Miracles Do Happen

This is worth the read.

It started almost 4 months ago. I woke up one morning, and my left ear felt like it was water-logged. I heard a low rumble in it for most of the day. I thought maybe the earplugs I was wearing were having some harmful side effects, so I stopped wearing them...for a while. Then, about a month later, it happened again. This time, I swore off earplugs at bedtime.
Then, about 2 months ago, it happened a third time, but I wasn't wearing earplugs. I thought it would go away like the other times, so I did nothing. The next morning, it was worse; more hearing loss, and the rumble was stronger.
That's when I went to the doctor. The hearing test revealed that I did, indeed, have reduced hearing in my left ear, especially in the lower frequencies. He prescribed some vitamins and a diuretic (whyyyyy?). He didn't say much at all, so I didn't feel reassured, and my wife, mother, and I prayed quite a bit.

Was this just a coincidence? The previous weekend, I had played "Give Him All the Glory" as special music for Tokyo Baptist Church. Many people told me how encouraged they were by the song; it was very encouraging to me to know that the music God had given me (the song and almost all of the words came during a 2-day fast) was having an impact; sort of a confirmation that this wasn't just a fun thing to do in my free time, but a gift that God intended to use in a big way. Was satan attacking me? The timing couldn't have been more suspicious. And, why would God give someone the gift of music and then take away their hearing? That just didn't make sense, especially after seeing the fruit borne from just one weekend of ministry.
This was an attack from satan, but what I didn't realize was that this form of attack was quite common. On a whim, I decided to look up my symptoms on the internet, and it popped up immediately: "sudden sensorineural hearing loss." People with this affliction lose their hearing in usually one ear within a matter of months; sometimes weeks. Occurring in approximately every 5000th person, it can be caused by any number of things from an infection, to poor blood flow around the inner ear, and pathology is difficult to determine. The only thing known to generically help is steroid treatment . . . w-w-whaaaa!!!? Where are my steroids!!??
I went back to the doctor the next day and politely suggested steroids, which I promptly received. I felt very insecure having the doctor actually follow my recommendations, so I went to another doctor within the week for a second opinion. He told me that the diagnosis was most likely correct and that I was receiving the appropriate treatment.
Alongside this Tokyo medical dance, I and my family were constantly in prayer. The more I learned about this sickness, the more I realized that the medical community had very little idea what they were doing. They had found a treatment that usually worked, with little idea why it worked (this, at least in the case of the doctors I had visited). My times in the Word led me to passages of healing and God's compassion for those in need. Of particular impact was the story of Lazarus (John 11:1-44); a man whom Christ brought back from the dead. Jesus told Martha that her brother Lazarus would rise from the dead, to which Martha replied "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."(v24) Jesus told her "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.(25,26)" He then proceeded to resurrect Lazarus.
Wow! We who believe God's blessings are only for the next life have got it all wrong! Christ came that we might have life, and abundant life right now! Christ fulfilled the law not just so that we would be free from it's penalties, but that we might enjoy it's blessings as well. His acts of healing are not just confirmation of the gospel; they're genuine love. Why then, should they be limited to evangelistic events? The answer is, "they're not."

For weeks, I prayed quite frequently (I had a constant reminder to do so on the left side of my head). My wife and her mother were both miraculously healed from dire afflictions while in Brazil (more on that in another post), so I had immediate evidence of God's continued manifest power. My hearing got worse, then better, then worse, then better. I found out that this was symptomatic of my sickness, but it was nonetheless a discouraging experience for someone seeking healing. I persisted in prayer, seeking the Lord for strength whenever the urge came to feel depressed. Gradually, the rate and depth of my hearing loss-return began to diminish until it remained fairly steady for a full week.
That weekend, I had agreed to play bass for a gospel performance at a healing service in Saitama (I had agreed to play months before this without knowing that it was a healing service). Even though my hearing was not so up and down anymore, it was still at about a 30 decibel reduction in the damaged ear. I was looking forward to the event, remarking at the providential arrangement, and expecting God to work His miracle through the bishop (Church of God Mission International).
I had become quite sensitive to loud noises, trying to protect my ear whenever possible to avoid further aggravation of the cochlea, and man, was this place ever loud! I wore noise canceling headphones throughout the performance to soften the sound, and also stayed near the rear of the congregation when we weren't performing. Then, the time came to come forward if you wanted to receive healing. I was the last person that the bishop touched. I was asked what my affliction was, to which I replied "I've been losing hearing in my left ear". The bishop then proceeded to shout healing in the name of Jesus into my ear . . . I was mortified. As I walked back to my seat, ear ringing, I wondered if I had just made the worst mistake possible. The choir director, who knew of my hearing problem, told me that he, too, was shocked by the bishop's choice of remedy. Was God going to use this to heal me, or heal me in spite of it?
I still don't know. What I do know is that at my last checkup, the hearing in my left ear was only 5 decibels lower than in the right. There's no more up and down, and I haven't been using the steroids for a month. The medicine can't be credited with the restoration; only God. What I didn't tell you is that as well as being the 1 in 5000 who got this affliction, I was also the 1 in 10 after that who didn't respond to the steroid treatment. Once your hearing returns from using the steroids, that should be it; it should remain recovered after that. Only the blessed few continue to lose their hearing after the initial introduction of steroids, and the treatment can't be renewed but for a short time because of the ear's adaptive dependence on the drug to maintain regular hearing. It's like breathing for someone else; you shouldn't do it too long or the other person risks being unable to resume normal breathing on their own.
Therefore, God gets the credit; all of it! And, you know what? It doesn't matter if the medicine worked or not; God is the one who heals. Doctors can't guarantee a single operation; do you know why? Because there's always the chance that something can go wrong; they just don't know, but God knows. Thank your doctors for their help when you're sick, but give the glory to God. He is the great physician; He is the healer.

Thank you, God for restoring my hearing!