What I Learned From Heart Surgery - Pastor Welty

This is part two of a four part blog series based on a message I shared in October, a reflection on lessons learned from my heart surgery. 

 Part 2 The Power of Life and Healing

In my journal on September 7 I wrote the following entry:  “One week ago I walked into the hospital for heart surgery. It’s an amazing process and an even more amazing recovery.   That surgical team could do incredible and awful things to my body for its good because they had the confidence in the power of life,  the power of life giving blood and oxygen flowing through by body bringing healing.  They knew they could tear me apart and put be back together again and that I would be fine.  The body is resilient – life is powerful – God is good. “

A healthy body has an amazing capacity for healing.  Life is a powerful force.

Almost immediately the nursing team worked to cooperate with process.  They gradually removed all the tubes that had been inserted in my body.  The breathing tube was the first to go; it was removed the first day. Then a tube a day got removed until finally the drainage tubes from abdomen were removed causing me to sing for joy.

They had me walking very soon.  My friend Chuck, who had similar surgery in 2011, told me that the first time I walked I would feel like the old man that Tim Conway played on the "Carol Burnett Show".  He was spot on.  There I was with my walker and all kind of drainage receptacles hanging off of it.  Off I went.

Watching my body gradually heal was an amazing process.  By the last day in the hospital, I had no encumbering tubes and was walking all around like I owned the place - greeting all the doctors and nurses.

God created the body with an amazing capacity to heal itself and as I said in my journal, the surgical team could tear me apart and put me back together again because they understand that power. 

God also provided a way for spiritual healing as well.  In scripture we read of the power of the blood of Christ that  purifies us from all sin. ( 1 John 1:7) and that provides redemption.  (Ephesians 1:7) In the incarnation and sacrifice of Christ God exerted a powerful life giving force on our world. Christ’s sacrificial death brought the only healing possible for our sin wrecked lives as Paul noted in Romans 7.

In scripture we also read of the power of the resurrection.  In Acts 2:24 - Peter said of Jesus that  “it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.”  That is an amazing idea to ponder. Death with its awesome power was no match for the Lord of life. That’s the power of Christ resurrection  that overcame sin, hell and the grave

Ephesians 1:19-20 –Paul spoke of God’s “incomparably great power for us who believe” Saying that it was the same power “he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead”

We also read of the power of New Creation.  In 2 Corinthians 5:17 we read, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"

So even though our spiritual DNA is a problem, the power of Christ’s redemption and sacrifice gives us new life.  There is power in the blood of Jesus, power in the resurrection of Jesus and power in the new creation.