Gods Amazing Grace
By Alan Hatfield
, My grace is sufficient
for thee: for my
strength is made perfect
in weakness. II
Corinthians 12:9 Those
words, written by Paul,
have been an inspiration
to me since I first read
them. I knew
that God would never
leave me, and never
forsake me. Rather, he
would be with me, and
supply whatever I needed
to accomplish his
will. This is what I
believed and held onto
in life. It would keep
me going through the
tough times that came
along. But I was about
to be taken down a road
of faith that I had not
traveled before.
Let me start at the
beginning, on a day like
any other, in the
summer of 1995.
After working on a fence
with my father, I began
to experience
hearing loss in my left
ear immediately after
going in for lunch.
It was bothersome, but I
did not feel any pain.
The best way to
explain it is that it is
like being in an
airplane when the
pressure causes you to
have a muffled sound in
your ears. After a
few hours I realized
something was seriously
wrong. I went
straight to the
emergency room at the
local hospital. They
could
find no answer to my
dilemma. They suggested
I see an Ear, Nose
and Throat Specialist.
After a series of
medication, and shots, I
was told there was
nothing else they could
do for me. I would live
out the rest of my life
deaf in my left ear. I
pondered the
outcome and came to
peace with the results.
I could do it, lots of
people are deaf in one
ear. I too could lead an
almost normal life
without the ability to
hear in one ear. I
believed, whatever the
reason, God would take
me down this road. I was
at rest with it.
“Just trust Him,” I
would often say to
myself. That trust would
be
put to the test in a far
greater way than I could
have ever
imagined in the summer
of 1996.
At this point in my life
I really did not need
anything to happen.
Nonetheless, it did. I
was pastoring
Cornerstone Baptist
Church,
which was just getting
off the ground. The
church was small. So I
looked for a job to help
supplement my income,
and had an
opportunity to teach at
a private school. Funds
were low, and this
job wouldn’t begin until
September. Meanwhile, to
supplement our
income, I began to throw
a big city newspaper in
rural areas. It
was late at night, and
tiresome; but I enjoyed
the time alone with
the Lord. I would often
stop my vehicle out on a
country road, and
get out to pray and
worship God underneath a
beautiful blanket of
stars. I needed those
moments with the Father
more than I really
knew.
In late June tragedy
struck again. This time,
I became totally
deaf. What I thought
would never happen, what
the specialist said
would never happen,
happened. Due to the
same disorder I now had
lost hearing in both
ears. I was so deaf that
I could not even
hear myself talk. I had
never experienced such
silence. The
specialist once again
said that they had done
all that they could
do. They suggested I
should take lip reading
classes so that I
might be able to
communicate with others.
It was a hard time for
my wife, as well as
myself. I began to talk
less. The doctors
warned my wife that if I
did not talk I would
eventually lose my
ability to speak
correctly. She now had
to write things down on
paper in order to
communicate with me. We
also used our own
homemade sign language.
I am a very bad lip
reader. So I struggled
to understand those who
spoke to me. It broke my
heart when my
daughters spoke to me,
and I could not
understand them. They
did
not understand why Daddy
couldn’t hear them.
Questions flooded my
mind. What was God
doing? Would He heal me?
What was to become of
our church? How would I
preach and
communicate the Gospel?
How would I lead the
singing in our small
church? How would I
teach if I couldn’t
hear? How would I
support
my family? These were
real questions in my
mind that I did not
know the answers to. But
God gave me scriptures
to lean on for
comfort and strength
during this time. One
such scripture was II
Corinthians 12:9. I knew
God was in control. I
knew He would never
forsake me. I knew His
grace was sufficient.
Other scriptures that
helped me through this
time are: Isaiah 40:31,
Isaiah 41:10,
Isaiah 43:1-3, and
Isaiah 54:17. These
scriptures showed me
that
regardless if God healed
me or left me deaf, that
He was in
control of my life, the
church, my career, and
my family. I was
not to be in control. I
was to take a back seat
and allow God to
lead. I allowed Him to
be Lord of my life. All
I needed to do was
to truly trust him with
all my heart.
I can look back now and
see the blessings of God
that came during
this time, in the way of
friends. There were
people all over the
state of Texas, and some
in other states praying
for my healing. I
was ready to accept
whatever road He would
lead me down. I knew
that God could use me
deaf or hearing, and I
was ready to follow
him however He saw fit.
I really believe that
God is able to lead
and move in our lives
when we put ourselves in
the place of
following and trusting
Him no matter what.
I am so glad we serve a
Father that hears and
cares about the
lives of His children.
He heard our cries, our
prayers, and He
answered by giving me
back my hearing. Glory
to God. I now Trust
Him even more than
before. His word always
stands true. Be aware
that He is a great
Father and would
continue to be even if
He had
not restored my hearing.
But I am so thankful and
feel so blessed
having gone through
this, and to have my
hearing back. It was
only
by His grace that I made
it through and did not
give up on Him.
When everyone is giving
up hope, when there
seems to be no cure,
when the answers are not
there, when there seems
to be no way out,
trust Him, His grace is
sufficient.
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