All posts tagged: Heart

Credit: Ruby Babson/Flickr/Creative Commons

Forgive for your heart’s sake

Published by

Español: Perdóname por el bien de tu corazón When Jesus spoke on forgiveness He was very clear on one thing: if we don’t forgive those who offend us, God would not forgive us. 14 For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions. (Matthew 6:14-15 NASV) I sometimes wonder if we struggle to forgive ourselves for things that we have done in the past, that it is a sign of spiritual blockages caused by our unwillingness to forgive. These blockages hinder us from fully experiencing God’s forgiveness. But an article on John Hopkins Medicine, Forgiveness: Your Health depends on It, provides one more reason to forgive. We need to do it for the sake of our physical health. Like many of God’s commandments, such as circumcision that improves a man’s health, the need to forgive is another section in God’s user’s manual on proper operation of the human body. According to the John Hopkins’ article, …

Miracle on a football field? Photo: ishutterthethought/Flickr/Creative Commons

Miracle on a football field?

Published by

Some have gone so far to claim he faked his death even accusing him of taking a pill before hand so the symptoms would seem real. On May 5, 2015, Zack Clements, 17, was participating in football training at his Christian school, Victory Life Academy, in Brownwood, Texas when he collapsed to the ground. Nobody, knew what had happened. While  others prayed, people immediately started performing CPR. When the ambulance showed up, Zack, who had just had a heart attack, was rushed to a hospital in Fort Worth, Texas. When he arrived, It took hospital emergency personnel 20 minutes to get his heart restarted. Medical staff prepared Zack’s parents, Bill and Teresa, to brace themselves for the worst. In an interview with People.com, the attending cardiologist at Children’s Medical Center, Dr. Lisa Roten, was concerned if Zack did survive there would be irreversible brain damage. Roten told People: “For 20 minutes, he was legally dead. We were worried he may have suffered irreversible brain damage.” Once the hospital team stabilized Zack’s heart, they put him …

Masked men in Lima, Peru Photo: Alex Proimos/Flickr

Do you know who you really are?

Published by

Throughout scripture, we see mention of man’s heart. It was a term used to describe our inner being — our mind, will and emotions. The heart embodies our mental capacity as it remembers (Isaiah 42:25) and understands (Isaiah 44:18). The heart is considered the seat of our emotions (Genesis 42:28) such as anxiety (Proverbs 12:25) and joy (Isaiah 65:14). It is also the source of some admirable qualities such as courage (Psalms 27:14). In a nutshell, the heart represents who we really are. But do we know who really are? In one of the most telling descriptions of the heart, the prophet Jeremiah says: The heart is more deceitful than all else
 And is desperately sick;
 Who can understand it. (Jeremiah 17:9 NASV) In this verse, the message is clear we can’t trust our heart, because at its core is deception. Our heart has secrets (Psalms 44:21) that even we are not aware of. This is exactly the conclusion that Cordelia Fine, an Associate Professor at the Melbourne Business School at the University of Melbourne, …

Could daily writing down three things to be thankful for save your life?

Published by

[by Dean Smith] According to researchers at the University of California having a thankful heart can save your life. The group led by Professor Paul Mills studied the effects of thankfulness on 186 people who experienced a Grade B heart condition. People in this stage have some type of heart damage, perhaps even experienced a heart attack, and have since recovered. They need to make changes in lifestyle so they can avoid moving to Stage C where the chance of dying increases by 500%. First, the researchers ran a series of psychological tests to assess their study group. These results were then compared to the patient’s scores in other areas such as fatigue, depression, quality of sleep and “inflammatory markers” (inflammation increases heart risk). Speaking on behalf of the research team, Professor Paul Mills said:

The heart — is it more than a muscle?

Published by

[by Dean Smith] Many look at the heart as little more than a muscle used to pump blood through our body, but evidence suggests it may have a bigger impact than we realize. An article in the National Post looks at an interesting phenomena that happens when people have heart transplants. They actually sense the person who donated their heart. Though it doesn’t happen to everyone, it occurs enough that medical researchers are taking note of the phenomena. As well, it doesn’t seem to show up with people who receive other types of transplants such as kidneys.

You are the salt of the earth, and it’s good for you and the world

Published by

Two papers published by Canadian researchers in the New England Journal of Medicine say we have it wrong when it comes to salt. The general view is the less salt we consume the better.  While Canadians consume on average 3.5 to 4 grams of salt per day, Health Canada has been pushing to reduce daily consumption to 2.3 grams daily and even suggested 1.5 grams was a good goal. Other groups such as Hyptertension Canada have suggested a daily consumption rate of 2.o grams, this was an upgrade of its earlier recommendation of consuming 1.3 grams to 1.5 grams of salt daily. The push for lower salt consumption is based on the notion that it will reduce cardiovascular problems.

Did God give a man a new heart, literally?

Published by

Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26 NASV) In the Old Testament, the prophet Ezekiel peering into the future saw a day when God would give people new spiritual hearts. This promise was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost, Acts 2, when God poured out His Holy Spirit on the early church. That move was accompanied by many miraculous healings. But for Jon Funderburg, this promise of a new heart took on a very literal meaning. On February 2, 2006, Jon, 32, went to his doctor in Hot Springs, Arkansas complaining of a flu. With his symptoms worsening and an added complaint of stomach pain, the doctor ordered tests.

Doctors diagnose a broken heart

Published by

Researchers at John Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland came up with a phrase  “broken heart syndrome” to describe a peculiar type of patient. They developed the phrase as a result of their diagnosis of 20 people (18 were women) who had come to the hospital complaining of a heart attack. In each case, the person displayed classic heart attack symptoms such as shortness of breath, pains in the chest, accumulation of lung fluid and a noticeable reduction in the heart’s ability to pump blood. 

Music helps the damaged heart

Published by

According to Prof Delijanin Ilic listening to music helps people with heart problems. Dr. Ilic works with the Institute of Cardiology at the University of Nix in Siberia. She and her team studied three groups of people with heart disease. Two of the groups attended classes where they performed cardio-vascular exercises prescribed for people with heart conditions. The first group just attended the exercise sessions.