Wake Up Call - Heart News

For those that might have missed some of the updates on Social Media, I, Dave, was in the hospital for 5 days to welcome in the new month of March. For a couple months, I was dealing with a lot of fatigue and bouts with shortness of breath. Finally, on Sunday, February 25th, getting ready for church, I couldn't take it anymore. I was tired of gasping. I was tired of feeling like I was drowning. I had to find out what was wrong.

The night before, I had not slept at all. Literally zero. The feeling of pressure on my lungs was too great. I could feel myself stop breathing as I relaxed to try to sleep. So, I prayed, asking for a miracle, but I didn't know how bad I really was. But, God is good.

We went into the ER and they began to test. First bad news, which was something, having seen my Dad go through it, was I was retaining tons of water, causing my lungs to be 50% covered in fluid. The could not expand to get the air needed, and there was so much fluid, laying down to sleep was impossible. I was essentially drowning. Second, my heart was suffering congestive heart failure, meaning the heart was not pumping well. The failure in the heart led to the fluid build up, which led to not breathing well. They estimated my heart was pumping at about 25%.

But, this is all good news.

I didn't die, though God could have called me home given how bad a shape I'd let myself get into. It's His mercy that allowed me to get that far, but not further. It was His mercy that I am now on a new path and another chance at life.

We have to rely on God, medicines, and lifestyle changes to see my heart be rebuilt in the natural. I believe God will heal my heart, but I do think He allowed this wake up call to make me a better steward of this life He's given and preserved. It means trimming back on salt, sugar, carbs, and the bad cholesterols. It means doing more exercise more regularly. It means no more Bang! or Reign energy drinks.

And, I am okay with it. Doesn't mean I won't struggle. There will be temptation. But, God is good and merciful. I am still here. There is still work to do.

So, as God and me work on getting my physical heart stronger, we were inspired to ask the

Heart for Missions: Strengthen our heart for missions while God and Dave strengthen his heart.

people in our circles to help strengthen our Heart for Missions. As missionaries, we are relying on God and His people to make sure we can serve where we are called. So, we started the Heart for Missions Campaign.

With the Heart for Missions Campaign, we're asking people to make a monthly Faith Promise toward our missions budget. With each Faith Promise, we will light up a heart.

If God has impressed on your Heart to support our work, please visit partner.gifts4glory.com and make your monthly Faith Promise gift. With each monthly gift, we light up a heart!

Thank you for your support, prayers, love, messages, and for your prayerful consideration of supporting our ministry.