Strokes

We made it to church today, in spite of running later than normal. We made it to church in spite of both adults, er parental figures not feeling well. Once at church we made the drop-off rounds and settled in "our seats". "Our seats" is just a reference to general area of the balcony where we like to sit and is in close proximity to the door. Also, not chosen to enable us a faster exit at the first sign of boredom or our toes getting stepped on, but only to be close for when we leave to make the pickup rounds. Pastor Kevin began to speak from Proverbs and was speaking on relationships. Thru my stuffy head, I heard him say - "all relationships will have strokes" and he repeated it several times and asking the congregation to agree that all relationships will have strokes. I sat there trying to figure out what he meant by that and started quickly pondering the cause & affects of a stroke and was trying to sort out what relationships and strokes have to do with each other. Still puzzled, I conceded to move on and was shortly met with the fact that my stuffy head had muffled the sound of Pastor Kevin's voice. I soon realized he was saying "all relationships have struggles" NOT strokes. Ok so mystery solved - right? Well, while I was trying to sort out relationships having strokes - I came to a lot of conclusions about the impact a stroke would have on a relationship and decided to come home and look into it further. A stroke is defined as a blockage or hemorrhage of a blood vessel leading to the brain, causing inadequate oxygen supply and, depending on the extent and location of the abnormality, such symptoms as weakness, paralysis of parts of the body, speech difficulties, and, if severe, loss of consciousness or death. Step outside your own relationships with your friends or spouse for a moment and ponder with me if a "stroke" happened in that relationship. Something happens - a fuss, a fight, hurt feelings and they go unrecognized or untreated. The tension builds and builds with no where for the anxiety to go that is building inside you or between the two of you. This is creating a blockage in the relationship and preventing the relationship from flourishing. The blockage exists until one day you overflow with emotion, a hemorrhage of sorts..... The hemorrhagic event results in more hurt feelings, sometimes irreversible effects, sometimes side effects that will linger throughout the rest of the relationship....there may be weakness and vulnerability, there may now be an emotional paralysis or physical paralysis where you are unable to reach out or be reached, there may be speech difficulties making communication next to impossible.....there may even be death...death to the relationship. I'm sorry to say I've experienced a stroke before in a relationship....many of us may have. There's also a lesser form of stroke called TIA for Transient Ischemic Attack. This occurs when a blood clot clogs an artery for a short period of time. This is sometimes called a warning stroke. The symptoms are much like a major stroke, however, they last for a shorter period of time. Are you having TIA's in your relationships? Can you see any of these signs?.... Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body Do you find yourself growing numb to the fusses and fights? Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding Do you feel like the world is passing you by and no one cares or understands? Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes Having trouble seeing how things are going to get better? Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination Just don't feel like you can go another day, take another step, go this alone? Sudden, severe headache with no known cause Pain just too great to bear any longer? Can you head off a major stroke by knowing these signs? What will you do? Sometimes a medical doctor will put a patient in therapy to recover from the effects of a stroke...sometimes prescriptive medicine is required which is usually a type of blood thinner to keep clots from reoccurring. If you've found yourself thinking about a relationship you are in or have been in, has it had a stroke? I'd ask you to think.... Do you see warning signs? Do you want to keep it from having a stroke? What course of treatment is right for your stroke? Will you make a full recovery or find yourself in the same situation again? Will therapy or counseling help you recover from your stroke? Can you be treated preventively with "blood thinners" - will you allow "blockages" to be removed, tear down the walls, open the veins of communication and let the flow resume? I know we serve a mighty God who in Him nothing is impossible (Matthew 19:26). Let him take control and be the great physician. Grab hold of your faith.....for with "faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain 'Move from here to there' and it will move'." and "NOTHING will be impossible for you" (Matthew 17:20). God can give you the strength to make a full recovery, to be healed and fully restored, to make you a new creation in Him. His word also instructs that we are to "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing” (Isaiah 43:18,19). With His commandments he provides us the tools to execute those commandments - not like buying an assembly required entertainment center from the discount store and opening the box to find no instructions and no idea on where to begin. In 2 Chronicles, chapter 7, we are simply told if we will humble ourselves, pray and seek His Face...He will heal our land....His eyes will be open and His ears attentive to prayer made in this place. How amazing is that ....we hold the key to our healing and restoration in our own minds, words and prayers? We have step by step instructions and know the end results....pretty simple or is it? Can you humble yourself to ask for help from the Great Physician? Can you swallow the medicine? Can you perform the therapy? The health of your relationship, your happiness and hope - depend on you!