This is the story of Rut and Jochen Schöffel, that shows how God worked in them and turned everything that was bad in something good.
1st Peter 5:7 is our wedding’s verse and we had it cut on our wedding rings. Looking back, we do recognize how important is this verse to us. We discovered the meaning of this verse 5 years later. The birth of our daughter Sophia was very troubled; it lasted 18 hours. The umbilical cord was 3 times rolled up around her neck. Everything went alright for 3 years, just like every parent wishes. A while later, we noticed Sophia was a late-talker. When she was 3, we subjected her to medical examinations, by pediatricians and otolaryngologist, and the exams were positive. It was thought it was a problem owed to the bilingualism, since I (Rut) used to talk in Italian to my daughter, while my husband used to talk to her in German. This fact, relieved us until the day a teacher in the nursery school told us that Sophia didn’t react immediately to calls and commands. For this reason, we searched a hearing-specialized Clinic. I didn’t go with Jochen and Sophia to this medical exam, because I had a bad feeling about it; I was convinced they would have found something bad and I couldn’t resign myself to that. After many verifications the result was: Hearing impairment at an intermediate stage inside both the ears.
Surgery would have changed nothing. The capillaries were not developed as it normally happens, and for this reason they didn’t carry the oscillation in the eardrums. Only using an hearing-aid, this problem could have been balanced. We felt our world collapse. All of a sudden, your baby is audioleso. Why us? Usually were the others who had this problems, not us. It comes to your mind that you’re the only person in Ludwigshafen who has such a baby. How many thoughts get to your mind.. Hearing-aid… it is easily noticeable. Speaking is something very important to communicate with people. I was afraid of my daughter’s future. What will happen with her? Will she be able to have a family? Which kind of school she’ll be able to attend? Will she be able to handle it? Sophia was very excited the 1st time she got her hearing-aid. She was fascinated by all the noises she made touching things; it was a new world that she could hear now. Some time ago, she was aggressive, but this attitude slowly disappeared. I often felt guilty, (before she used her hearing-aid) because I thought Sophia would have been stubborn, but it was probably because she couldn’t hear me. We even accused God for all this situation. We thought we did very much for God in the Church. Throughout this story with Sophia, it seemed God were making life difficult for us.
Our wedding verse in 1st Peter 5:6-7 says: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you”.
Today is not so comforting when people think they have to lament us. “Oh, poor little baby!” Sometimes even the children can be cruel, and I hope their parents explain to them what does it mean to be audioleso. We wish everybody could treat Sophia like a normal person. From the beginning, God knew we’d have had Sophia. Now I see that God provided to everything a long ago, when my father moved to Germany, in Ludwigshafen with all my family, and He knew Jochen and I would have been living in Ludwigshafen. Sophia’s school is in Frankenthal. Many kids which go to her same school come from Mainz, Zweibruecken, etc.. and they have to sleep in the campus. We’re very lucky, because Sophia wakes up early in the morning but she’s always with us at home, in the evening. We’re happy to have such a daughter! I was scared of facing children with handicaps before, but Sophia didn’t care much about that. She’s very self-confident, and she can face everybody; it is a lesson for us. She broadened out our horizons. Seven years later, we haven’t receive an answer from God about the reason of this situation. Maybe we’ll never have it, but we’re sure we’re safe in His arms.
We trust in God that the things He starts will be completed.
2 Timothy 2:13 “If we are disloyal, he stays faithful because he can’t be anything else than what he is.”
Isaiah 42:3 “He won’t break a bruised reed; he won’t extinguish a faint wick, but he will surely bring justice.”
Because He promised He takes care of us, and He always keeps His promises.