

1. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” II Timothy 3:16-17. It is all profitable for me in some way even if the particular passage doesn’t seem to apply to me.

Some years ago the pastor of the church where we were at the time read a few verses from Exodus with instruction about oxen. He asked, “Do any of you own an ox?” No one raised their hands.

He then asked, “How many of you have even seen an ox?” One or two raised their hands.

“So,” he said, “We should just turn the page and skip this passage, right?” No, we didn’t think so, but what do we do with that passage?

He then brought out several applications from the passage. For instance, someone who owned an ox that was known for trying to push people with its horn was more liable if it injured someone. So if we have, say, a dog with a tendency to bite, we are even more responsible to keep it from people it could hurt. Or, to apply it further, if our tail lights are out on our car, we’re liable if someone crashes into us because they didn’t know we were stopped or slowing down to turn, so it behooves us to keep up with those things.

2. It helps us understand our brothers and sisters in the Lord. I may not be a pastor or a husband or a mother, but the passages that talk about them help me understand their roles, not so I can form a checklist and note when they’re not getting it right, but so that I can pray for them, understand their problems, needs, and temptations, and encourage them. The Bible says the church is the body or Christ, and “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.” (I Corinthians 12:26).

3. Their position is under attack. Satan is not omnipresent, but he does get around, and he seeks to undermine everything God calls good. Any role or function within the church, home, or family as designed by God is under attack in some way or another. The blog post I mentioned at the beginning was complaining, in part, that the focus on married women and mothers in some women’s ministries left single ladies out. I do think that is a valid point: not all women are called to be married, not all mothers are able to stay home, and we need to find ways to minister to the whole scope of womanhood. However, there are particular ways marriage and motherhood are being particularly attacked and undermined in the world today, so we need to help support those roles.

4. I can learn something that applies to me even though the particular focus of the passage or sermon is for someone else. Loving one another as Christ loved the church is something that applies to us all, not just husbands, so I can take an illustration that may be particularly about husbands and learn something I need in loving others. Years ago in college we were encouraged to read a particular book about leadership which I gleaned a lot from even though I was not a leader at the time (and still don’t naturally feel inclined to be now).

This is not to say that I should attend every focus group within the church since we’re all part of the body of Christ. Some of those were created to handle specific concerns in a smaller group setting. But when a Bible passage or sermon or ladies’ meeting seems to apply to someone else, there is still much I can learn and benefit from if I have ears to hear and a heart to receive.

(From the archives)

(Sharing with Faith on Fire, Inspire Me Monday, Literary Musing Monday, Wise Woman, Tell His Story, Woman to Woman Word-filled Wednesday)

Stray thoughts strung together

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These are some of the random things crossing my mind this week:

I don’t remember which Jane Austen book I was looking up or why I was looking it up in the first place, but in the comments section of it either at Goodreads or Amazon, someone wrote, “I’ve seen all her movies!” That struck me funny – as if she were a movie star rather than an author.

In my Things You Might Not Know About Me post a while back, I forgot to mention a major one: I can’t type. At least, not like you’re supposed to. Somehow I never had a class in it. I developed my own method (using only 2-4 fingers), and it is so ingrained now that I don’t think I could learn the right way. When my husband and I were dating in college, most girlfriends typed their boyfriend’s papers, but in our relationship, he offered to type mine. I also make tons of mistakes and hate when that shows up in my writing, making me look ignorant. I know how to spell – just not how to type. I try to let most of my writing sit a bit and come back and check it later before publicizing it so I can catch more typos that way.

We were watching America’s Got Talent one night, and whenever the “danger” acts come on, someone always says, “Don’t try this at home.” Recently I thought, “But…all these people started out by trying this at home.” Nevertheless..don’t try this at home! Those acts are not my favorite anyway – I don’t enjoy seeing people risk life and limb for entertainment.

Dontcha hate when someone calls and then doesn’t leave a message?

It seems that one of the current decorating trends is open shelving in the kitchen. Am I the only one who doesn’t like it? It just seems busy to me, plus the shelves would be constant dust magnets. I’m not a big fan of subway tiling, either – that also looks too busy to me. I’m not a fan of tile in general: the times we have had it, keeping the grout clean was a major frustration. I wonder if I’d be thought of as the “difficult” client in those shows. 🙂

When people talk about having accountability partners, it seems to me that it’s easy for that to cross over into doing things because you know you’re going to have to face that partner about it rather than doing it as unto the Lord (Ephesians 6:5b-7: “in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; with good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men.”) I’ve heard people say things like that. For instance, a friend who was memorizing verses with another friend mentioned that she needed to work on her verses so she wouldn’t be ashamed when it was time to say them to her friend. I do think the Bible teaches that as Christian brothers and sisters, we’re accountable to each other, but personally I don’t know if these partnerships are the best way to work that out. I know that they seem to be a help to many, so there are probably ways to do it with a right focus.

Mittu asked me recently what I had on my “bucket list, which, if you’re not familiar with the term, is a list of things you want to do before you “kick the bucket.” I had to think about it. I don’t travel well, so going exploring and seeing sites aren’t on my ideal list of things to do. The only two places I can think of that I’d like to see some day are the “Anne of Green Gables” house in Prince Edward Isle and Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Rocky Ridge farm, her last home. But I don’t want to see either of them enough to make the effort at this point. I’d also like to visit where my son lives in RI some day. We were just talking about that last night. My one overarching thing I would like to do is write a book. Or two. I thought when all the kids graduated and the busy school years were over, there would be time for more writing. Not so far, at least not in wide open swatches like I thought there would be. So I struggle with how to arrange my time and whether that desire is from the Lord or a personal ambition. Most of the things I’d like to do someday involve learning something: how to play the piano or cello, how to quilt, how to use Photoshop, taking voice lessons. Except for Photoshop, I don’t know if I’ll ever delve into those. I have often thought that the practice it would take to be able to play music enough to enjoy it would probably be more than I want to put into it at this stage. That’s another aspect of “middle age” that I should have mentioned in a recent post: when you know you only have so much time left, you become selective about how you it. But I do want to keep challenging myself and my brain with new things, and from time to time I do entertain thoughts on those possibilities. For now, most of my ambitions are quiet ones: finishing some of the projects that are in the back of my mind to do, spending time with loved ones, reading, blogging, etc.

How about you? Do you have any burning ambitions to pursue with the rest of your time on Earth?

Laudable Linkage

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Here’s some interesting reading discovered recently:

What Is Inductive Bible Study?

How To Be a Friend to Someone Who Has Breast Cancer. The tips here are great for a friend with almost any illness.

I Got Pregnant. I Chose to Keep My Baby. And My Christian School Humiliated Me. “My school could have made an example of how to treat a student who made a mistake, owned up to it, accepted the consequences, and is now being supported in her decision to choose life. But they didn’t.” This is a difficult situation. I understand Christian schools not wanting to appear to be condoning certain behaviors, but I think a girl in this situation needs to be affirmed for doing the right thing in having her baby rather than having an abortion.

A Theology of the Home, HT to Challies.

Check Your Privilege, HT to Challies.

A Patient Perseverance: a mother’s prayers for a wayward son.

And finally, this is me. 🙂

Or this is even more my style, minus the spa.

Happy Saturday!

Friday’s Fave Five

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It’s Friday, time to look back over the blessings of the week with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and other friends.

This week started off with a bang, but thankfully things seem back to normal now. Here are some of my favorite parts:

1. Feeling better after being in the ER last weekend with atrial fibrillation.

2. A good visit with the cardiologist. The last time I had seen him, more than a year ago, I felt like I really wasn’t given as much information as I needed to know how to proceed. I saw him for a follow-up visit after being in the ER and brought my list of questions and felt like we had a good discussion. Now I need to decide whether to treat it surgically or medicinally – there are risks either way, so there’s much to think and pray about.

3. False alarms. While at the doctor’s office, the building was evacuated due to a fire alarm. Thankfully we were only out maybe 15 minutes before we received an all-clear signal and were allowed to go back in. God gave me peace in a situation where I would probably normally have been frazzled and irritated, and even though the event was no fun, it’s much better that it was a small situation easily contained rather than a major fire.

4. Lunch with Melanie at Red Lobster. Normally there I have the popcorn shrimp (breaded and fried), but in an effort to be a little more heart-healthy, I got the grilled shrimp and tilapia – first time I had ever tried tilapia. It was quite good, and I had such an enjoyable time talking with Melanie.

5. Riced cauliflower. I had seen interesting recipes using this on Pinterest and was glad to find some already riced (processed very small, like rice grains) in the freezer section of the store. I tried it straight from the freezer in place of rice for a stir-fry, along with some leftover chicken and grated vegetables, and really liked it. I’m eager to explore new ways to use it.

Bonus: Timothy discovered my make-up mirror one day, with one side normal and the other side magnified. He was so tickled, saying “little Timothy” and then turning it over and saying “BIG Timothy” and laughing. Then when I looked over his shoulder into the mirror, he laughed at “BIG Grandma.” He even held up a special rock he had found in front of it, saying, “Little rock…BIG rock” and laughing.

And my lovely daughter-in-law did make dinner a couple of times. 🙂

Happy Friday!

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Book Review: Grow Old With Me

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Grow Old With MeIn the novel Grow Old With Me by Melinda Evaul, Sarah Campbell runs a bed and breakfast in the small NC town of Love Valley. She spent all of her adult life caring for her mother, who had an accident leaving her with the mind of an eight-year-old. Sarah gave up a chance at marriage and a family of her own to care for her parents. Now her parents have passed on, and she is in her 50s, barely making ends meet, and trying to ignore symptoms that indicate something worse than just the aches and pains of getting older because she doesn’t have the money to see a doctor. She has a good church and set of friends, but she doesn’t let anyone know the depth of her problems.

One day a client, Benjamin Pruitt, comes to her establishment to do some carpentry work in the town. He is horribly disfigured from a fire years ago that killed his best friend. He keeps to himself to avoid people’s stares and carries a lot of bitterness, especially toward God for allowing such a thing to happen. He plans to mostly stay in his room after work, but the first night, when Sarah has dinner set out for him and another client, he doesn’t feel he can back out without being terrible rude. She extends friendship and grace towards him, and eventually he responds.

Friendship turns to something more, but there are so many issues in the way. Both had expected to spend the rest of their lives single. Sarah is a believer and Benjamin is not. As Sarah’s symptoms escalate, so do her fears of becoming dependent on someone and being a burden to them, and her physical and financial situation seem like too much to ask someone to take on. Benjamin is still in the process of opening himself up to others and trusting.

My thoughts:

It was nice to see a romance between ordinary older people rather than the main characters being young/beautiful/handsome/muscular/at the top of their profession. I thought the fears of aging were handled realistically. Both characters were realistically flawed: Sarah admits to having a bad temper and is fiercely independent; Benjamin struggles the way many people would who had undergone what he had. I liked what both characters learned along the way about themselves, God, and each other.

I did find the writing a bit choppy in places and awkward in others. There were some sentences that seemed a bit overly…sentimental, maybe, almost silly (“Dust motes danced to the Christmas music playing on the CD”; “Fervent pleas leapt from his dark eyes.”) I thought Sarah went way too far in the relationship without knowing that Benjamin was a Christian and knowing that would be an obstacle for her.

But overall it was a good story. It’s supposed to be the first in a Quilt Trail series, but it was written in 2010, and apparently there are no sequels yet. The author’s web site tells how she and her husband like to travel the back roads of TN and NC seeking out Quilt Barn Squares on buildings, so evidently she originally planned a series of books along those lines. I don’t know if she still plans to write more. This one has pretty consistently been 99 cents for the Kindle, making it easy to give it a try.

(Sharing with Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books and Carole‘s Books You Loved)

The Highest Calling?

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Have you ever heard someone say that being a preacher is the highest calling? Or that being a wife and mother is the highest calling for women? I have. But I don’t recall the Bible making those claims.

In my own youth, during invitation times at the end of a service, the call was usually for salvation, surrender, or “full-time” Christian service. The last just seemed like “the ultimate,” the natural progression of someone who wanted to live all out for God. I heard one youth pastor say that even though he knew God could use anyone in any profession, he didn’t like to acknowledge that during an invitation lest it stop the momentum of the invitation geared toward getting people to surrender to God’s call in their lives (as if God’s call depended on momentum and not the Holy Spirit’s working.) I’ve known young women who only wanted to marry a preacher, evangelist, or missionary, as they felt that was the best way to serve the Lord with their lives – even the only way in their minds. I know one mom who strenuously objected to the jaunty little song, “I’m a policeman dressed in blue,” especially the line “No one has a better job than mine” because she wanted her child to aspire higher than that (I always took that line to mean he loved his job.)

There is certainly a hierarchy of leadership and roles within Christendom, with pastors being the leaders in their church. I Corinthians 12:28 says, “And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.” But I don’t think it indicates one calling is more special to God than another. The very next verse goes on to say, “Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles?  Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?” No one has all the gifts: the Bible teaches that everyone uses his gift to work together to edify the body of Christ.

In the preparation of the tabernacle, God “called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship” in gold, silver, brass, cutting and setting stones, and carving (Exodus 31:1-6). God’s best, highest calling for Bezaleel was this kind of work.

When my youngest was in high school, the pastor of the church associated with the school once brought out the need to train the whole body of Christ, not just those in “full-time” Christian service. He cited an incident in which his good friend, who was his back surgeon, was at a meeting where the speaker urged that everyone should be in gospel ministry, and then ironically spoke to this doctor afterward about needing to make an appointment with him because of some health issues he was having.

Every Christian is called to full-time ministry. No matter what our vocation, we’re called to be fully Christian 100% of the time. That doesn’t mean if someone is a firefighter or banker he should neglect his work to witness or counsel people. The Bible has multiple verses along the lines of “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might” (Ecc. 9:10) and “Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ;  Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;  With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men” (Ephesians 6:5-7). People aren’t going to listen to the words of our testimony if we’re slacking off in our work.

But full-fledged Christians can have a great ministry in whatever line of work they’re in. My husband has been able to talk to people in the course of his work who would never come to church and who would be guarded around a pastor. When we took my father to the hospital in critical condition, it was a blessing to me to see several among the staff who had attended my Christian college.

Likewise, we read or hear some say, or at least seem to indicate, that being a wife and mother is a woman’s highest calling. I think such rhetoric may have sprung up in response to the devaluing of marriage and motherhood over the last several years. But where does that leave single, childless, or empty-nest women?

Lay people, single people, and childless women are not “second class” in the kingdom of God. God has something for each of us to do with the gifts, personality, and life situations He puts us in. God’s highest calling for is unique to each individual.

(Sharing with Inspire me Monday, Literary Musing Monday, Wise Woman, Testimony Tuesday, Tell His Story, Woman to Woman Word-filled Wednesday, Faith on Fire)

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A night in the ER….

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…is not a very restful one.

Some of you may remember that I have some heart rhythm problems, originally diagnosed as supraventricular tachycardia, but a couple of years ago was changed to atrial fibrillation (or maybe I’ve had both – I have never gotten a straight answer on that). Anyway, the afib feels like heart palpitations, or vibrating or quivering or jumpiness, then usually goes back to normal within a few seconds or minutes at most. But Friday afternoon it started up – and kept on. By the time Jim came home from work, it had been going on a couple of hours, so we went straight to the ER.

When I was having SVTs, the ER would give me a dose of adenosine which, I was told, stops the heart for just a second. It feels like you’ve been kicked in the chest, but it “resets” the heart to a normal rhythm. Then I’d have to stay under observation for a couple of hours to make sure everything was stable before I was released.

With afib, however, they don’t use adenosine. They said they had to try to bring down my heart rate slowly, making sure my blood pressure didn’t go too low, especially with one of the drugs they tried. They tried 2 or 3 before going to this last one, which required an iv drip that took six hours to run. Because I needed to be monitored while on it, I had to stay in the ER. They did bring in an actual hospital bed, which was much more comfortable than the ER bed.

It ended up taking 13 hours all together before my heart rate “converted” back to a normal rhythm, and then I had to stay a few more hours to make sure everything was ok, so I was there about 18 hours altogether.

The hardest thing was being so sleepy, but just about the time we drifted off, something would beep or some noise would happen. I was going to take a nap when we got home (after a good shower!), but that kept happening then, too. Well, not beeping, but something or someone making a noise that woke me up. But maybe that’s just as well — maybe I’ll sleep better tonight.

Anyway, all is well now. I have to follow up with my cardiologist and primary care doctor in the next few days and discuss whether to change or adjust medications.

As far as ER visits go, this one went well – except for not being able to sleep and my heart rate taking so long to convert. The RN was probably the best nurse I’ve ever had, as far as explaining things, answering questions, being attentive, etc. I hadn’t eaten anything since about 3 p.m. Friday afternoon, and around 5:30 a.m., he scrounged up some turkey sandwiches, soft drinks, graham crackers, and animal crackers for us. I told Jim we could pretend like we were having a picnic. 🙂 Not quite the atmosphere for a romantic get-away, though. 🙂

Jim’s mom’s caregiver was able to come feed her dinner and get her ready for bed, and the rest of the time, while she was just sleeping, Jesse kept an eye on her with the monitor. We have another monitor also that works through a camera in her room and an app on our phone, so Jim could look in on her through the night. Thankfully the hospital is near where we live, so he could run home in the middle of the night to turn her over and then in the morning to make her breakfast before her caregiver came again. Then we were back home before her caregiver had to leave.

One frustration with the whole scenario is that it feels like a colossal waste of time. But I trust God has some purpose in it. Now I am praying for wisdom about what, if anything, we need to change in how we treat it. I’m going to do some research on the new drug they sent me home with before I see the doctor next week.

And that’s how my weekend has gone so far. 🙂

Friday’s Fave Five

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It’s Friday, time to look back over the blessings of the week with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and other friends.

Wow, the first week of June already! I always think of June 1 as the beginning of summer, thought technically it’s not until June 21. With my kids being older, summer doesn’t bring the feel of a break like it used to – and actually Jesse is taking summer classes this year to go back to work on his Bachelor’s degree, so it feels even less like a break. But I am enjoying keeping cool in the AC! Here are a few highlights of the last week:

1. A three-day weekend. We spent most of Memorial Day at Jason and Mittu’s house. They grilled burgers, sausage, corn on the cob, and carrots. So good! Rain threatened, but we only had a little sprinkle, and that was while we were eating under the umbrella, so it worked out fine. Jim and Jesse spent most of the day working on an outdoor play set we had bought for Timothy’s birthday several weeks ago – the kind of thing with swings, a slide, a little fort-like enclosure, etc. The thing had tons of pieces and maybe 20 bags of different kinds of screws and nuts and bolts. They had to do a lot of drilling of holes for those things. They ended up not being able to complete it and were pretty done in by the end of the day, but it shouldn’t take too long to finish it up this weekend. I’m excited to see how Timothy reacts – I don’t think he had the big picture of what it’s going to be yet. All in all it was a good day.

2. Good weather. We had a LOT of thunderstorms forecast for the week, but ended up with not much in our area, though some of the city did have more and some were without power. Ours blinked off a few times but thankfully came back on in about half a minute.

3. Breaks from cooking. Besides Memorial Day, Jesse and I got take-out from Red Lobster one evening when Jim was tied up at work, Jason and Mittu brought one meal over and made one here, and we got Asian take-out Saturday night.

4. Haircut. Nothing new – I can’t think of what new to do to it. 🙂 But it always feels good to get it done. My hair gets less cooperative and more limp the longer it gets, so usually by the time I get it cut, I’m pretty frustrated with it and relieved to get it done. I went a little shorter than usual this time, just so the cut will last me a little longer. 🙂

5. Trimming plants and bushes. My rose bushes were overgrown and I have been wanting to get at them for a while now, and finally did that Thursday. They usually bloom several times a summer with some cutting back here and there. Now I just need to figure out what’s eating them and what to do about it – lots of little holes in the leaves. I also “deadheaded” some other plants as well. Felt good to get this done as well.

Hope you had a good week as well!

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