Blood is life-giving fluid

I pulled myself up from the operating table to see what was happening. Then everything went black.

“She’s fainted,” a nurse said. “Pull the curtain between them so she can’t see.”

As a small child I couldn’t comprehend what was happening to me. Many severe nosebleeds had left me anemic. Rheumatic fever threatened. Months later a tonsillectomy was performed and this blood transfusion became critical before the operation.

The technology then wasn’t like we have today, but I thank God doctors and nurses did the best they could with what they had.

The scene is still vivid in my mind.

My father and I lay side-by-side on gurneys. An incision in my father’s arm had a tube that pulled his blood into the incision in my arm. I still remember the pain. It felt like my arm kept trying to come off my body. I know it had to hurt my father too. Yet he never complained. I was his child. He loved me and thought nothing of his sacrifice to give me life.

His blood brought back my health. I could play and laugh again. No more lying in bed with nosebleeds. No more wishing I could play like other children.

In a sense, I had a new life. Had it not been for my father’s blood, I might not be writing this today.

My heavenly Father gave his blood for me, too.

The pain for this gift of life had to be the most agonizing and horrific incident known to man. Isaiah 53 tells of the ultimate sacrifice. Jesus was scourged, flogged, cursed, ridiculed and crucified.

Think of the blood he lost. Think of the pain endured, yet he suffered in silence. He suffered for sins he did not commit. He could have called ten thousand angels to come to his aid. He took the path to the cross because he is love and love conquers all.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, his sweat was as great drops of blood. The weight of the world’s sins felt so incredibly heavy his own blood drained out of him.

Jesus is the bridge to life’s greatest hope, the hope beyond the grave. I am forgiven. I have a second chance.

Today, you and I can begin a new life because of Jesus. Is that not the world’s all-time good news?

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of Gods grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding” (Ephesians 1:7-8 NIV).

Life is in the blood.

My husband’s life was saved by a transfusion of blood. My Uncle Steve’s blood transfusion enabled him to live 92 years.

I cherish the memory of my grandmother’s hymns. Many of her songs contained words of the healing power of the blood of Jesus.

Jesus came to earth in the form of flesh and blood to save you and me. Had I been the only one still he would have come. He looked down the stream of time and knew me. Neither you nor I are accidents. His plan for our lives is for good and not for evil.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV)

I look at the scar on my arm and remember how grateful I am for an earthly father’s love. It also reminds me of the greatest love of all, the one who sacrificed his life for you and me.