I had a transformation this week. Unexpected. Humbling. Glorious.
For the previous two months, I had been unable to hear out of my right ear; noises were completely muffled as if I were under water. Many sounds were lost to me altogether … birdsong, someone calling me from the next room, the telephone ringing.
I had difficulty understand someone talking to me unless I could see their lips. In a restaurant or public place with background noise, I was unable to discern specific voices and felt stress and frustration to the point of avoiding such places (similar to the experience my friends with hearing aids describe).
My unilateral audio localization skills were completely askew; I could hear a noise – like the roar of a truck engine approaching – but could not discern what direction it was coming from. My balance was off and vertigo plagued me for the first few weeks.
Nothing helped. We tried roto-rootering the ear canal, antibiotics, antihistamines, anti-everything we could think of. In the end, two different doctors admitted they had no idea why my ear decided to close up shop. It was as if an involuntary earlid (like an eyelid) had battened down the hatch and refused to be pried back open.
I felt like an old woman with an ear trumpet repeatedly droning to everyone trying to speak to me, “Eh? Eh? Eh?”
So I did what we do when all else fails. I prayed.
Okay, so I had been praying about it all along, but my own little hearing loss problem was relegated somewhere down toward the bottom of my priority list after asking for healing for my friends battling for their lives with cancer. And then, my approach was admittedly weak, as in, “Lord, help me find the right doctor who can fix this.”
But I finally reached the end of my rope. I hit my knees in earnest on my own behalf, pouring out my need to the Great Physician.
It should have been my first resort, not my last.
I prayed specifically that Papa God would send a grace note (my term for everyday miracles) my way and open that sucker up in time for my 70s class reunion dance so I could hear my classmates voices over the background music.
Would you believe that after eight long weeks of unwanted silence, the day before the dance, I woke up in the morning to birds singing outside my window? What??? (Why are we always so surprised to get a miracle when we pray for one?)
I could hardly believe it – I could actually hear those little fellas tweeting! Sweetest sound on earth. Sure enough, my deficit was dramatically reduced and continued to improve that entire day until by evening, my hearing was fully restored.
Wow. BIG wow.
It was a grace note alright. Because that’s what Papa does: heaps grace on top of more grace. He loves to surprise His children with gifts wrapped in a ribbon of glorious grace.
What grace-gifts has your Papa God surprised you with lately? I’d love to hear all about it.
Winners Here!
I’m happy to announce the winners of my Fall Into Blessings Giveaway: Adrianna Fuentes and Julia Holm Breland. Congrats ladies! I appreciate the lovely book reviews you wrote on Amazon and Goodreads more than I can tell you.
Now you get to choose which of my Too Blessed to be Stressed baby blessings you’d like, in addition to the adorable Too Blessed to be Stressed 2017 Planner that just hit bookshelves. PM me your choice and your mailing address and I’ll pop those prizes in the mail to you ASAP.
Stay tuned for a bunch of exciting freebies coming up with the debut of my freshly renovated website, including a great new way for you and I to get closer: The BFF (Blessed Friends Forever) Club!
And oh! A chance to win my new 365-day devo releasing for Christmas: Too Blessed to be Stressed: Inspiration for Every Day.
