A Woman's Heart

A recent magazine article amazed me. The article itself was about heart disease, and how, as women, we can live to avoid it.

The disease is the #1 killer of women in America and until very recently was largely undiagnosed, because all of the previous research had only been done in men.

You see, a woman's heart is different from a man's.

Researchers have found that when plaque builds in a man's heart, it creates a blockage. That blockage builds until too much blood is constricted, and *crack* you have a heart attack.

A woman's heart however doesn't just fill with plaque. Her arteries adapt to accommodate it.

In the face of stress and change, a woman's heart expands to make room for the plaque build-up. Because of this, the build-up is difficult to detect and scientifically, medicine is still trying to learn how to detect issues within a woman's heart.

Physiologically, the expansion of a woman's heart is most likely due to pregnancy, when blood flow increases and accommodation has to be made.

But emotionally and spiritually, the idea that a woman's physical heart expands to accommodate her surroundings seems to fit, doesn't it?

I've heard it said that once a woman has a child, she begins to wear her heart outside of her body. More recently I read where a woman with four children proclaimed she watched each of the four chambers of her heart each and every day.

In that regard, my heart has expanded to five chambers. They are beautiful and simultaneously my biggest challenge and biggest blessing. I know for sure that my heart beats faster with pride and with worry for each one of them, each and every day.

I know that no many how many children any of us have in our lives, there is room enough in our hearts to receive each one.

In the face of challenges and struggles, a woman's heart adapts to take on whatever is necessary...often, much to the amazement of those around her.

Surely a woman's heart is a divine creation. May we remember that we are His. Always.

xoxo