I'M A SURVIVOR, NOT JUST A STATISTIC

 Five months ago, today, I had a life changing experience of an heart attack that rocked my world! According to the cdc.gov website someone has an heart attach every 40 seconds. One person dies every 34 seconds from cardiovascular disease. Every year, approximately 805,000 people in the United States have a heart attack. According to the American Heart Association, the survival rate following a widow maker heart attack is only 12% when it occurs outside of a hospital or advance care center. 

I became a statistic on October 22, 2022 with my unexpected heart attack. My Insurance's heath nurse called yesterday for a teleconference check-up and unintentionally, through her comments, reminded me how blessed I was "to just survive the heart attack." 

This morning, in the early hours of my home, I sat in my favorite chair and thank God for sparing my life. (I turn 63 years of age today). I am clearly aware that it could have been different. Life is like a clay jar, fragile and if dropped can easily be broken. This morning, regardless how complicated our life gets, it is great to be alive and able to celebrate another birthday.

Life is like a clay jar, fragile and if dropped can easily be broken.

Here are seven things that are most important to me:

1. Make every day count.
2. Tell those around me how much I love them.
3. Slow down and count God's blessings. 
4. Focus on the good and refuse to relive the past.
5. Do the best I can each day, but at the end of the day refuse to live in regret.
6. Leave a good trail behind me for people to follow, not me but Christ.
7. Finish well.

It is all because of God's grace that I am a survivor and not just another statistic. Thank you Lord for sparing my life and giving me another, day, week, month, and year to live!

My Bible verse for this coming year is "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you" (I Thessalonians 5:16-18 NLT).

Blessings,

Tim Lamb