Blessed Assurance

While running errands in late 2017, 
I noticed a pimple-like rash on my 
right forearm resting on the steering 
wheel during a traffic stop. 
Unlike my typical self, I was drawn 
to it. 
I just had my bath a few minutes earlier, 
and I was sure that rash wasn't there. 
The nuisance claimed more square 
centimeters of my beautiful skin by 
the next day. 
In a matter of days, the rash was all 
over the prime estate of my body. 
No part of my body was spared, safe 
for my face and hands. 
Thankfully, those parts I couldn't hide 
under any fabric were spared. 
Maybe it would have been different 
under the current Covid regime. 
But I was grateful it didn't trespass the 
prime estate of the face.
If memory serves me correctly, this 
happened around the same period 
measles outbreaks were a hot topic 
in Europe and the US. 
So, I rushed to my PCP, who assured
 me it wasn't measles, and promptly 
prescribed allergy medication. 
However, before this period, I had 
noticed unusual pain and lethargy 
in my lower extremities. 
My feet were unique problem spots. 
My first and last toes deserve honorary 
mention here. 
The pain in these toes was excruciating. 
My limbs would simultaneously feel 
heavy, numb, rigid, and crampy. 
Initially, I attributed this to a lack of 
exercise and excessive travel. 
I traveled a lot, shuttling between two 
states. 
The weekly trips can take between 6-7
 hours each way, depending on traffic. 
Sometimes within 3 days intervals. 
Thinking it was because of the rigor of 
my weekly travels, I excused it away. 
Eventually, the foot pains got unbearable 
from what I thought were bunions, 
corns, and calluses. 
A week or two before the mystery rash 
invaded my body like the Allied Forces 
during the Gulf War, I had booked an 
appointment to see a podiatrist. 
In fact, my emergency visit to my PCP 
was like a day before the scheduled 
appointment. 
Consequently, the appointment with 
the podiatrist was rescheduled and later 
cancelled. 
A day or two later, I was back with my PCP. 
I was bloated all over and with swollen 
feet and legs. 
The pain was everywhere. 
My PCP subsequently referred me to a 
dermatologist. 
The story got interesting from thereon.
The dermatologist and his team could not 
immediately determine or diagnose the
problem. 
Although I got a skin ointment prescription, 
the dermatologist and his team were as 
befuddled as I was with the cause of 
the sudden breakout and its effects.
 Needless to say, I became a guinea pig 
of sorts. 
They sent me for various tests, all kinds 
of tests just to determine what went wrong. 
All tests yielded nothing. 
At this point, I have had to buy new pairs 
of shoes. 
My shoe size, typically 11, made walking 
impossible. 
So, I bought new pairs, a size up, which 
were somewhat more comfortable for 
my feet. 
Still, I struggled to walk well, and standing 
up after sitting for longer than 30 minutes 
became a chore. 
My knee would be stiff and cramped, my 
lower back stiff and painful. 
Then there would be this painful pull and 
discomfort along my spine. 
I would feel sore all over. 
It was a treble season of my life.
Eventually, the doctors performed a biopsy, 
that's a procedure to remove a piece of 
tissue or a sample cell from your body 
to be tested in a laboratory. 
They removed a piece of flesh tissue 
from my left leg sometime in mid-2018. 
When the dermatologist got the test 
results, he got frantic and reached out 
to me when he couldn't immediately 
reach my PCP. 
I noticed that he was reluctant to 
discuss the biopsy with me. 
But he recommended I go see my PCP 
as soon as possible, as the biopsy 
results have been forwarded to the 
Medical Office. 
Long story short, I was diagnosed with
Multiple Sclerosis. 
While my PCP and the dermatologist 
were alarmed and advised immediate 
treatment, I wasn't. 
Possibly because I knew next to nothing 
about the disease, and as a Christian,
 I was careful not to be immersed in 
the diagnosis. I was more preoccupied with
understanding how it came to me. 
So, I did little research, nor did I talk 
about it until now. 
Expectedly, not minding my enthusiasm 
or the lack thereof, my PCP scheduled 
an appointment for me to see a 
foremost expert. 
Like most people in this part of the world, 
effortlessly, you could get too comfortable 
with certain life's privileges. 
You could get so caught up that you 
rarely think of or approach God in 
situations like these. 
I have excellent insurance and access 
to the best treatment so, why border, right?
Like Bishop Benson Idahosa once said 
in one of his ministrations in Australia 
a few years ago. 
The availability of certain life's privileges, 
especially in the west, would make 
most people focus on what the system 
affords them in times of crisis, rather 
than going first to God for answers. 
They would probably sing "blessed 
insurance" instead of "blessed assurance" 
in times of crisis. 
They would gravitate toward the arm of 
flesh than to God.
I found myself singing "blessed Insurance" 
too. 
I have good insurance, so accessing the 
best treatments wouldn't be challenging. 
So, I didn't really go to God. 
Don't get me wrong, I muttered a few 
words of prayers here and there, but I 
never really went to Him. 
However, following another appointment 
cancellation sometime in January 2019, 
like the prodigal son, I suddenly came 
to myself. I was just fed up; I declined to 
reschedule the appointment or another. 
I stopped talking to the doctors and 
decided to focus on God. 
And on God, I focused!
Gradually, over time, relief came. 
Then later in 2019, for something 
unrelated, I was forced to reach out 
to @Gbenga Wemimo,who then introduced 
me to @pssbcnigeria, where I learned 
how to live the supernatural life. 
I subsequently joined the @GSWMI_Healing. 
Then I started praying for and healing
 the sick. I started working miracles.
 Effortlessly dispensing eternal verities. 
I can't pinpoint when my healing was 
complete, but I realized that the size 
12 shoes no longer fit.
 I had to revert to the old shoe size. 
The joint stiffness, muscles pull, and 
all muscular discomfort disappeared 
after a while. 
I give all glory to God for my total and 
complete healing

Brother Segun (USA)