By: Leah Y. Latimer
It is easy to trust God during good times, and harder during our darkest days. I learned this first-hand when, one day in 2007, I felt electrical shocks in my left eye, ear, forehead and tongue. Soon, it felt as if a bag of bricks was slamming into my jaw. My lower lip felt like it was on fire. I was diagnosed with trigeminal neuralgia (TN). Sometimes called the suicide disease. TN is a rare condition that causes constant burning and shocks in the head. It is considered the worse pain known to humanity. The surgery to repair it left me feeling worse. For the next several years, I was too debilitated to write, read or drive. I had to stop working. I listened to Pastor Jenkins’ sermons on tape and studied healing scriptures on audio. God gave me the strength to take Bible classes online and enabled me to complete a discipleship ministry. Every chance I got I attended prayer services to let the elders lay hands on me, but I developed new conditions and had four additional major surgeries. The last one left me with six screws in my neck. I was growing weary and, to be honest, angry.
One day, I heard a television evangelist say, “Trust that God’s grace is sufficient.” At that moment, I realized God had been teaching me to depend on Him regardless of my circumstances. Meanwhile, He had smeared me with the provisions and grace I needed to endure. I was determined to pursue God even more, with a more grateful heart, well or not. In 2016, nine years after TN began, I stopped taking my pain medication and realized I was healed!
Today, I give God glory for the hard times I endured and the healing. This spring, He enabled me to complete my fourth discipleship ministry. He has opened doors for me to speak to groups and publish articles about my experience.
My video testimony can be viewed online at www.Guideposts.org/LeahL.