It all began with a simple B-12 shot. No drama. No concern. Until the nurse checked Carl\u2019s vitals and calmly said words that are never calming:
\u201cYour heart rate is 33.\u201d Thirty-three. That\u2019s not a typo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Within minutes, he was gently — but firmly — sent straight to the emergency room. Wires. Monitors. IVs. Machines doing what machines do best — beeping with authority. After everything was hooked up, Carl decided it might be a good time to call his wife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I answered and heard a voice I rarely hear — emotional, unsettled, unsure. I was in my car in seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tests followed. Screens blinked. EKGs behaved — then misbehaved. Normal — then that blip. The kind that makes doctors lean in closer. Four hours later, we were sent home with instructions to see the cardiologist. Soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That appointment confirmed what the screens were hinting at. Carl\u2019s heart rhythm was playing hopscotch — sometimes steady, sometimes not. The doctor was honest. This could continue for a while — or it could stop. Those words woke us right up!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So there we were — yesterday, arriving before sunrise for what\u2019s called a pacemaker implantation, guided by a cardiac electrophysiologist — one of those brilliant minds who understands the heart\u2019s electrical wiring when it misfires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And here\u2019s where peace settled in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Modern medicine and faith are not rivals. Technology is a gift. Skill is a calling. Wisdom is learned. But God remains sovereign over it all. Scripture whispers steady truth into loud moments:
\u201cThe Lord will keep you from all harm — He will watch over your life.\u201d (Psalm 121:7)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We can bow to fear when machines start singing — or we can trust the One who designed the heart in the first place. God works through trained hands and faithful hearts to sustain life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m grateful for pacemakers and doctors.
But most of all, I\u2019m grateful that our lives — paced or not — are held in the steady hands of our faithful God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fear doesn\u2019t get the final word. God does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BTW — Carl is doing great with his new pacemaker! In the middle of Valentine\u2019s Month — also known as Heart Month — it turns out he\u2019s been given a new and improved pace. How fitting. Stronger rhythm. Steadier beats. A gentle reminder that God cares deeply about our hearts — physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We\u2019re grateful beyond words!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It all began with a simple B-12 shot. No drama. No concern. Until the nurse checked Carl\u2019s vitals and calmly said words that are never calming:\u201cYour heart rate is 33.\u201d Thirty-three. That\u2019s not a typo. Within minutes, he was gently — but firmly — sent straight to the emergency room. Wires. Monitors. IVs. Machines doing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23751,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1210,33256,17399,1769,33255,1392,16152,2495,33257,40,760,7258,33254,33232],"class_list":["post-23750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-blog","tag-cardiac","tag-cardiologist","tag-christian","tag-electrophysiologist","tag-facebook","tag-faithful-god","tag-heart","tag-implantation","tag-inspiration","tag-nurse","tag-pacemaker","tag-st-davids-hospital","tag-steady-hands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23750"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23758,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23750\/revisions\/23758"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}