I was reflecting back on how many blood and platelet transfusions I had over the early months of this journey with leukemia, over 30. (When you donate blood, it really DOES save lives, mine included.) The only bad reaction was with a certain bag of platelets.
I still remember what surprised me at the time was that my mind remained calmly cognizant of each phase of the attack on my body. I told the nurse that my palms were becoming red and very itchy. Then my arms and then my feet and legs. Then my torso, with hives setting in all over. Of course within 15-20 seconds of entering my body, the infusion was disconnected. Then I told the nurse it was becoming difficult to swallow and finally that my throat was swelling and closing up making it difficult to breathe and talk. Someone from the Rapid Response Team arrived came running into my room from another part of the hospital. I was given three doses of antihistamine and a shot of steroids and an oxygen mask and within 15 minutes I was breathing clearly. Within 3 hours, all the symptoms were relieved.
Not always, but often, attacks on the body are sudden and you are clearly aware of them. But did you know that there are attacks on our spiritual being too? Unlike bodily attacks that seem to heighten our awareness, spiritual attacks seem to desensitize us at first, like a shot of lidocaine numbs our skin. Movies, books, magazines, and social environments are cunning like this. It might start with a cuss word or two here and there, a sexual innuendo (or more). Dishonesty and betrayal are presented as tolerable in the lives of our favorite characters. Moral compromises are rationalized. What keeps us from standing up and leaving the situation, tossing the media in the garbage? We think it doesn’t affect us.
Just as most of us try to take care of our bodies, we ought to be even more concerned with the attacks on our spiritual being. Think back on the last week or two. What attacks have their been on your spirit that maybe you weren’t aware of? In addition to filth, there are other forces that strive to get a stronghold in your spirit: uncontrollable regret, bitterness, anger, impatience with others, insistence on being right, depression, self-pity or striving to ‘succeed’ at the price of your relationship with your family and others. The list goes on.
What do you do? Ask for a spiritual transfusion. The Holy Spirit fights these battles with and sometimes for us. We just need to put ourselves in a place to receive that spiritual transfusion. Renewal awaits those who desire it.
