Unshakeable Faith

 

 Shortly after moving my family from the States  to Johannesburg, South Africa to work with Bibles For Africa, I woke up with pins and needles and a numbness in my left arm.

 

It was like when people would say, "my arm has fallen asleep." In my case my arm stayed asleep for three weeks and simple tasks were awkward and painful to perform.

 

I visited the Neurology Department  of an academic hospital in Pretoria. I was diagnosed with a pinched nerve in my cervical spine and referred to Radiology for x-rays.

 

The technician there reminded me that the nominal fee to enter the hospital entitled me to visit as many departments as there was time in that business day at no cost except for pharmaceuticals. I told her I had injured my lumbar spine several years ago. She took x-rays of my lumbar.

 

The government hospital did not have an MRI machine so I opted to see a radiologist in private practice. The radiologist who interpreted the MRI referred me to a local Neurosurgeon, who he highly recommended with the caution, "this guy likes to perform surgeries."

 

My visit to the Neurosurgeon confirmed I had a pinched nerve in the cervical spine but he was stunned when he looked at the lumbar x-rays.

 

"How do you walk," he asked?

 

I abruptly answered, "I put one foot in front of the other, same as you do."

 

He pointed to the x-ray which showed that the disc between the lowest two vertebrae had disintegrated. He predicted that if I didn't have corrective surgery I would likely be in a wheelchair in five years.

 

To treat the cervical spine issue he gave me two options. The first was to admit me to a hospital where I would be heavily sedated while in traction for a week. The second option, which the Neurosurgeon reluctantly mentioned, was a home traction kit which I could use over time, hopefully with success.

 

As I drove home I simply said to the Lord, "Father when Jesus was offered the vinegar to drink mingled with gall, (on the cross) he would not drink. Therefore I cannot subject myself to whatever is involved with a weeklong sedation." As for the home traction kit, I said to the Lord,  "at home I have a three-year old and a one-year-old. I would become a human gym set. This won't work either. I'm simply going to trust you and go back to work."

 

From that day the pins and needles went away and over the course of the next few weeks my hand became stronger and atrophy was overcome by the return of muscle tone.

 

This  happened 21 years ago. I'm back in America working without limitation or hindrance. Through the grace of God, I continue to put one foot in front of another.

 

Mark Walker

      Antwerp, OH