Wednesday, July 05, 2023

“She has a vocal cord paralysis and will need voice therapy to get used to her new voice.” These were the words of the specialist who had performed the endoscopy on my wife. Those words confirmed what another specialist had already told us. My wife’s words before the operation — a total thyroidectomy for a cancer that had taken the whole thyroid gland — were: “I only ask God that the surgery does not affect my voice; it is the instrument with which I serve the Lord.” Ever since her youth, she had served as a Sunday school teacher, teaching children and singing with them. Her fear became a reality after the operation. For a few days she was sad, but one day she told me, “I have peace and faith that God will do His healing work. I just have to wait and trust in Him.” Four months later, a new endoscopy showed the vocal cords working normally. She regained her voice with its normal pitch and strength, and she was again able to teach and praise the Lord with her students! “For nothing will be impossible with God.”

The program equipped me with the skills to be more efficient and productive in my work as a doctor and a pastor, as well as to preach the Gospel in a new and relevant way.