Reasoning Through the Bible
Taking a cue from Paul, Reasoning Through the Bible is an expository style walk through the Scriptures that tells you what the Bible says. Reviewing both Old and New Testament books, as well as topical subjects, we methodically teach verse by verse, even phrase by phrase.
We have completed many books of the Bible and offer free lesson plans for teachers. If you want to browse our entire library by book or topic, see our website www.ReasoningThroughTheBible.com.
We primarily do expository teaching but also include a good bit of theology and apologetics. Just like Paul on Mars Hill, Christianity must address both the ancient truths and the questions of the people today. Join Glenn and Steve every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday as they reason with you through the Bible.
Reasoning Through the Bible
From Death's Door to Renewed Purpose - A Heart Transplant Survivor's Journey || An RTTB Interview with Terry Wright
What happens when your soul begins to leave your body? Terry Wright knows that feeling intimately. Terry founded Lifeline Pregnancy Center, combining her nursing background with her passion for supporting women in crisis pregnancies. The center provides education, material support, and shares the gospel with every client.
While standing at a copy machine at Lifeline, she suddenly collapsed and was taken to the Emergency Room. While there, a shocking discovery was made. Her heart was failing. But why?
In this powerful conversation, Terry shares her extraordinary journey from sudden collapse to heart failure that left doctors puzzled. With no prior cardiovascular issues, she found herself declining rapidly until she was hospitalized, waiting for a donor heart while actively dying.
Terry takes us to the edge of mortality itself, describing with remarkable clarity how she felt her soul slowly separating from her weakening body. The medical staff's hushed tones told her family "this is what happens at the end of the end." As she prepared to meet Jesus, Terry's overwhelming regret wasn't about missed vacations or career achievements – it was that she hadn't done more for God's Kingdom.
Then came the miracle. A late-night call announced a perfectly matched heart was available. The emotional whiplash of moving from death's doorstep to a second chance at life led Terry to profound spiritual insights about God's authority and timing. Her meeting with the donor family – who lost their 18-year-old daughter but honored her wish to donate organs – reveals the beautiful redemption possible even in tragedy.
Her powerful testimony illustrates how God's promises become real when we fully surrender to His purposes.
Whether you're facing life-altering challenges or simply questioning your purpose, Terry's journey will inspire you to consider how you're using your own "window of opportunity." What race has God set before you? The clock is ticking for all of us – what will you do with the time you've been given?
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May God Bless you!! - Glenn and Steve
Hello and welcome to Reasoning Through the Bible. We normally do verse-by-verse Bible study through the Word of God, so if you're new to our program, then check out our website, reasoningthroughthebiblecom. The main thrust of our ministry is providing free teaching materials for small groups and churches, so go to our website and you'll learn all about us. Today, for our regular listeners, we're going to have something slightly different. We have a very interesting story. We've got a lady today who has been through a lot and you'll get to meet her. Welcome to the broadcast, terry Wright. Thank you.
Speaker 1:Terry you are. I'll go ahead and kind of spill the beans here. You've gone through a heart transplant operation and you've also been very involved in the pro-life movement. Today we're going to learn your story. Tell us a little bit about your background. Where did you grow up? What was life like?
Speaker 2:I was born, raised and educated in Detroit and grew up in the Detroit area. I moved to Texas in 1981. We were accustomed to eating, eating and we needed work, so we moved down here along with many, many other people.
Speaker 1:And your career was what you were in the as a nurse right.
Speaker 2:Yes, I worked as a registered nurse and also as a deaf interpreter.
Speaker 1:So I know you've spent a fair amount of time doing sign language, doing interpretation with the deaf. That's one of the ministries you do. So you're married, got kids.
Speaker 2:Yes, I'm married. We have two children they're grown and seven grandchildren, and we're very fortunate they do live in the Houston area.
Speaker 1:So with that, did you have a spiritual background when you were growing up? You go to church when you were a kid. What was your spiritual life like?
Speaker 2:I came to faith in Jesus Christ at a young age. During elementary school. I did not know everything about God's salvation, but I fully understood I had sin and that sin separated me from being with God. I pondered the decision to put my faith in Jesus. For about two weeks I didn't talk to anyone about what I was thinking about. I just kind of kept it to myself in my introverted way, but kept feeling a pull. After about two weeks I talked with my pastor at my church and he led me to Christ.
Speaker 2:I believe in a triune God. I have a personal relationship with God because I have put my trust and faith in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I strive daily to live my day-to-day life in harmony with God. Even in my deepest struggles, my most difficult times, I know God is with me. There's an inner peace, like an inner joy that he gives me that can only come from him. I may not know what the future holds, but I do know that my Lord and Savior will remain with me. He's with me now here on earth, and someday he's going to carry me home to heaven. I'm a witness that God can and will save anyone. I'm a follower of Jesus Christ called to be a proclaimer of His gospel to a lost world.
Speaker 1:So with that you had some spiritual background, you were a Christian. And you said when you were a small child right, yeah, elementary school. So grew up in church, went to a youth group Again, grew up, got married, had kids, had a career, moved to Texas and just normal life at this point, right? Yes, so what happened? You eventually had some medical issues, right?
Speaker 2:Eventually. I mean, I was pretty healthy. I really went to the doctor once a year for a checkup, basically. Then something kind of unusual happened. I developed heart failure and it's kind of unusual happened. I developed heart failure and it's kind of unusual for that type of disease to just happen quickly. But basically I was walking across the room at Lifeline, walking over to the copy machine. I still remember looking down and seeing that and I lost consciousness. I woke up on the floor. That was scary. All this furniture was right next to my head, Just a question At this point.
Speaker 1:You had not had any symptoms prior to this right.
Speaker 2:I had no cardiovascular disease of any type and even later they still couldn't find a reason for what happened. Since I bumped my head when I fell, I knew I needed an x-ray. If you're older or younger, you always get an x-ray if you bump your head. I called my doctor and encouraged me to go to the ER. So I really I thought I'm just going to go to the ER real quick and I'll be right back, just going to scan my head real quick, just do a quick x-ray Went to the ER and they x-rayed and they found two subdural hematomas.
Speaker 2:I had two brain bleeds in the front. So when I bumped my head in the back it pushed my brain forward. I had two bleeds in the front and I'd also lost conduction in my heart. So I was in a full heart block. Both of those are very critical. Electricity to help my heart to beat. It was temporary, it was like this external device and the wire went into my heart and it just fired my heart to beat and I remember the doctor saying okay, don't move If that wire comes out, that's it. So I didn't move, I did as I was told.
Speaker 1:So question again up to now in life you had been relatively healthy, no real heart issues. Suddenly one day, just walking to the copy machine, you basically pass out and then suddenly you're in the hospital with all of these wires in you and things. What's going through your mind at this point?
Speaker 2:Well, I was perplexed. I was really. I was in disbelief, kind of in denial, because even when I woke up and got up off the floor I knew I'd bumped my head, but I felt okay. I mean to me I felt okay, even though my heart was not, you know, I felt okay. So I was in disbelief. I really felt like, oh, they're going to realize everything's fine and just send me home. I'm sitting in ICU but I'm still telling myself I mean, actually I still had my blue jeans on under my gown. I was just thinking they're going to send me home. So I was in denial, I was in disbelief, I didn't believe it you know.
Speaker 1:So they had going back to the story. They had wires on your heart saying don't let these come disconnected, right, Don't move, Don't move.
Speaker 2:Or the doctor just before he went home he came to my room and said okay, don't move, or that wire comes out, that's it. So it's like oh, I didn't, I laid there. Then the next day they did a more permanent, where you know the placement where you keep the box in you, and so it was more permanent, it was working. They figured, okay, we figured out what's wrong. You needed electricity to your heart. So then they did a permanent placement the next day. But I was still left in heart failure and that was a mystery to my doctors.
Speaker 2:Up to that point I had good cardiovascular health. I had low everything blood pressure, cholesterol, I ate healthy, I was active, you know. So I exercised, I had no social drug activity, I didn't smoke, I didn't consume alcohol. So the doctors really they couldn't find a cause for what happened. And this isn't usually how heart failure happens. It just a healthy person doesn't just go into heart failure one day, it's usually something that progresses slowly over time. It was all kind of perplexing, kind of a mystery, mystery to everyone. My heart was pumping at about 18 to 20% of its capacity.
Speaker 1:I guess as a career as a registered nurse, you were familiar with hospitals and medical things, so at this point you probably understood the seriousness of where you were right.
Speaker 2:I was very aware it was very concerning. It was kind of a different dynamic for me. It was a different feeling to be the one in the bed so that I had to kind of looking at them trying to figure me out, because I was used to being the one on the team giving the care. So it was a different dynamic for me. I kind of had to wrap my mind around that.
Speaker 1:Were you still in ICU or continue with the story in the hospital? What's going on?
Speaker 2:Well, eventually, no, I had to go home. Of course, they got my heart stable. The bleeds on my head closed on their own, so I didn't need surgery. They were thinking I needed both surgeries. The heart was going to be first. That's what they told me. We're doing the heart first. And even after the heart surgery they took me to CT immediately to re-scan and they could see where it was starting to close on its own. Those did heal on their own. I didn't need any surgery for that. That was good. I went back home, but I was still in heart failure. My condition persisted and worsened quickly. It wasn't too long until I found myself on the heart transplant list waiting for a donor. Doctors decided this is all so.
Speaker 1:heart transplant list waiting for a donor heart. And what were the doctors telling you at this point?
Speaker 2:That that was my only option. They were hoping whatever was going on was going to reverse, because it happened quickly. Well, maybe we've got everything going on the right track, they've got electricity going to my heart, maybe it was just a conduction problem and we've got that restored. So they were thinking this will reverse. As quick as it happened it can reverse. That was the hope.
Speaker 1:How much time passed in between the initial again walking to the copy machine and you just fall out one day. How much time passed in between the initial event and here where the doctors are now telling you your heart has failed and you need a transplant.
Speaker 2:About a year, because you know they were hoping it would reverse. They even upgraded the electrical device, right, because, oh, this is what you need, you need the Cadillac version, you just need a bigger device. And so we, you know, changed it out. So in that time, maybe a year, year and a half, and finally it was a transplant is your only resource, your only option.
Speaker 1:At this point, I'm presuming your heart is just slowly getting worse and eventually you end up what back in the hospital or what happened.
Speaker 2:Pretty much. I got worked up and everything. You've got to kind of make the transplant list. Certain things have to be okay, you have to be able to go through the surgery and recover list. Certain things have to be okay, you have to be able to go through the surgery and recover. So they check out all your other systems. So I got worked up and then I was placed on the transplant list.
Speaker 2:I wasn't on the transplant list very long until I realized I really couldn't function well at home and my doctor encouraged me to go into the hospital and just be admitted and wait in the hospital until a heart became available. There were medications that he could give me that would actually help me during these later stages and give me a little more time waiting. The doctor felt pretty confident that within three months you should have a heart. You know he mentioned. You know we pass up a lot of good small hearts. You can't put a little engine in a big truck. So he was pretty confident with that and felt like going in the hospital. I had a good chance.
Speaker 1:So at this point you're in the hospital waiting on a heart. Again, you had mentioned you had been having trouble just getting through the day at home. You're not feeling well at this point. Your heart is slowly getting worse. And what's the family doing at this point? How is the people around you accepting this?
Speaker 2:Well, everyone seemed to be okay with it because there was a lot of hope. It sounded like a great plan. You know, I mean really I'm going to go in and I'm going to get a heart. So I mean everyone was in on it and everyone was supportive for it, for that plan. So I went into the hospital and everyone was supportive for it, for that plan. So I went into the hospital. But while there I declined much quicker than anyone expected. Within 11 days I had gone through all the meds that were available for me, the meds that were going to stretch out my wait time.
Speaker 2:My heart was kind of going haywire what it does at the end. It was just going haywire. My heart pattern and numbers reflected someone getting ready to die. I was very aware. I knew what was going on.
Speaker 2:All at once, my heart would just be normal in a normal heart pattern. Then all at once it would jump up in the 180s and 200s and maybe do that for a minute, minute and a half and then come back down to a normal heart rhythm again. It was doing that. It's what your heart does when it's giving out. It's very common and during this time I can remember when my heart would race high for maybe longer periods of time, longer than a minute, a minute and a half. It would go on for several minutes, which is longer than expected. With that, but during these two times when my heart was racing longer, I could feel something slowly pulling away from my body. The part that was pulling away felt normal, like me, like how I feel every day. The part that was being pulled away from felt this extreme weakness like I've never felt before. So it was kind of odd because I felt like me and yet I felt my body was just so. So weak.
Speaker 1:You were very close to death at this point.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my heart was giving out and I was dying. My soul, my spirit, it was leaving my dying body. There was no pain, but I was able to feel what was happening. Then, all at once, when it was up there for minutes on end, five minutes, seven minutes it would on its own revert back to a what's happening. Right, we do have a soul we have a spirit.
Speaker 1:It's distinct from our body, so we have in the process of dying. There's part of us that continues. So you claim to be aware of this. At the time you were really looking death sort of eyeball to eyeball right.
Speaker 2:That day was Saturday, november 18th 2017. And it was a very difficult day, physically and emotionally, for me. My family was there in the room. My monitor alarms were sounding constantly. My heart kept giving that last oomph right, jumping way up there. Oh, I got to catch up. I got to catch up. The nurses didn't like walking out of my room. They ran in and out of my room. The door to my room was like a revolving door. My trash can was full of those blue gloves, just from them coming in and out, constantly changing. I was very, very weak. The staff started talking to my family a little bit different that day, and just a calm, reassuring voice. I remember hearing them say to my family this is what happens at the end of the end. So they were preparing them, did you?
Speaker 2:get news from the doctors on that last day there wasn't a whole lot that could be done right now. They'd done everything they could do. Little did I know. I wasn't aware of this, but the staff were aware I had a heart match. That's why when I would go into these patterns they would run in to my room Because if my heart had stopped they'd have started working on me to get it going again. They were there to keep me alive. I wasn't aware, but I had a heart match. They were aware.
Speaker 2:But the family had not signed in agreement for the organs to be donated. There was a motivation there. The doctor did say one day as he was leaving, one time Mike, my husband, had said what do you know? What do you know about a heart? What do you know? All he turned and said was you know? Sometimes it's hard for families to give up their loved ones and allow them to donate. I mean, those organs have to be harvested. It takes a few more days from death and they have to be cut on and I think during their deepest grief and anguish it's hard for them to agree to that. It's just overwhelming.
Speaker 1:There you were in a very large hospital, in a major city hospital full of very ill people, and you were in the process of dying, very close to death, where again you could feel your soul, spirit leaving your body. At this point it was probably for you a real low point. I would assume the spiritual part of you says wow, I get to see the Lord. But you're very aware of this, your family is aware of this. It's sort of a dark day for your family. Somewhere else nearby there was another family who had lost a loved one as well, full of tragedy. But out of that tragedy the Lord can work, can he not?
Speaker 2:Yes, he can. And even through all this, as I was kind of realizing, oh, I'm dying, I'm leaving, because when the nurses were talking to my family explaining this is normal, this is what happens. At the end of the end I could see my family's disbelief. I could see their concern. End of the end. I could see my family's disbelief. I could see their concern. I could see grief on their face. It was hard to see that.
Speaker 2:My immediate family was young. We had three separate households, but we kept in contact with each other all the time. So, as women, it doesn't matter what our stage of life is. We love to take care of our families. It's just something we look forward to doing and we want to do. They're just so precious to us. They're precious jewels our family and so this life of mine is intertwined with them. See, I have a connection with everyone, the older, the younger. In some way I'm connected with them. So I'm intertwined with them, and this life with them is really the only life I've known. So it was hard for me to realize and accept I'm intertwined with them and this life with them is really the only life I've known. So it was hard for me to realize and accept I'm leaving you.
Speaker 2:This appeared to be God's plan for me, and a plan that was different than any of us expected, because, you remember, I was going into the hospital to get a heart. I was just going to wait on a heart. God's plan kind of appeared to change, although I was personally also in my heart. I personally felt like God, there's more work for me to do, but according to his agenda, that day, on November 18th, it appeared I was finishing up my work here on earth and that God was calling me home to heaven. Like all of us, I just want to be found faithful, walking the path that God lays before me, the same path that God lays before you. Your desire, my desire, it's the same. But whatever his plan, whatever his agenda, even though it's different than maybe what we expect or we might want, it's really truly what we deserve. He found faithful in his plan for us. So I was pulled. I was pulled because I want what God wants for me. Yet I have this life now that's interwoven with these people, with my family, and I'm connected and we're together.
Speaker 2:It's a weaving that I felt was strong and I felt like I was concerned for my grandbabies. They had not lost a grandparent yet. They were all young, maybe one or two hamsters. That was her only experience with death. I worried for the young ones and for the older ones because the thread that was interwoven in that fabric was about to get pulled out and things were going to kind of unravel for them. The situation, I realized, was completely out of my control. It wasn't something that I could make better. You know, we women we like to. When there's an issue or a problem, we like to kind of come in and make it all better for that person. I realized that during this situation I had no control. There was nothing I could do to change anything.
Speaker 1:One of the questions that has been on the mind of all of mankind really since ancient times up to now is why? Why would God allow suffering in his children? Why would God allow suffering across humanity? And this is a question again going all the way back to ancient days. People say why is there suffering? If we read the Old Testament, the prophets were screaming out saying Lord, why, why don't you fix this? And the Bible tells us that God is good and that he's all-powerful. We see pain and suffering and we wonder why, as someone, terry, that has looked death in the eye and gone through this and all of the heart-wrenching struggle you just mentioned, can you sit here today and say that God is good and he has a purpose and that we can still trust God through all this?
Speaker 2:Absolutely yes. Physically, what we go through, what I went through, I was weak and emotionally spent. I had no reserve, energy, and I think it's in times like that that we truly turn, when we realize we just have God, we truly turn to him and maybe he allows the situations of the struggling and the despair. So we will do that. When things are going well, we can depend on God. But it's not the same as when you have no other reserve and you just realize everything is in God's control. I think we say that, but until we experience that, where we are on rock bottom, this is it, it's all in God's hands that we really do turn to him. And I did that. I turned to God's word because I saw those precious people in front of me and I cashed in on God's promises.
Speaker 2:His promises are throughout the Bible, right, they're just peppered all over different areas of the Bible. We see God's promises, we read them, we talk about them, we teach them. I've heard it say that God's promises are like payroll checks you work, you get paid, you get that check, but there's one more step. Right, you have to put it in a bank before you can receive the money. One more step, if I just ooh, gather those checks and let them pile up on my desk. Ooh, look, I got payroll checks. What good are they right? God's promises are a lot like payroll checks we never experience the blessing of the money that we've received until after we deposit the check.
Speaker 2:God's promises we have many of them throughout the Bible. But we have to do more than look at them. We have to do more than believe in them. We have to do more than talk about them. Okay, we have to trust God with them. So I reached into God's word and I took his promises and I just surrendered them to him. I trusted him fully and completely that his words were true. Those precious jewels that I was leaving behind they're his, they're not mine.
Speaker 2:In Joshua 1.9, he promises to never leave or forsake his own. Okay, he's not going to abandon them. He's going to be with them the whole time, even when I'm gone. He's going to be with them. In Philippians 4.19, he promises to meet all of our needs. You know what I realize? God's going to take care of you. Maybe you can't call me about something. He's going to put someone in your path, and I prayed that. Put the person in their path that can help them when they need help. Philippians 419 assured me God cares for them, he's going to take care of them.
Speaker 2:God didn't take away the problems of that day. My heart continued to race. The doctors and nurses they continued to run in and out of my room all day long. I remained in the end of the end stages that day, but what God did do was give me just an incredible realization of his peace. The eyes of my soul saw the still waters described in Psalm 23. I experienced Jehovah Shalom that day. All the worry, the huge concerns, they were all covered in an outpouring of peace, peace that can only come from our Lord God, from Jehovah Shalom. It was going to be all right. Difficult, yes, but all right. My family had been surrendered to God and covered, completely covered, in his wonderful promises.
Speaker 1:You know, we memorize passages like Psalm 23 when we're kids and we read these promises of God and when we don't have a tragedy going on in our life, then it's real easy to say, oh yeah, well, god's good and he'll take care of things. But it's something else entirely when, as your illustration, we really do need to cash that check. Can we take God's promises to the bank? He?
Speaker 2:gave me an assurance in my soul as I'm laying in that bed like a dishrag. Okay, he gave me assurance in my soul that I can't describe in words. It isn't so important that everything makes sense to us. We don't need all the answers. We don't need answers to all the whys that may pop into our head. That really doesn't matter. In the course of everything, it's really not important. What is important is that we trust God, that we lean into Him, that we, like you said, we cash in His promises by surrendering our situations completely to him and trusting his word. We can't just give it to him and take it back. We got to give it all to him. I was at a point that's all I could do was give it to him. I was dying. And after we do that, he leads us to still waters and we can experience Jehovah's Shalom. God is peace.
Speaker 1:Newsflash for our audience. You didn't die that day. What actually did happen?
Speaker 2:Well, that day, as I struggled through and eventually accepted what appeared to be God's plan for me, which is what he wants. He wants us to accept where he has us right, not keep wanting different. Oh, I want to be here. Oh, I want before. No, he has us here. Okay, he wants us to accept his plan for us, I realized I'm going to see Jesus. There was an excitement with that. Okay, oh, wow. Okay, my family's going to be fine and I'm going to see Jesus. I'm going to stand before him. I mean, am I going to do? I mean, oh my gosh, right.
Speaker 2:So I had excitement, but I had regrets. I had a sadness, not regrets for places that I had not vacationed to, that I'd seen more of the world, not regrets that I'd wished I'd made more money or maybe secured a different job or maybe obtained the next degree. Not those regrets. My regrets was I wish I had done more. I should have done more for God's kingdom work, because it appeared to me in that hospital bed, my window of opportunity was closing right, my time's all used up. It was pretty apparent. It was all used up.
Speaker 2:But late that evening the hospital phone rang. I heard it ringing and it's ringing and I'm really I'm laying there so weak. It was so much effort to raise my arm and reach over and answer it. So I was kind of talking myself out of answering the phone. I kind of told myself, you know, anyone who knows me is going to use my cell phone so I don't have to answer that phone. They'll get tired and hang up, you know, and.
Speaker 2:But it kept ringing and it occurred to me a few days earlier, a family member from the patient that was in my room prior to me. They called looking for her and I was able to help them locate her where she was and I thought, you know, if that was a family member, I should answer the phone because they could be looking for her and need some help. So I answered the phone and instantly I heard this voice and I thought I recognize the voice and I thought you know a health professional, like a doctor or a nurse. They might use the hospital phone because, well, they know the number, they work there and they know my room number. On the other end I heard a voice that said Terry, you have a heart. You have a young, perfectly matched heart. This is rare to be perfectly matched. Your surgery is scheduled first thing tomorrow morning. We'll see you then.
Speaker 1:This was good news. Right, it was yeah.
Speaker 2:It's what I came in for originally. Right, that was the whole plan in the beginning. But my mind now my mind is okay. I thought I was going to see Jesus. Wait a minute, wait a minute. My mind's a little. I couldn't even think the words to say the words and I thought, oh, I need to call Mike. And I thought, oh, I need to call Mike, but I can't even think the words. I even say the words to him on the phone In my mind. I'm thinking I was ready to see Jesus. Oh, wait a minute. It was kind of hard to wrap my mind around, but, oh my gosh, I have a heart, you know.
Speaker 1:What's interesting is what you said a minute ago, at the point of what you thought was death. What you really thought of was I hadn't done enough for the Lord, I hadn't done enough for the kingdom. There was a sense there of loss. I remember a very successful businessman at the end of his life wrote a book. He was a CEO of a huge corporation. This was after he retired.
Speaker 1:He never met anybody that got to the end of their life and said you know, I really wish I had made greater return on investment 25 years ago in the company. But what he did is he met a lot of people that got to the end of their life and said I wish I would have spent more time with my family or done more for the community things like that. As Christians, I think we all need to be aware of how am I really spending my time? Because all of us are walking around, going through, just doing daily activities, and I think at some point we're going to have to answer that question what have you done with what I gave you? Right, that was kind of the thought, correct.
Speaker 2:Yes, that's where the regret was. There was regret with that and there was sadness with that. I missed opportunities. You know we'll rest in the new Jerusalem.
Speaker 1:You got the call. We have a heart for you. Again, as we mentioned earlier, this is good news for you. Possibly even in the same hospital or somewhere close by, there was a family that had lost a daughter and that was a great tragedy for them. We have these things that happen in life and again we always scream out why, but the Lord's purposes are up to Him. You go through the surgery, obviously, you survived. What was it like after the surgery? You go into the surgery the next morning and what happens?
Speaker 2:Well, you know, in my mind I was thinking, oh, but I've still got to make it through surgery and I'm really sick right now. So I really wasn't thinking I've got an extended life, I've got bonus time. I wasn't thinking that yet until I woke up after surgery and then I realized and it just hit me, I mean just overwhelming God's love just poured into my heart and there were so many people praying for me, praying specific prayers, praying specifically, that I would get a heart. God answered that prayer in a very specific way. He gave me a heart.
Speaker 2:I don't really have enough words to express the gratefulness that I really feel for all those people who'd stopped and took time to pray for me. They didn't give up, they persevered, they did not grow weary. They didn't you know well, I've already prayed for that before. No, they were praying, and I knew that because afterwards they'd come and tell me how they were praying. Right up that day, november 18th, they were praying. It's like this is all we've got. We're going to pray. I'm just so thankful to so many who took the time to pray for me. I'm just so thankful to so many who took the time to pray for me. God used them to minister to me, to minister to my heart. He poured his love into my heart through their actions. You know God does that. So when people do something for you, when you do something for someone else, the love they feel can be God's love poured onto them.
Speaker 2:That's what I felt. I felt God's love poured over them. That's what I felt. I felt God's love poured over me, him taking care of me. Saying thank you is hardly enough. I'm so grateful to so many. I have communicated with the family of my donor, first through written letters, and then we drove to a restaurant halfway. They lived in the Dallas area, so kind of halfway between us, and we met for lunch. They're lovely, lovely people area, so kind of halfway between us, and we met for lunch. They're lovely, lovely people, and so many in their family came that day to meet me. I'm grateful to them Again. I really don't have words to describe my heartfelt gratitude for what they did. That mother in her deepest despair, her agony, her deepest pain, just overwhelmed with grief.
Speaker 1:Because this mother had lost a relatively young daughter, correct?
Speaker 2:She was 18. Yes she was 18. But in her deepest despair, the daughter had signed up to be an organ donor. But the family has to agree to it.
Speaker 2:But in her deepest despair she decided to allow what her daughter wanted, and she told me that it's what she wanted and that's why I wanted to follow and support her wishes. I'm so grateful to her for that. To me, that was very selfless on her part. Anyone would have understood in her grief. Just let her be, Don't put more on her. But so it was very selfless on her part. Can one person make a difference? Yes, my donor did. God used her gift to me to completely change my life. My gratitude runs deep.
Speaker 1:I can remember in my lifetime where heart transplant surgeries just they hadn't developed the techniques to do it yet. So these are, in the grand scheme of things, still relatively new type of surgery and it's obviously very major surgery. Scheme of things, still relatively new type of surgery and it's obviously very major surgery. So you were at one day at death's door, get the phone call with the heart transplant just a few hours later. So how long was it before you were actually out of the hospital and back home?
Speaker 2:I think I was in the hospital about five to six weeks, recovering right around in there. I'm grateful beyond words that God would give me this bonus time by allowing me to have the heart and the transplant and the recovery is hard. The transplant is probably the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, but it was totally worth it.
Speaker 1:You wake up the next morning with a new heart. What happened in the following days? How long was it before you were kind of up moving around?
Speaker 2:They start PT pretty much immediately. Okay, so the research shows the quicker a post-operative patient is up and moving, the better their recovery. If you just lay there and do not move, you run higher risk of developing pneumonia and that's more of a complication on the surgery itself. So their heart transplant isn't different than any other surgery. They get you up right away with physical therapies getting you up and walking around. You're just carrying a lot of luggage because you've got all these wires and tubes and all this stuff. So you're just kind of carrying a lot of stuff with you.
Speaker 1:Moving on now with what you've done, since you've been very involved in the pro-life movement, correct? That was one of the things I think that was very important to you.
Speaker 2:Yes, it was over years, I think that God kind of laid some things on my heart. He gave me confirmation and maybe the first story that, or the first experience that I had that kind of left me, just kind of touched my heart in a way of we need to educate more on what abortion is. I was working in the hospital. I worked on labor and delivery unit and my patient was getting ready to deliver and so I was getting the incubator already with warm blankets for the baby to receive the baby, and the warm blanket machine was at the end of the hall. I was walking down the hall and the unit did do abortions. Usually between four and six in the morning the doctors would come in before they start their day and do some abortions in some small surgical suites that we had at the end of the hall, and then in the hall they had some curtains that just divided and they would, you know when the patient finished they would move them there and recover them.
Speaker 2:So I'm passing the area to get the warm blankets and I hear some light crying as I'm walking by behind the curtain. So I got what I needed and as I'm coming back I still heard it. So I didn't see the nurse that was recovering the patients around, so I popped in just to see what was wrong. Maybe the patient needed something. So, as I went in, the nurse came around and popped in and said oh, I'm here. And I said, oh, okay, okay, she's going to take care of the patient.
Speaker 2:So I left to go back to my patient and as I was leaving, I heard that patient say okay, I just realized what I've done. I really need to talk to someone. The nurse's response to her was well, it's too late for that. And I thought to myself oh, she didn't really understand what abortion was until after it happened. Then she realized so I think that was the start of God, kind of touching my heart like we need to educate. Oh, that was the late 80s. During the course of the late 80s and 2012, when I started working on planting Lifeline to write in the Articles of Incorporation in 2013. During that time, there were more of those situations that God would just put in my path. That would again show me we need to educate on this. People need to be educated. All the way to the last confirmation, lifeline was built out. So we've gone way forward now to 2014. Lifeline's built out force behind that.
Speaker 1:The idea here is not just curse the darkness, but to go and do something positive right. The culture, of course, is kind of focused on death and darkness, and there's a lot of money to be made in death and abortion, but setting out to have, okay, what can we actually do in a positive sense? You were the founder of a pro-life center, correct?
Speaker 2:Correct. Of course I didn't do the work alone. God put people in my path that helped even one person in particular who came alongside me, jamie Porter. I'd been working on Lifeline about a year when I met Jamie and she actually I didn't talk to her. She heard from someone else and she came and she just got active and she told me. She said, terry, when you're up here, I'm going to be up here. It was really reassuring.
Speaker 2:When you plan to ministry or a church or anything like that, it's very isolating. It's kind of a COVID feeling because you're off doing all this work and everyone else is going about their way and their life and they may come and help you but they go back to their life and it's not a constant sort of help. And she did that. She came alongside Now, of course, god put her in my path. She was a retired vice president of a bank, so not being a businesswoman becoming business-minded, but not being a businesswoman. We had Jamie to set that part up for the ministry because as a 501c3, which we became we're accountable to government for the money we take in, the money we spend. So she helped to get all those records in place. That's how God worked through the whole planting of Lifeline. It was like that. But Jamie was one that I mean. She was with me every day and right up to getting ready to open, and the inspector is coming and he's already come and left a list of things that we needed to fix that we missed right. But the person who came this time wasn't the same one who critiqued us the first time. So I was kind of glad about that, because the first one that came was just wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. And we had, just, you know, this legal pad of things that you know we can't get this done. We're supposed to. We have an open house this weekend. We'd already announced it and everything, and people were coming and churches were coming.
Speaker 2:So the person who came was in his place and it was someone different. It was a younger man. So he came in and he checked everything we had. He had the list of what needed to be fixed and everything was fixed. But he shared a story with me and it was again like, right before we embarked on opening our doors, god one more time confirmed this is right, this is what we need, this is what you were supposed to do.
Speaker 2:He came to me and he said after he's done doing all his inspections, and he says you know, my wife and I, when we were in college she got pregnant and we really didn't know what to do and everyone around us was saying well, you need to get an abortion, just get an abortion, because you know you've got to finish school. This is bad timing. You're not married yet. Just do that, finish school, and then you know, you can have more children later. So they thought about it for a while and then decided no, we're going to do the abortion. He called his dad. He know I can't remember her name, but you know she's pregnant, so we're going to go ahead and get an abortion. And my dad said well, I guess that's the best thing for you to do. And he said my son he knew he had a son would be 20 years old today. If something like this had been there for us, we would not have gotten the abortion All along the way, from the very start, when God started putting a whisper on my heart that we need education, all the way up to days before we opened the door for the open house and the next day we started business, god confirmed again we have to educate and that's what we do at Lifeline we educate.
Speaker 2:We're not just there for the baby. Yes, we're concerned about that baby's life, but we're really concerned on the eternal salvation of that mom, of that dad. Lifeline was mainly planted for evangelism. We have a need in this society. We have a need. We're going to meet that need.
Speaker 2:Since I was a nurse, we could expand the pregnancy center and include a medical side. We did that. So the women can come. They need a pregnancy test, they can see an ultrasound, they can hear the baby's heart rate, they can see the baby on the screen. There was a TV we had to monitor, you know, for the ultrasound, but one of the board members donated this. Like this, this huge TV Takes up the whole wall. Just about in that room you can see the chambers of the four chambers of the baby's heart on ultrasound. It's really good. So they can see that they're choosing to carry the baby, to have the baby.
Speaker 2:We offer classes for four years of the child's life, from whatever stage the mom is in. So while they're pregnant they get lessons on their pregnancy and what's going on during that term first term, second term, third term, then, as the baby's born, through the life, up to four, even things, how to, what to do with a temper tantrum or car seat safety, all these things that pertain to that level of life. As the mom attends these classes, she's given boutique books and those books. She can walk into our boutique, our baby boutique, and it looks like a resale shop Beautiful clothes for babies, everything you need. She can take that boutique book that she received from attending the class and she can buy things she needs for her child. We have everything from zero to four years old there. It allows us to, yes, educate, but also come alongside and support.
Speaker 1:So much of the public discussion goes around abortion and allowing it or stopping it, because it's such a contrast of kind of light and dark yes, and no death and life. Then that's the public discussion. But the real value and the real down end of the nitty-gritty where people live is people have to. They've got jobs, they've got family, they've got money issues and really all of the education is part of what's driving this kind of pro-death movement around. Oh, we'll just dispose of this like it's yesterday's empty box or something.
Speaker 1:No, this is a human being created in the image of God, but we have to do something around helping people to be able to care for the baby. When our families break apart, then we don't have like really all of human creation. The grandmothers were there and the granddaughters learned from the mom. A lot of that's gone because our families have broken up, and so on top of that you have the people just making money out of abortion. It's good that there are pro-life centers and crisis pregnancy centers really all around the world now and to our audience, wherever you happen to be, look around. If you have anyone that has a crisis pregnancy, look around, because there really is support systems all over. Terry, can you say today that there's still a need for Christians to get involved in the pro-life movement?
Speaker 2:Yes, it's a pregnancy center ministry and everyone who goes to Lifeline, when they walk in the door, everyone is shared the salvation message. But they're not just shared. The message. God's love is demonstrated to them as well. They can see, they can see a change. They can see it.
Speaker 2:I remember one mom that I had worked with and she was coming every month and she was about five or six months along. When they first come on the first visit, we share the gospel with them during the interview, when we're first letting them know about the program, how we show them the boutique. You work, our program. You can have everything you need for your child. By the time you deliver you'll have the entire layout, you'll have everything and they can see everything. They can see strollers, they can buy high chairs, clothes. They can see that. So we're providing a need for them and we're meeting that need with that. We can share the gospel message and they watch us.
Speaker 2:And I remember this one mom she's going along in about five or six months along and she came in one day and she was excited. She said okay, I went home and read John. We give them a Bible After I would share salvation story with them. I would say read John. You're going to read the story again and more and I liked the way John formats it and that. And she came in, she goes.
Speaker 2:I read John and I decided I wanted this Jesus that everyone here has, so we can demonstrate God's love, we can show God's love to them through this ministry. But we need dollars. We have light bills, we have to pay rent, we have some staff, we need money and so, yes, we need support Lifeline. It's nonprofit, it's a 501c3. It's supported by churches and individuals. More individuals and churches support it. It doesn't belong to any one it it doesn't belong to any one person. It doesn't belong to any one church. It's God's ministry and we're just here to take care of it. When you do support it through financially, support it. It allows people to learn about what abortion really is, but it also allows people to be able to hear the gospel message. Because the main focus for Planning Lifeline was the opportunity for evangelism and meeting people where they are in their need. We provide for that need and there's a hope and transformation that comes with accepting Jesus into your life. So you're supporting the pro-life movement, but you're also you're really supporting evangelism as well.
Speaker 1:What we'll do is put down in the description. We'll put a link to where you can find out more about Lifeline. There's, of course, as we said, there's centers like this all around. Terry, you've been a great guest. Thank you for being with us. Any last words to our audience that you want to leave with people?
Speaker 2:Maybe a message for Christians today. As Christians, we're not here to sit. We're not here to just ride the wave of life and pleasure or wander around leading a life without purpose and meaning. That's not what we've been made to do. As Christians, we have a race to run. The God who made us has given us just a window of opportunity. We don't know when that window will close permanently. For some, that window will close sooner than for others.
Speaker 2:It's important that we use the time now, the race that we're running, the course that God has charted before us. It outshines any personal pursuit or focus that we might have. It's God's purpose for your life. That's really. What truly matters is finding what is God's purpose for my life. Finding that purpose and fulfilling it needs to be, as a Christian, a number one priority.
Speaker 2:God calls us to run the race. He's charted our course and he's laid it out before us. Who's going to respond to God's call? When we respond to God's call, we compassionately speak and show his way to others. Faith comes by hearing. As we speak and demonstrate God's ways to others, we provide the truth that allows his spirit to open blind eyes to see. If we choose to say nothing, then they will see nothing. Running the race is a choice that Christians make every day. The race doesn't require lightning speed, but it does require endurance. The race will become hard. We're going to have obstacles, we're going to have struggles, we're going to have distractions, we're going to have discouragement. But when you think about it, if Jesus could endure the cross, then we can persevere and endure the course that God has set before each of us to run.
Speaker 1:Thank you, turi Wright, wonderful story. You can learn more about our ministry, reasoning Through the Bible, at our website. What we normally do is verse-by-verse Bible study and we have helps for small groups and churches. We have free teacher materials. So our main purpose is teaching the Word of God and reaching out to all people in all places. You can find more about that at our website, reasoningthroughthebiblecom, and we'd be more than happy to hear from you. If you want to have a message about today's topic, then email us at info. That's I-N-F-O at reasoningthroughthebiblecom, and tune in next time for more of our programming.
