Everyone Has a Story to Tell

Born in a Methodist family. I am the last of five children. I attended Methodist church since childhood. In 2006, at School Dean and I would always argue about The Sabbath during our spare time. In our arguments I would say "The Sabbath falls on a Sunday" and he would always point to the true Sabbath and backed that up with biblical facts. I didn't have facts to back my arguments, but all I could say was “If everyone else goes to worship on a Sunday surely that’s the Sabbath, we can’t all be wrong or misguided”. I vividly remember denying all the facts he presented. In his logical explanations he also referred to historical events including the great persecution of Christians for their obedience to Christ in keeping His Statutes (I guess he was drawing this part of his facts from the book The Great Controversy by E.G White – I heard about this book around 2016, read it in 2021). He tried to explain how most people ended up observing Sunday as their sabbath. After a while, our arguments came to an end, and I stayed in the dark with what I believed thus rejecting the truth.

In 2009 with my two other friends, we attended a crusade hosted by Adventists. I guess we were just whiling up time as we were still trying to map our careers after High School. After the message had been delivered at one sermon during the crusade week, a call was made for those who wanted to give their lives to Christ, to turn to the Truth. One of my friends heeded the call and was converted. As we began to differ in our beliefs and lifestyles because of the conversion, our friendship bond became weaker and weaker with time. 

After some months another chance to turn to the Truth was presented, another crusade was held and again the Truth was preached.  This time the message struck me, particularly the parts about a relationship with Christ, the essence of the true biblical baptism and the importance of keeping God’s commandments, including the Sabbath. At this stage I was able to see how my life was in contrary with what had been preached (all was biblical) So, I decided to turn to the Truth. I went upfront for the prayer when the call was made. You will not believe what happened here, pride got to me while I was up there, and the fear of other people’s perceptions concerning the decision came to mind. So, I thought to myself “how will I tell them about this”, I somehow thought that this would be unacceptable to almost all people in my circles. It also involved switching from Methodism to Adventism. Soon after the sermon my friend said (the one who had been converted earlier), “I saw that you went upfront, you did a good thing”, I said to him “no I just needed a prayer for issues that were bothering me, I am not joining others in their decision”. These were my words as I plainly rejected the Truth. At this moment Christ was plainly rejected. That was the beginning of the rejection of Christ.

One thing I like about the Gospel is that you can't undo truthful messages that you've heard, especially the ones that leave you convinced. You just decide either to tag along or go the opposite way. So I decided, I remained a Methodist. One carrying a burdensome message that was not heeded (It was burdensome because it was not heeded, all this is explained in the next few lines). I could not erase the Truth that I had heard. The message kept on convicting me every now and again. Pride never gave me a chance to turn to the truth and thus I found it more and more difficult to switch to the Seventh Day Adventist Church. The Truth stayed in my mind and the convictions kept on coming randomly, sometimes I would not sleep. To deal with this, I postponed the move to go to Seventh Day Adventist Church. I pushed it six years into the future so that I could live ‘peacefully’ without any convictions. It is during this time that I made it hard for myself to make the move. As I was growing up, I started taking up leadership positions in church, a catalyst in the sinking process. It then became very difficult to make the move, but thanks to the power that Christ gives (as shall be described in the closing paragraphs). After six years it turned out that postponing was not good enough, so I had to find a permanent solution to deal with the convictions, I settled for self-justification.

I was carrying a burden. There was no peace in my heart. If ever you wanted to silence me or cause a bad day, all you needed was to mention any of these words in our conversations: Baptism, Sabbath, Born again, Sanctification, Rest. I was part of a Bible Study group, I struggled for most parts of the Book of Acts as there are many parts that talk about baptism. Hebrews 4:1-11 was the most unsettling during our studies.

Around 2017/2018 another week-long crusade was held by the Seventh Day Adventist Church, this time very close to our residential area, less than 40 meters from our house. I knew that attending this crusade would result in hearing the Truth, so I wasn't going to attend at all. We were so close to the venue that even from inside the house, echoes of the preacher’s sermon could be heard. From the beginning of the week, I was determined and wasn't going to attend. Midweek I just could not resist further and so I then decided to attend, and it was a Wednesday. The same message as before was preached and a call was made, I remained seated, heart pounding as never before, deep down the message had struck again. I rejected Christ, again.

The Covid-19 pandemic has been a difficult period for most if not all. To most, this period somehow gave or has given a reasonable amount of time to introspect. In 2020 between August and October all the pieces started coming together. One Saturday morning I bumped into a sermon on YouTube by Pastor Makuvire and it reminded me again of Christ, His Commandments and about the true Baptism. I realized that Christ had not been pursuing me to condemn me but to help me make things right. That is when I made the decision to receive Him. At first, I feared telling people about the decision I had made, but Christ strengthened me and helped me to overcome this stage. To know more about the Truth, I continued watching the online sermons and listening to the wonderful hymns on YouTube (see links at the end). At this time, we were not able to move around or gather or even attend church because of the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions. When the lockdown restrictions due to Covid-19 were eased, Christ gave me the strength to go to church, to The Seventh Day Adventist Church. We started our lessons in the baptismal class. The flow of lessons was affected as at times were forced not to attend church because of lockdown restrictions. We were eventually baptized on the 6rh of November 2021, Oh what a happy day.

I hope I have not provoked anyone by telling this story. I was just narrating events that took place in my life so that perhaps someone out there who might be trapped can find hope. I hope I did not condemn anyone too. I was just trying to bring out the point that Christ is the one who dictates how He would want to be worshiped and that's all there in the Bible. However, Man (mere mortals) and fallen beings have thought themselves to be wise and thus have tried to twist the message causing many to believe the opposite knowingly or unknowingly. But the saying is true that God is immutable and so are His Statutes (Matthew 5:17-18). I hope that the story is pointing to Christ.

My advice to many: When the Truth comes to you, Christ is speaking to you, do not hesitate to open your heart. Do not be rebellious, do not take a destructive path like the one I had taken.

I thank Jesus Christ for pursuing me. May The Everlasting Gospel reach everyone that many may turn to Christ.

YouTube links

Bluffhill SDA Church YouTube Channel

https://youtube.com/channel/UCErsU06EwXPI9uNFHlPYduA

Mandara SDA Church YouTube Channel 

https://youtube.com/c/MandarasdaChurchDigitalEvangelism

Tympanoplasty, The Aftermath

I’d like to share my experience of the Tympanoplasty (Surgical Operation of the tympanic membrane or ear drum) and the road to recovery. In my case it was the left tympanoplasty.  Let me start of by saying “do not be scared of this operation, if there is need for you to undergone one please do so”. After reading please share this post with others, it will definitely give hope and courage to someone out there.

I really wanted to share with you the reason why I had to undergo this ear surgery in the first place but the story behind it is a painful one so for now let me just keep it to myself. 

My left ear, because of the story above developed a continuous sharp annoying sound inside. It was swollen and it was very painful. I was a bit reluctant on seeing a doctor because I was confident that the ear would heal naturally. My mum convinced me to go and see the doctor and after three weeks of taking medication the pain and swelling went away but the sharp annoying sound did not disappear. I went back to the doctor a several number of times but nothing materialized until I was referred to an ENT (Ear Nose and Throat) Specialist.

The renowned ENT (Ear Nose and Throat) Specialist examined the ear and was quick to conclude the reason behind this continuous sharp pitch (tinnitus is its biological term). What followed were words not easy to take in. He said "There is a huge perforation in your left ear drum that will never heal on its own”. He suggested the Tympanoplasty to try and close the perforation. I could not handle the sound anymore so I had no option but to go under the knife. To try and describe the experience just imagine the sound produced in the butchery by a meat cutting machine right in your ear. As if that's enough, this "lullaby" was played non stop right inside my left ear.

Below are images of a normal ear drum and a damaged one.

The tympanoplasty operation is usually performed to close the perforation in the tympanic membrane (ear drum) so as to restore hearing, avoid infection into the brain and to eliminate tinnitus(a sharp, continuous and annoying sound in the ear). In my case there was not much loss of hearing. From my research there are 2 ways of performing the surgery. Option 1 is to partially detach the ear from the head so as to fully access the eardrum. Option 2 involves using special equipment which can access the eardrum without cutting off the ear. With the former the surgeon normally uses the patient’s tissue taken from under the skin of the ear that has been partially cut off and uses this tissue to close off the perforation. With the latter, to close the perforation, the surgeon uses skin taken from the ear’s tragus (A small cartilaginous flap in front of the external opening of the ear). 

Let me guess, yes, I got that right, you would go for Option 2. There were no options to choose from in my case but fortunately the Specialist said he was going to perform method number 2.

The operation was performed a month after diagnosis (in February 2012). It was a bit painful in the first week. I was taking a couple of painkillers each day to relieve the pain. Sleeping and chewing was handled by only the right sides of the body. A lot of muscles are used while defecating and care had to be taken to prevent the chances of tearing the operated area of the eardrum. It was difficult to wash the face because of the bandage strapping on the other half of the face. It took about three weeks to heal with regular reviews in-between. After those 3 weeks, the annoying sound did not disappear even though the ear had healed. and I had to go for reviews every 2/3 weeks. The ENT Specialist kept on telling me that it takes a while for the sound to disappear. Seven months on and still the sound had not disappeared and during those seven months I was visiting the specialist after every 2/3 weeks. That’s a lot of time and money, I was just a university student and this involved missing lectures. The pitch of the sound increased with time. It was quite disturbing and caused a lot of sleepless nights. He prescribed some sleeping tablets and it did not go down well with me. I finally decided to see a different ENT specialist. What he showed me on a large TV screen was difficult to accept as it was my ear drum with a large perforation same as it was before the operation. Up to now (2022 at the time of writing this line) I still don't understand the actions of the ENT Specialist who did this op. He could have just told me that the op was not successful than to make me go for a lengthy period with fake hope. 

Finally it was now clear that the first operation was not a success so I had to undergo a second one, this time with a different surgeon. It was quite saddening, painful and hard to accept. After being told to undergo another op I found it difficult to accept so I only went back for after one year and three months. This time the surgeon had to partially cut off the ear so as to fully access the inner part of the ear (like anyone else I didn’t want anyone to temper with my head or anything close to the brain but I had no choice). The second op was performed on the 12^th of March 2014. Was the second op a success? well I'll leave you to decide. 

I highlighted earlier that the main reasons for undergoing this operation is to prevent the risk of infection entering into the brain and to reduce or clear the sharp, annoying continuous sound in the ear (tinnitus). In my case it was mainly the sound, the perforation and a bit of some hearing loss. I’m glad and would like to thank the Lord that with the second op the perforation was successfully closed. The sad part, the tinnitus did not disappear, I would have really loved for it to disappear but sadly I have to live with it. I had to undergo training so as to learn to live with the sound. So far so good and I'm grateful. I do not rule out that God may one day do His wonders and take away the sound). I have managed to adjust well, in both noisy and quiet areas I hardly here the sound and I have almost no problems sleeping. For me to hear the sound I have to pay close attention to it. Not everyday is a good one. There are moments when it hits hard and its so disturbing and causes a lot of discomfort until God steps in. Sometimes I try to imagine someone else having to cope with that continuous sound similar to a microphone glitch and wonder how I pull through, I can only thank God. Ooh and my hearing has improved too.

One other thing that I have to live with is that whenever I want to bath I have to close the left ear with a piece of cotton wool to prevent moisture and water from entering the ear. That is at least 365 cotton pieces a year. I have to do the same if I want to swim. Well, ear plugs are a good alternative but not if you are always misplacing them. 

Tympanic membrane operations heal perfectly in most cases. They have a reasonably high success rate of taking away the tinnitus so there shouldn’t be a reason for one to choose not to go for one if they have a similar problem. Here is a link of a successful op from another person. I found it useful before I went for the second op. 

http://rmondello.com/2008/08/23/my-tympanoplasty-a-retrospective/

Thank you for stopping by to read this story, I hope you'll find it useful. Feel free to add your comments after reading. Wish you all the best in life.