Thank You for your Prayers!

Greetings!  We want to thank all of you who have been praying for my recovery from a recent heart attack earlier this month.  I am glad to report that I am doing much better and have been released by my cardioligst to resume my normal ministry schedule at this time.

This experience has without doubt been a sobering one.  After rushing to the hospital, straight to the ER, within minutes, 3 or 4 doctors were frantically working on me.  I over heard them talking about “saving”me.  I knew then it was quite serious.  As they rushed me down the hospital corridors to the Catheterization Lab to have a stent put in one of my arteries that was 100% blocked, I prayed for God to let me live.  After having the emergency angioplasty, my cardiologist said all went “perfect”, for which I am grateful.  I was also grateful that I was already in the ER at the hospital when the heart attack actually occured, which allowed a very rapid response by the doctors.  I am also grateful for the skilled and experienced hand of the doctor who said it couldn’t have gone any better.

So, again, thank you for your prayers.  We are trusting the Lord for a complete recovery and that upcoming tests will confirm that there was no permanent heart damage.

The Scripture promise I am declaring for myself is Psalm 27:14, “Be strong and be of a good courage and He will strengthen your heart.” So be it Lord Jesus!

Heart Attack

Last night my father, Roger Smets, experienced a heart attack. Around 4:00pm he began having chest pains and decided to drive himself to the hospital.  Upon arriving he collaspsed and attendants frantically worked to “keep him alive.”  It turns out he had a 100% blockage in one of his main arteries.  Thankfully, he made it to the hospital just in time and due to the freshness of the blockage they were able to  penetrate the blockage and put in an angioplasty stent instead of having to do bypass surgery. The angioplasty procedure was successful and my dad is recovering.  Thank you for all your prayers, comments, texts messages & phone calls.

It is in times like these when we become acutely aware that life is a gift of God. As 1 Samuel 2:6 says, “The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up.” We are grateful God in his wisdom has seen fit to give life to my dad and keep him with us longer.  We praise God for his goodness to us in this and even more so for the goodness of the gospel.  In Jesus we have a life that heart attacks can’t touch (Rom 8:31-39).

- Duane Smets