Testimony

 He That Hath Ears to Hear, Let Him Hear - The Francis Joel Smith Story

"You've never seen a green violin?" 

Some things don't look like we expect them to look. When I was born in 1975, as Hugh O'Connor, I certainly wasn't what my parents expected.  I had no ears to hear, but that wasn't all. My appearance was so unexpected and my prognosis so grim, that I was immediately put up for adoption.  A rare genetic condition affecting development of craniofacial structures in the human embryo caused me to be born with no ears-no ear canals, no middle ear cavities, just solid bone.  I didn't have eye sockets or cheek- bones.  I had a cleft palate and a very tiny lower jaw.  My tongue was too large for my tiny throat and mouth - I still struggle with breathing and eating.  While growing up, I had over twenty facial reconstructive surgeries (including one surgical mishap that cost me an eye), extensive speech therapy, and special bone-conduction. hearing aids.  Like my green violin, I'm different.  Let me tell you about the most important difference of all. 

In a world obsessed with appearance, you would rightly wonder how someone could overcome such a disability.  My first three years were spent in state foster care.  But then, I was adopted into a loving family and given a new name: Francis Smith.  My new parents had already adopted eight other children with disabilities, and adopted another after me.  Our family attended a Bible-believing church where I heard about God's love for me. I learned that I could be adopted into His family, even though I had been born with the life- destroying problem of sin.  I had no ears to hear sound, but I had a heart to hear the truth. 

I heard God's promise in Romans 8:18, "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."  I heard that all of creation is groaning under the bondage of sin, and that because of sin, life on earth is filled with pain. I heard that we are "waiting for the adoption... the redemption of our body" (Romans 8:23).  I wanted to be adopted into God's family and have the life-saving hope of a new body someday.  I trusted Christ to save me when I was nine years old.  I continued to suffer physically, and suffered emotionally from the taunts and mockery of my peers who were shocked by my appearance. 

When we see something unusual or unexpected, especially in human appearance, we must remember that God does not see as men do.  "For the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7).  In high school I began to learn that God had a purpose for me and that he had made me for His glory. 

It was the young shepherd boy, David, whose outward appearance was mentioned in the verse you just read.  No one would have chosen him to fight against the giant, Goliath, or to become the greatest king of Israel- but God did.  David said in Psalm 139:14,16, "I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.... Thine eyes did see my substance (that word means embryo!) yet being unperfect: and in thy book all my members were written..." God knew when He gave me life that He planned for me to enter the field of medicine, to study in London, England, to meet the doctor that identified the gene that caused my condition: Treacher Collins Syndrome. God planned for me to return to San Francisco to pursue a PhD in craniofacial embryology. He even planned for you to read my testimony. 

In James 1:2-3, we are taught to "count it all joy" when we go through trials, "knowing this, that the trial of your faith worketh patience." As a boy, my faith was tried, but through that trial, I learned the patience that I have needed to live with my disability.  For me, life began with little hope of ever hearing a sound, but now I love music and serve the Lord with it at church, sometimes by playing the piano, but especially by playing my green violin. 

What about you? 

Do realize that God made you for a purpose? 

Do you realize that everyone of us was born with the life destroying disability of sin, but that through God's Son, Jesus Christ, who took our sin on Himself when He died on the cross, we can be adopted into His family, live in His grace, rejoice in His love, and fulfill our purpose of glorifying Him? 

Are you just looking on the outward things of life, or do you have "ears to hear" what God wants to tell you about what He sees in your heart? 

Listen to what He says in His Word: 

Are you willing to use your spiritual ears? 

"He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." -Matthew 11:15 

Do you admit that you are a sinner? 

"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." -Romans 3:23 

Do you realize that you will die in your sins without the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ? 

"For the wages of sin is death; (This means both physical and spiritual death.) but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." -Romans 6:23 

Do you understand that you cannot save yourself? 

"For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast." -Ephesians 2:8-9 

Will you turn from your sin (repent) and trust Christ to save you right now? 

"For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." -John 3:16 

"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." -John 1:12 

In God's eternal plan, I was born different IN APPEARANCE.  But by God's grace, I was born again, and that made the difference IN ME!  God wants to correct our greatest disability - that we are lost in sin. He knocked on the door of my heart when I was nine years old, and I heard him.  He is knocking on your door today. Do you have ears to hear? 

"As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."-Revelation 3:19-20 

- Francis Smith