I never knew I was deaf. We knew I had a hearing deficiency, but I also had other ailments and allergies, so there were always lots of other tests and medicines I needed. I grew up reading lips, and with the little hearing I had, I filled in the rest. I became proficient enough to lip-read three people at once, making it possible for me to read conversations at great distances.
At the age of 12 I had shingles and, after my health had returned, I remember asking my Mom, ‘Where have the birds gone?’ I started getting depressed, because I thought that the earth was sick and everything was dying or leaving, because I couldn’t hear animals or half of what I remembered hearing before. I had a wild imagination, but I was always on the quiet side, which made it difficult for others to know what was going on.
At 19, I had started learning to play the violin, and after a very bad fever a few years later, I could no longer hear the two most high-pitched strings. At first, I thought my ears were blocked from my illness, but nothing I tried brought back the violin’s pure sound. What was even worse was the severe ringing sound, like tinnitus, that started in my ears at the same time.
Losing those two violin string sounds led to hearing tests in 2022, when the doctors realised I must have been partially deaf since birth. Since I was often sick and had very bad fevers, the deafness had worsened after each bout of illness. They discovered that my hearing was the equivalent of a 60 to 75-year-old’s hearing loss, which can be as severe as 60% deaf.
“I didn’t know pens made that annoying clicking sound until I had the hearing aids!“
When I received my first set of hearing aids, I noticed so many new sounds. I didn’t know pens made that annoying clicking sound until I had the hearing aids! Suddenly, the hearing aids made it a lot easier to make friends and to be social.
In January 2024, I was given a set of hearing aids by Jakaranda FM’s ‘Good Morning Angels’, which allowed me to continue to play my musical instruments. It was such a big blessing, and I know that these hearing aids will continue to be a blessing for someone else in need.
Just before the South African Four12 Conference in Pretoria this year, I probably had about 40% hearing, where I could catch some of a man’s voice, while most women’s voices would be inaudible if they were behind me. I was serving as an usher at the Conference, which involved sending the offering bags along the rows. I had decided not to wear my hearing aids, as they could be quite painful in very loud settings like conferences. This meant I would not be able to read lips when I sent the offering bags along the rows, as I would be side-on to people and need to be in front of them to read their lips. When I reached the final row, I told the lady that these were the last ones. As I handed the bag to her, I heard her say, ’Yes, thank you.’ I thought, ‘No, I must have seen her lips somehow.’
I then walked back to where I was sitting and began talking to another lady. Once our conversation had finished and I was walking away, I heard her say, ‘Yes, these are the best seats.’ I knew that I had heard that. My back was completely turned to her. There was no way I could have seen her lips. So, I ran to tell some church members with whom I was co-hosting what I was experiencing and hearing! I would normally have told my community leaders, but I just needed to tell someone straight away and found the nearest person I knew. When I told them, they asked if I was certain. At that point the worship had started, and the violin gave it away when I could hear it from the stage. I was crying with joy and knew with 100% certainty that my hearing was restored. We rushed to share the testimony with the elders.
I am now hearing without my hearing aids!
One of the best things about regaining my hearing is that there is a child at the school where I teach who is very soft-spoken and has a growth over his lips that had prevented me from reading his lips. I never heard or knew when he was speaking, which had led him to believe that I didn’t like him! I can now hear when he calls my name, which brought me to tears the first few times. Our relationship has dramatically improved.
“God is a God of mystery, a God of the impossible.“
There are still lots of discoveries with all these new sounds. Being able to hear thunder has brought certain Scriptures to life. It scared me the first few times I heard it, so I now understand how God’s voice must have sounded to the Israelites when they said they couldn’t handle it and wanted Moses to speak to the Lord instead.
The way God has healed my hearing is supernatural – He has rewired how my ears hear. The frequencies I lost have not changed or improved, yet I can hear far more than those natural frequencies would normally transmit, which has confounded many. My audiologist is expecting more improvement with time, as my hearing is improving with every test. Nobody can understand it. But God is a God of mystery, a God of the impossible.
These life-changing experiences have brought me closer to God, because I have had to trust and get to know Him in deeper ways, and they have reinforced my faith and belief in His incredible healing power.
I hope this testimony helps you to want to get to know the Lord better, or that it brings you hope for whatever challenge you’re facing. No matter what happens, God is always there and each of us has our own path to walk with Him.
