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2011-08-23 - The Piercing of Skin
and The Shedding of Blood
"He personally carried away our sins in His own body on
the cross, so we can be dead to sin, and live for what is right. You have
been healed by his wounds!" (1 Peter 2:24, NLT)
And may you have the power to understand, as all God's
people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really
is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will
never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life
and power that comes from God. EPH 3:18-19 NLT
When I was admitted to ICU with pneumonia, their first task was to get two
working IV lines in me. I have one good vein in my left arm, and the rest
in my arms and hands are really small. There was an awful lot of poking and
prodding. The nurses try once, and if they can't get it, they call in the
IV team to do it, whether its an IV or a blood draw. The IV team got called
in several times. They all took their time, trying to find the best available
veins, and were very compassionate, but it's just an unpleasant process.
The IV lines had to be taken out and restarted in another area several times
while I was in the hospital, because they would stop working, so I went through
that ordeal more than once.
And those were just one part of the needle issue. Over the next several days,
they had to draw tons of blood to test me for everything under the sun. They
didn't use the IV lines for this, since those were for administering meds.
So, again, poking, prodding, and uncooperative veins. They didn't just get
a bunch at one time, and run all the tests, either. They would have to come
and stick me again to get the blood needed for whatever new test was being
ordered.
Besides taking plenty of my "regular blood," at least twice a day for the
time I was in ICU, they had to check my arterial blood gases to see if I
was being properly oxygenated. That was the worst part. My finger had to
be pricked, too, to make sure some of the meds I was taking weren't giving
me blood sugar issues. I also had to get two actual shots, one in each "hip."
If a med tech or nurse ever uses that word with you, be forewarned that it's
not actually your hip they're talking about.
I was very scared about the whole needles/pain issue, but quickly realized
I was going to have to accept it as an uncomfortable reality until further
notice, and just deal with it, one needle at a time. I guess another way
to say that is that I submitted to what I knew had to happen. Jesus did the
same thing in the Garden of Gethsemane, and again, when he was being beaten
and then nailed to the cross. He bled, and nails pierced him.
And yet, the reason was so different. The interventions that were provided
to me at the hospital saved my life. I wasn't exactly happy about them, but
they were necessary to change what was going on within my body. I knew that,
and it helped me deal with the pain and unpleasantness. In Jesus' case, the
blood and pain were about punishment and death. Those who took my blood were
compassionate; that was not the case for Jesus. He was mocked and scorned
and beaten mercilessly. Fortunately, He knew there was a greater purpose.
He voluntarily went through all that, including physical death, to then be
brought back from the dead and give us eternal life. He wasn't sick. He didn't
need to do any of that for Himself. But He knew He needed to do it for us,
and He did. Freely. Voluntarily. He submitted to the Father's will.
I can recall thinking that whatever happened to me was in God's hands. I
didn't want to die, but if that happened, I knew I would be okay in eternity.
Jesus' shed blood made it possible for me to know that, even as blood was
being taken from me. After going through a few days of needles and blood
draws, I have a greater appreciation for His painful sacrifice, but it is
only the smallest glimpse of understanding, in terms of everything He gave
up for me. I'm even more thankful, now that I have this tiny bit of perspective.
Medical interventions might have saved my life for now, but Jesus' intervention
has saved me for eternity.
Carmella
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