My Heartfelt Gratitude for Daily Word

Reading Daily Word every day, I’ve discovered over the years how uncannily several of the messages have seemed ideally suited to me. One particular message fit me so perfectly, it might have saved my life. The scripture verse for the Acceptance message on April 4, 2023, read in part: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart.” It turned out to be an especially good idea for me that day.

I didn’t feel well that morning. I felt a strange pressure in my throat, which progressed to outright pain in my chest. As a retired cardiac nurse, I knew there was no time to wait. I went to my doctor’s office for an EKG. The test showed I was having a massive heart attack. My doctor’s staff acted quickly to call an ambulance. Before it arrived, the office staff administered baby aspirin and nitroglycerin and hooked me up to oxygen while they monitored my vital signs. I started to drift in and out of consciousness. One of the nurses held my hand and softly repeated, “Stay with me, Diana.” I will hear her comforting voice in my head for the rest of my life.

A Lifetime of Difference

During my nursing career, I had often said, “I’d have to be unconscious for anyone to get me in an ambulance.” Now I knew I had no choice if I wanted to live. The paramedics who tended to me in the ambulance worked efficiently and asked if I was comfortable. When we arrived at the hospital, they rushed me through the emergency department to the cardiac catheter lab. The cardiologist and cardiac staff on duty were finished for the day and were changing into their street clothes, preparing to go home. But they came back to tend to me. It’s amazing how just a few minutes can make a lifetime of difference.

I had read Daily Word that morning just as I had for many years. But that day I did something different: I put it in my purse when I left for the doctor’s office, not knowing how the day would unfold.

Through it all, I felt calm and safe, the way I feel in prayer. I allowed my helpers to care for me without resistance or fuss. I received three cardiac stents to open my blocked artery and restore circulation. I would live and be okay. I was discharged from the hospital four days later on Good Friday.

During my heart attack I realized I was in danger, but I never felt as though I might die. I am grateful to have survived, but I’m not afraid to die. I thought of the poem “The Traveler” by Unity author James Dillet Freeman. In it, he wrote, “And this that we call death, it is no more than the opening and closing of a door.” I know I can be creative on either side of that door.

Thankful for Prayer

I had read Daily Word that morning just as I had for many years. But that day I did something different: I put it in my purse when I left for the doctor’s office, not knowing how the day would unfold. I had been oddly calm throughout my experience—the worsening pain, the doctor visit and EKG, the ambulance ride, the hospital—and I credit Daily Word and my consistent prayer practice for my being all prayed up for that peace. It meant so much to me to have my Daily Word with me that day, and I am grateful from the bottom of my heart.