Shout his Name

Hello everyone, my name is Ezekiel and I am from the YA Zone and the Cell Group, Grapes. I’ll be sharing my testimony about how I tore my ACL and my recovery journey with the Lord. ACL stands for Anterior Cruciate Ligament and is a cruciate ligament in your knee that is necessary for movements like pivoting and moving from side to side.

I tore my ACL during a university orientation program in August 2023, and I sustained a complete tear. It was especially painful because I had to be out and I couldn’t do sports for about 9 to 12 months. It was a very scary thought that at the age of 21, I would have to learn how to walk again. I had to receive help from my parents to do simple things like showering, or even moving around the house. There were many different instances where I felt extremely frustrated, fearful and alone. The thing about sustaining this kind of injury is that it is a physical injury that sticks with you throughout your whole recovery. When I go to sleep, when I wake up, the injury is there. I can’t do daily things – stuff like walking or showering on my own were especially tough in the first few months.

During that whole period of time, I just felt an immense fear and I think the enemy was putting a lot of thoughts in my head, such as, “Ezekiel, you’re alone, where is your God now?” In that period of time where it was truly difficult, I found it hard to say that the Lord was good or that He was with me, I found an immense courage from a verse in Job 23. In Job 23 verse 8, it says,

8 “Behold, I go forward, but he is not there,

    and backward, but I do not perceive him;

9 on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him;

    he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him.

10 But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.

I think this verse was an immense encouragement for me because despite the pain and the trial or the period of refinement that I was going through, the Lord’s promise was that He knows the way that I take and that He will be with me. I found an immense joy, courage and assurance knowing that despite instances where it felt like I was all alone, the Lord was actually with me. What created in me was actually an assurance and a confidence in my heart to know that despite whatever I would be going through, even though I couldn’t feel anything, the Lord was with me and He loved me so, so much and that He would always be with me.

That encouragement has really taught me to be grateful for the little things like being able to walk. But more than that, to realise that the Lord is with me through every season of my life, even when it is difficult and trying. So my encouragement for anyone who may be going through a time where you feel alone or you feel like the Lord isn’t there, my encouragement to you is that He is there and He will always be there. What’s important is that we look for comfort not in just the tangible and physical things, but in the assurance of the Lord’s character that if He has been with us through so many instances in our life and if He truly sent His son Jesus to die for us, He loves us so much and He will always be there with us. I hope this testimony blesses you. Thank you.