Article by Deborah Robertson.
All my life I’ve had audiologists tell me that the nerve in my left ear was dead – that I was deaf in my left ear. I was told that it shouldn’t be too much of an issue unless I became a singer in a band. Well, guess what I grew up to be?! It’s always caused me some anxiety and after a gig where the speakers were placed behind me and were blaring in my “good” ear, I began finding it more difficult to hear in social situations.
I asked my pastor, along with the elders of St Matthew’s Lutheran Church in Footscray, to pray over me and, as the Bible tells us to do in James 5:14-15, to anoint me with oil. So one recent Sunday, Pastor Sam Davis and Deacon Ruth Borchert and her husband, Alfred Borchert, prayed for my right ear to heal and for my left ear to open. This week, I continued to speak the resurrection life of Jesus into my left ear and the healing blood of Jesus over my right ear and booked a hearing test with an audiologist.
All her life Deborah had been told that she was deaf in one ear. Now she is experiencing ‘life’ in that ear, thanks to God’s healing power.
For the record, I hate hearing tests. Being stuck in a cramped booth for 25 minutes or so is not my idea of a good time. I remember throwing up all over a particularly small and airless booth, in some ENT specialist’s archaic office in Sydney when I was about five. The experience has left its mark, with feelings of nausea every time I’m in a confined space. Additionally, the feeling of failure every time I have headphones on during a hearing test and have been listening out for a sound (for what seems an eternity) that never comes is visceral and utterly miserable. So, it was with dread that I visited my local audiologist a week after being prayed for by the pastor and elders at my church.
I sat in a booth with the headphones on, in my local audiologist’s office and did my best not to press the button I held in my sweaty palm if I honestly didn’t hear a sound. This time the experience didn’t seem so bad. Perhaps it was the modern room? Perhaps God had heard my prayers for help during the test? After about 25 minutes it was all over. The Audiologist sounded very sorry for me when she told me that the test had shown that the hearing in my left ear was “terrible”. “Terrible” sounded better than “non-existent” and that the nerve in my left ear was “dead” so I probed further. She went on to tell me that I could definitely hear a lower register in my left ear and that she confirmed this more than once. She showed me a graph which demonstrated my ability to hear in my left ear. Tangible proof I could hear some lower registers of sound! She went onto say that the hearing in my right ear was “awesome”. Well, that was just that…awesome! I praise God and I am trusting Him for excellent hearing in both ears. The last thing the audiologist said was that there is “life” in my left ear. She’s absolutely right! The resurrection life of Jesus! By His stripes I am healed and that healing is being appropriated. Praise Him!
Read more of Deborah’s story in RISE: risemagazine.com.au/hes-being-your-mum
Read Deborah’s story about Catsman, her cat who she believes is being healed by God: risemagazine.com.au/god-cares-for-the-animals
