I thought a great way to make this theme of new life and Easter personal would be to include a story of how following God can change a person's life and bring a new identity. I believe in God not because I was raised that way, not because Christians have always been nice to me, and not because being a Christian makes life easy. I am a Christian because when I need Him, God is there for me. I have had prayers answered; He has given me strength and love when no one else could, and without Him my life would be meaningless. As this blog is dedicated to learning more about Deaf culture however, I thought it would be more relevant, and interesting to my readers to read about my friend Omar, who became Deaf at a young age and grew up in a Deaf School in Mexico. So here is his story:
My mother passed away when I was 14 months old. Then one day during the summer, when I was about 5 years old, I got sick with the mumps. My brother Ernesto was sick with mumps too. That morning before my dad went to work, he told us, "Stay home and rest". I was very adamant about staying at home because it was a summer and I was supposed to be enjoying the summer after a long school year and somehow I had the painful idea of going to my father's bathroom to find a medicine that could heal my mumps.
I don't remember which medicine I took, but that medicine seemed compelling to me, so I drank it with the hopes that I'd heal soon but, I was totally wrong! A few hours later I'd find myself with a tremendous ear infection causing blood to come out of my ears, then had to be sent to the hospital. Few days after being admitted I came out of the hospital with a deafness. The infection was so strong that destroyed all of my nerves.
For the following 3 years I went to public schools where I had to attend to numerous tutors. It was painful but yet I was feeling hopeless because I knew nothing about hope and comfort. Somehow I was sent to a deaf institute called Rancho Sordo Mudo and while I was there everybody was signing and it was very frustrating for me because I couldn't communicate with anyone due to the fact that I knew no sign language at all.
During school I'd become insanely frustrated because I couldn't understand anything the teacher would say. There were days where I'd ask God or even the staff why did God take away my ears? What had I done to have Him punish me with the deafness? Why me? For days I'd get mad, I'd start fights with my classmates and stuff until one day, my teacher got all fed up with me and started reciting Jeremiah 29:11-13(see below), telling me that God has a plan for my life.
Whether it's with me having ears or not, yet God has the power to provide comfort and hope and even love. God, love and hope were the very best things that I needed to know. My teacher also stated that when I'd go to heaven I'd be able to hear once again and with all the excitement I had to hear those words. I couldn't stop saying that I wanted to go to heaven right away and we got on our knees and prayed and I accepted Jesus in my heart!
Now as a grown adult it all reminds me of the words Jesus said: "As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life." John 9:1-3.
'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. 'Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
'You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:11 from the New American Standard Bible
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