That’s a lot of chances at life, isn’t it?  In fact, I almost titled this ‘My Second Chance at Life’ which would be accurate depending on how you look at it.  However, the way I see it, each day I wake up is another chance at life.  Heck, each second that I’m alive is another chance and a blessing from God.

But I want to take a moment and talk about my 214th chance at life – December 2nd, 1991.

I’m sure by now you’ve gathered that I was just about 7 months old at this time.  So the reason that this date is particularly an important one in my life is because on this day I underwent an open heart surgery to place in an atrium wall that I happened to be missing.

me on December 2nd, 1991

There’s an interesting story that goes along with my needing an operation.

My parents were unsure of which hospital to take me to for this surgery, as two were recommended and had great reputations for their cardiology departments.  So one day when they had just gotten home and were sitting in the car, they prayed for God to show them clearly where they should take me for my surgery.  After they prayed, my dad had asked my mom which key on his chain was the new house key (as they just had the locks changed) and my mom told him it was the ‘Yale’ key.

They stopped and just looked at each other, realizing God had just answered their prayer right there, seconds after they asked for a clear answer.

I love this story that precedes my operation because they had been able to take me to the best hospital possible for this surgery to be done and even though someone may say it could’ve gone just as well at the other hospital, we don’t know for sure.  Only God does, and that’s why He gave my parents that (very) clear sign of where to take me for the surgery.

So there we have it, the 1st surgery that saved my life.  I’m so thankful that God placed me into the hands of the right doctor that year and has kept my heart and that new wall strong over the last 23 years.

And I pray there’s many more to come.