By Chika Abanobi
I was supposed to go through an eye surgery for cataracts on Friday, August 15, 2025, at the Eye Foundation Hospital, Ikorodu, Lagos.
I was one of those found worthy of the free-eye care service provided through the grace of Bishop Mike Okonkwo, the Presiding Bishop of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM), in commemoration of his 80th birthday.
For those who don’t know, the Eye Foundation is the official eye care service provider. With over 30 years experience, over 325,000 patients that had successfully done their eye surgeries with the hospital since it started in 1993, 48 ophatolomigists/eye specialists and 14 branches in Nigeria, the hospital is, unarguably, a foremost eye specialist hospital in the country.
That’s where I was booked for an eye surgery after series of eye tests both at the place and at Modern Eye Clinic, Ojudu-Berger. I usually don’t see very well at night.
But something amazing happened before that Friday, August 15. The first is that I discovered that I could see fairly well when I go out at night.
Secondly, when I tried to make an accommodation arrangement as per nearby place where I could stay after surgery so that I would be coming for a dressing, from there, for the next one or two days after the surgery, I wasn’t quite successful.
My cousin who lived at Mile 12, which is a bit close to the place, initially agreed. But as the time approached, she called to say that there’s no more vacancy in her place as her mum and other relatives had taken up the space originally reserved for me.
My wife’s friend who lived with her husband and family close to the hospital called to say she would not be around that Friday. But she left for us the phone number of her son to call whenever we get there. The only challenge was that she lives in one-room apartment with her family and hoped that we, my wife and I, could manage with them.
A Christian brother who lives in Ikorodu and who had promised to call to give us direction to his house never did.
But when we got to the hospital, the ophatolomigists decided to run some final tests in preparation for the surgery. But while they were at that, they discovered that I didn’t need a surgery anymore, contrary to the results of their earlier tests.
According to them, although tests detected cataracts in my two eyes quite alright, their developments are not yet at a stage where a surgery could be conducted on me. Based on that, they called off the surgery and asked me to go. They recommended that I get myself reading glasses instead, which I already have, in any case.
Lessons from the incident:
While we were seated in the reception room and waiting to be called (our batch was about nine in number), I discovered that some people were out to outsmart others. When we were called to line up for pre-surgery tests, about three people who arrived the hospital long after I did, rushed to occupy positions in front of me.
I did not talk or quarrel. In some situations, that could have created a big quarrel right there. I am very sure that the people who did that wouldn’t have allowed me or any other person to do that to them. But the reason I kept silent was because the Spirit of God ministered in my heart that I did not belong there. So? Why quarrel for a place where God has not put you? I must confess, though, that, at first, I did not understand what the Holy Spirit meant or was driving at. But when it eventually became clear to me, I remembered the story of the impotent man in John 5: 1-9.
In God’s divine plan, his healing miracle had been scheduled to come through the Lord’s authoritative pronouncements, not through the power in the water troubled by an angel, and which only the first person to jump in could benefit from.
Now, imagine this man who the Bible said had been there for many years quarreling with others for not having pity or sympathy on him as to allow him jump in first. He, most probably, would have missed his miracle. I could be wrong.
But it seems to me that most times, when we quarrel with people for upstaging or outsmarting us, we ‘fall’ God’s hand (we disappoint Him) and limit our miracle. When we are angry or annoyed that we were neglected, overlooked or bypassed in the scheme of things, who knows, the Lord may have arranged our miracle, healing, deliverance, supplies, to come from or through another source, not through the normal supply chain or protocols that people know and believe in, and, which if it doesn’t happen that way, might make us lose all hope of getting any other tangible blessing.
The human nature
All human beings are selfish or self-centred. All look for their own self-interests, not for the interests of others. Because of that, in Nigeria, where supplies of everything – money, medical treatments, food, services – are scarce or in short supply, you are likely to find self-centred-ness, selfishness on full display wherever you go. People tend to think of themselves and their relatives first before thinking of their neighbours. Like Cain, they think and believe that they are not their brothers or sisters’ keepers.
But no matter how economically bad things are in Nigeria, as believers/disciples, we must not be selfish but put others first before us, even if it means losing, in the process, the rights that belong to us. When we do, the Lord might bless us through means that did not pass through the route of right, privilege and position. And, to me, such blessings should be the aim of all disciples than ones that come through human struggles, quarrels and fightings.
Ask the Lord
Before you do anything, ask the Lord first. Otherwise, you might make a mistake you might regret for the rest of your life. But if, at any time, you make such a mistake “for there is no man which sinneth not (2 Chronicles 6: 36; Ecclesiastes 7:20), you humble yourself, repent and ask our merciful God for forgiveness, He will forgive and have mercy on you.
But after that, follow His leading, please, even if it goes against man’s advice. I learnt this lesson on Friday, August 15. Without finding out from God first we booked a place at a nearby guest house. We had hoped that after the surgery, we would come from there for the normal post-surgery dressings. But after I was dismissed and asked to go home, we found ourselves in a great dilemma as how to recover the money we had already paid into the official account of the guest house.
My wife suggested that we approach the security man who led us to the manager, for help. But he advised that the only way out was to tell a lie to him that although we were scheduled for an eye surgery that day, it had been postponed till next month. He said that, that was the only way we could hope to get the manager to release to us part of the money we paid, but definitely not all. We thanked him and left to see the manager.
But the moment we left him, the Holy Spirit whispered in my heart not to follow his advice but to tell the man the whole truth of what happened. I did when we got to him. He replied that there was nothing he could do about the whole thing as the money which we paid through ‘transfer’ or ATM went directly into the official account of the guest house. On a second thought, he said that the only way he could help was to take down my personal details, name, phone number and bank account number, so that as soon as another guest checked into the room, he would get him or her to pay the money into our account. For an assurance, he gave us his name and phone number.
When we were out of the man’s earshot, my wife dismissed his suggestion as practically unrealistic as the man did not know us from Adam. And, could find any story to tell us since we are not there to confirm whether what he was saying was true or not.
But I aɗded that I had fulfilled my own part of the bargain to tell the truth and nothing but the truth as commanded by the Holy Spirit. If the man decides to tell a lie or bring in deception into his promise, then it was no longer my business.
With that, we settled down to eat the food we brought with us because we had left home in Igando very early in the morning of that Friday, August 15. We left at about 5 am.
Brothers and sisters, while we were at it, eating, that is, the manager sent for me. And, when I got there, he counted the whole money we paid and handed over to me.
I was speechless. I did not know what else to say than to thank him profusely. If there is one thing I have learnt from that incident, it is this: to listen and obey the voice of the Holy Spirit, at all times, not the voice of the flesh or fears of our hearts or bad advice of men. If we fail to heed His advice, we might end up missing a big blessing God has prepared for us somewhere. We might also miss Heaven if we are not careful.
I pray that the Lord will use this testimony to challenge many believers to faith and righteousness. Also, pray for me that I will not be a castaway after sharing such testimony.
- Abanobi, former Associate Editor, The Sun newspaper, Lagos, Nigeria, is member, Journalists For Christ International Outreach.