Angie opened her eyes slowly, adjusting to the bright light that flooded through her window. She felt like she had been run over by a Mac truck. As she took in her surroundings, she saw monitor wires taped to her chest, IV lines that that had been inserted into her veins, and a catheter that was working to keep her digestive system working. She felt like Gulliver, strapped down to her hospital bed. Suddenly she jerked, as the intermittent compression devices, strapped to her calves, started to message her legs. It felt good. But her head ached, her throat hurt, and she hated feeling doped up.

“Oh, you’re up,” the nurse observed, “I’ll get the doctor.”

She closed her eyes. The next thing she knew, a middle-aged man wearing a white frock and stethoscope roused her from her slumber by gently touching her shoulder. “Angie, I’m Doctor Ryso. Do you think you are up to a short conversation about your situation?”

“Yes.” she responded groggily, “What happened to me? Why am I here?”

“You had a heart attack, and we had to do a Coronary angioplasty.”

“Do you mean I have a bad heart?” she queried, wrinkling her brow.

“No.” he explained, “Your heart is good. All of your other major organs are fine as well. But you had two clogged arteries.  We inserted a tiny balloon catheter into your blood vessels to help widen them and improve blood flow to the heart. We feel like the procedure solved the problem. Now you just need some rest and recuperation time.” 

Our bodies are amazing, but something as seemingly insignificant as a few clogged blood vessels can be debilitating or even fatal. The same is true with our spiritual heart. Without a flow of God’s love and grace we are in danger of being overcome by things like doubt, fear, bitterness, or self-righteousness. If we get “clogged up” our spiritual health is at risk. When we feel unloved and unloving, it is a sure indicator that something is clogged up.The same is true with the body of Christ. God designed the church so that his grace would flow, like blood, through every member of the body. When a body member restricts God’s flow, the whole body suffers. We, as members of His body can get clogged up with things like offense, stubbornness, shame, and guilt. When grace stops “flowing,” others are affected, and the body does not function the way it was designed to function. We can stay unclogged and flowing by daily prayer in which we die to our will and live to His. If we stay teachable and obedient, we will allow God to flow through the body and keep it healthy.