10.26.08
Can you hear Me?
Last week was an eye opening experience. Within the last couple of months we have noticed Samantha becoming obstinate. She was ignoring people. She was looking at them with a stare instead of responding and then going about her business as if they did not even exist. It appeared to all around her that she wasn’t listening, following directions or being very respectful. It had been weighing heavily on my mind. What was going on with my baby?
Well, I knew she had not been feeling well due to experiencing bad allergy symptoms despite testing negative for all of them so I made an appointment for the allergist who referred her to an ENT (Ear, Nose, and Throat Specialist). As we sat in the ENT doctor’s office he was asking her questions and she just stared at him. I said, “Samantha, please answer the doctor honey don’t be rude by not responding.” She just sat there with “the” stare again accompanied with a look of being ashamed but still looking away not responding. I couldn’t understand what was going on with our little girl.
I told the doctor about her recent behavior so he examined her and noticed her ears were filled with fluid. He wanted to test her hearing so instructed us to walk down the hall to the hearing test room. I am not sure if you have ever seen one of these rooms but it is a soundproof booth equipped with a few different headsets and a chair facing a window where the technician performing the test can be seen by the patient. In walks my little baby into this small soundproof booth. I wasn’t sure if she would be brave because she would be alone in this little room with only a stranger staring back at her thru a small window. But she WAS brave and went right in! The technician put the headset on her and explained he was going to be speaking to her through the microphone. He told her that she would hear him thru the headset. He explained he would be saying words to her and would like her to repeat them back to ensure she was hearing Him clearly. He walked out of the small soundproof booth and shut the door behind him. She was enclosed with soundproof walls and completely shut off from the rest of the world. There were chairs right outside of the booth so I sat and watched the test being performed. The technician said a word into the microphone … “pancake” but instead of my little girl repeating pancake she said something like “panck”. He then said, “baseball”. She responded with something like “bab”. I don’t remember the exact way she repeated back the words but it was not even close to what he had said. It was a very distorted version of the word spoken to her. I sat there with tears rolling down my face. She clearly could not hear despite him speaking loudly and clearly into the microphone. What she was hearing was a muffled version of the technician’s voice.
Here our perception of her being obstinate and disrespectful was completely wrong. She wasn’t disrespecting. She could NOT hear! The fluid in her ears was preventing her from hearing properly so much in fact that they scheduled surgery for Wednesday (please say a prayer for our angel?) Sitting in that doctor’s office, my heart was heavy and I felt terrible for the way we had been treating her based on our false perception. I just kept hugging her and telling her how sorry I was.
Later that night while I was praying for the surgery next week to restore her hearing, I realized how much I needed to ask for forgiveness and pray for myself as well. I asked God to help me see the world AGAIN through His eyes, with His heart and NOT with a displaced perspective. We thought we were doing the right thing having consequences for those disrespectful moments. The problem was we didn’t have all of the facts but yet we reacted as if we did. Her blank stare when someone would talk to her was because she couldn’t hear what was being said but was too ashamed to say anything. My heart was broken!
God really opened my eyes to a couple of things:
1. We need to be mindful of our perceptions of every situation and ensure we do NOT assume anything no matter how obvious something appears. We can save ourselves and others a lot of pain if we see a situation for what it is based on facts instead of past emotional hurts or assumptions that may skew our perspective.
I’m quickly learning that if I really want God to send me to help others then I need to learn to listen with His ears and see with His eyes so none of my baggage causes wrong perceptions.
“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’ He said, ‘Go and tell this people: ‘Be ever hearing; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.” Isaiah 6:8-9
2. How often are we the ones sitting inside the soundbooth with God speaking to us but there is something keeping us from hearing him clearly? How many things get in the way of us hearing His voice? Too many, I’m afraid. It can be the busyness of our lives. It can be the wrong influences whether alcohol, gambling or some type of addiction – it can be our peers. Are we surrounding ourselves with people that have our best interests in mind – loving us and helping us to become the people God made us to be?
We need to learn to listen to His voice and hold fast to our God so that blessings will come into our lives.
“This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.” Deuteronomy 30:19-20
God is amazing! Once we open our hearts and minds to Him, He surrounds us with what appears to be “every day” moments like Samantha’s hearing test but within those “every day” moments there lies a very powerful message from Him. The thought I would like to leave you with today is how many messages is He sending you? Can you hear Him?
Blessings!
Sandi :)
