Heart Matters-- What Matters Most

With excitement and anticipation I jumped on a plane last Thursday evening to Florida to visit my family and fish some with my dad. Six hours after arrival I painfully watched while many types of medical professionals frantically, yet methodically temporarily stop my father's heart in order to prevent it not to matter twenty minutes later.

We watch it in movies, we even practice it in medical school, but when it is a part of your own blood you some how feel like it's your heart to on that table fighting for its own life. My father looked like something out of the Matrix movie with all those wires and electrodes hooked to him. I thought, "If I could only trade places with him and take the pain away." I prayed, "God let me be you just for this moment and make all this go away." I had to wonder though that God could easily come down and heal my dad or he could just take him away from us up to heaven, however, either way I had to trust and obey. I also thought of the timing in which only a few hours after my arrival that all this was taking place. Could there be hidden meaning in all this? Are there positives even in the face of death? Show me God, teach me something Lord I prayed!

My thoughts went back about three months to a conversation I had with a Christian friend of mine. At lunch we talked about current events and how much faith it took in the midst of death and tough relationships. He said to me, "Maybe God is preparing you for things to come." I thought the only thing I could think of worse than a close friend dying would be my parents passing away. The bible says in Matthew 6:21 "For were your treasure is, there will be your heart be also." Now as I watch my father in that hospital room I have realized and am thankful that my treasures are not of what this world has to offer but its, "The Matters of the Heart" that are the most important. It is not my job, my car, my house or even my friends but even as painful as it is the most important thing is my heart reaching out for my dads and Jesus reaching out for ours.

I have to wonder if this is what Jesus feels like every day with us. While we lay on that hospital bed of life, sometimes frustrated, helpless, and scared, what he wants more than anything to relieve the pain away trade places and take it all away. And then I thought, he has done all of that and much more. He died on the cross for us, he has already taken the pain away. And you know, knowing he did that for me allowed all that fear and frustration to disappear.

While my father didn't die this weekend in that hospital and is on the road to recovery, this experience has helped me to realize that it's truly not about the treasures here on earth. What matters most is our trust and obedience in God Almighty. You see it is easy for us to trust and obey in the good times of life, but it's in those hospital rooms and low points when we realize where our hearts really are and that is what matters most to God.

Where is your heart this week? Does it lie with the treasures of this world or is it with the one who died for you on the cross. For it is in our weakness to where we find our biggest strengths.

Greg Ryan is a best selling author of the Changing from the INSIDE OUT series. A powerful five step plan to better your life, get healthier, and have more energy! For FREE mini Course click here! http://www.resolutions.bz

---

How to Develop a Spiritual Success Partner

1. Identify a woman who is "like minded," who has... Read More

God!

God !"My son will be brought up in a place... Read More

Geralds Story - A Tribute to Valor

John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that... Read More

Anam Cara - The Blessing

In Corrogue it is frosty.The ramp into our "acre of... Read More

Anamchara - The Value of Ritual

Let me explain my approach to the practice of ritual.... Read More

Serenity

Listen to the sound of silence. Enjoy the peace and... Read More

The Power of Ritual

As humans, we are the species that operate with symbols.... Read More

You Can Influence Your Fortunes In Life

Natural laws exist that serve to maintain order in the... Read More

E=mc², Emotional & Physical Gravity

The word "gravity" is a word coined by Sir Isaac... Read More

Echos Transition

Echo was a flea-bitten gray horse, with brown speckles everywhere,... Read More

Losing Control

One of the most frightening things... Read More

Letting Go of Your Past

Once you become saved and born again, the Bible tells... Read More

Seeking the Sacred

People have always sought the sacred. It is the Divine... Read More

Dead Man Walking

One of my favorite movies is "The Green Mile". A... Read More

Book Ends

In the responsibility we have as Christians, we are displayed... Read More

Spirituality: Blues for Buddha

Being critical of Buddhism isn't easy.Buddhism is the most likable... Read More

Giving From the Heart

I thought for sometime that I was hard done bye... Read More

Law Vs. Grace

At first glance it does seem that law and grace... Read More

Look! Its Another New Age!

There's nothing new about "the new age" except the attitude... Read More

I Helped Exorcize a Spirit

Actually I have 'helped' exorcize spirits more than once but... Read More

The Two Most Important Commandments - Love

Love is mentioned well over 350 times in the Bible.... Read More

Are you Bringing Light or Discord?

We are living in highly challenged times. Our mass consciousness... Read More

Alone in a World Filled With Only Me

We come into this world alone, we experience physical life... Read More

The Healing Hand of God

"Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being,... Read More

Enthusiam And The Spirit

In this article, I would like deal with one specific... Read More

Healing Your Life

You have everything you need: a miraculous body, a phenomenal... Read More

Getting the Feel of Your Faith

Whether we admit it or not, we operate by emotion.... Read More

A Crash Course In Tarot For Newbies #1 - All About the Cards

The Tarot is not just a divinatory tool, but it... Read More

Wings of a Dove

Perhaps one of the most wonderful assertions that can be... Read More

How Much Do You Love Me?

Love...it's a deep emotion. Sometimes we say it in jest... Read More

Fishing Around For Wealth

In Feng Shui, water symbolizes wealth. The word "fish" in... Read More

You Have a Friend in Jesus

Have you heard the saying that; You have a friend... Read More

By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them

Military personnel at a U.S. prison in Guantanamo, Bay, Cuba... Read More