Last week, I wrote about the moment I was given the news from my cardiologist that, as he put it, I "needed to get my affairs in order."

As we left the doctor's office and started the short ride home, I called a friend who is a strong prayer warrior. I shared with her what we had just encountered and asked her to pray for me (Mark 11:24, Prov 20:18).

I remember calling Marcy and wondering how she would take the news. She is such a positive person, but I thought this news might shake her positivity.

I was wrong.

A strong woman of faith and powerful prayer warrior, Marcy has great discipline in the practice of her faith. Many of us close to her can see she experiences a very close relationship with Christ. After I shared my experience, Marcy said something that struck me as odd. She said, "Jeff, I will pray about this, and as soon as I hear from God as to what you are supposed to do, I will call you back."  Her response seemed strange, but real.

I honestly didn't give the conversation much more thought. We arrived home and I prepared for the next day. Overall, I remained in shock.

The next morning Marcy called and quickly said, "Jeff, I know what you are supposed to do." Before I could acknowledge her, she continued, "I just saw Dr. Mehmet Oz on Good Morning America, and he talked about your heart surgery. He described a new robotic arm and he can fix your heart." Jeff, you need to call him right away!"

"Well, that's sounds crazy Marcy", is the only response I could respectfully msuter. I chuckled away her comment. I finished with a pleasant "thank you" and an awkward, "have a nice day."

A few minutes later, my buddy Wayne called and I began to tell him about this crazy conversation. As I mocked her, Wayne stopped me and said, "So let me get this straight, you called Marcy and asked her to pray for you. She said not only would she pray, but she would call you as soon as she heard from God and tell you exactly what to do? And now she does exactly that, and you don't want to call him (Dr. Oz)"?

I said, "Exactly. ... I am not going to call him, he's a celebrity, he probably wouldn't take my call even if I could get through to him." Wayne followed that seemingly empty response with the one that I knew I would hear forever if I didn't call Dr. Oz and survived all of this. "Call me back after you have spoken with him", and he hung up on me.

So, I googled Dr. Mehmet Oz in New York City, called and left a long detailed message of the events of the past few days. I knew that was going to be the end of it. Instead, seven minutes later, Dr. Oz called.

"Jeff Smith?" a voice with a relatively strong accent asked. "Yes," I tentatively answered. "This is Mehmet Oz, and I just listened to your message. I don't know you, so I speak straight to the point, do not let them cut on you today. I agree that your heart is getting larger and larger, and your doctor is correct, you cannot live with an enlarged heart forever. But, you can live with it for a while. I'd like to perform an experimental open-heart surgery on you instead. It's a minimally invasive procedure that we are perfecting at this time. We use a robotic arm and can correct your mitral valve." He went on to explain the procedure in additional detail.

It was time to start listening very closely to that still small voice ... (John 10:3).

Jeffrey Smith, a business consultant, is a national speaker and writes on the topic of leadership. His experience, as president and CEO of a publicly traded financial company, has given him a strong foundation from which to share. 

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