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by Jason DeZurik

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” ~Romans 8:28

Near the end of 2017, I had a massive life-threatening stroke and was given life-saving brain surgery. The dead part of my brain was removed in an emergency surgery, and after about 8 days in the Neuro ICU, I was moved to a step-down unit for 2 days, and then I went home. Even though the doctors would not use the term miracle to explain my incredible recovery, they would use terms like “remarkable,” “incredible,” or “better than average.” One nurse, seemingly from fear of being ridiculed, leaned over my bed before my final test and whispered in my ear, “You know you're a miracle, right?”

If my memory serves me correctly, I believe I did around 5 or so sessions of physical therapy and 2 sessions of occupational therapy, with one of those sessions being a test to see about how much occupational therapy I would need to do to help my recovery. The person giving me the test said, “Well Jason, I'm going to send out these test results to be confirmed, but I can tell you before sending them out that I can't help you out with your recovery any more than you already are.” It was quite an incredible time for me, my wife, and my whole family. Family and friends were astonished as well. To this day, we are still thankful and amazed at my miraculous recovery. Plus, many people helped our family in so many ways. I know we are all thankful for that. Before I move on, please note that I am still healing and recovering to this day, and I still deal with things from this whole ordeal. In our current society, one of those things that is I cannot wear a mask over my mouth and nose.

I choose not to go into all of the gory details of why I cannot wear a mask. Suffice it to say that back in the spring of 2020, God allowed me to see what was coming around the corner in society. At the beginning of all of this craziness, my wife and I needed to get somethings at a local store, so like “good citizens” we both masked up and we went on our way to get what we needed. In less than 5 minutes it was obvious that the lack of oxygen I was receiving was affecting my body and my brain. I told my wife at the time that I wasn't sure I could do that again. So, I went to my primary doctor, an MD who was in practice for over 20 years, and I told him what took place. One of the main types of patients he dealt with were patients like me who have had strokes. It was one of the main reasons I chose him to be my primary doctor.

He told me, “Oh, that doesn't surprise me at all. In fact, it makes sense that this happened to you.” This was very early on in this “pandemic.” So, I chose very early on that I would not mask up; not because I was mean or selfish but because I needed to live the life God had given to me in liberty and freedom. It became quite apparent to me by about June or July 2020 at how “crazy” masking up was going to become. So, in September of 2020, I was able to secure a medical mask exemption from my primary doctor, even though some of the nurses in the office thought I was being over the top in trying to get this piece of paper.

This is the part of the story I really want to convey to the public and just one of many reasons why I was done with this whole situation back in September of 2020. What happened made me realize how non concerning this whole thing really was. Please bear with me. After going into the office and asking to get this medical mask exemption, one of the nurses, well-meaning as she could be (I do not fault this person at all and truly love her as a person made in the image of God), looked at me as serious as could be and made the suggestion, “Oh Jason, you can wear a mask. Can't you just ‘cheat a little’ by just twisting the elastic that goes around your ears to make a little pocket here on the side of your face so you can get a little more oxygen in through here?” As she pointed to the sides where an obvious gap was made on both sides of her face to allow the mask to be basically rendered useless because the “seal” that was to be made by the mask against this virus was truly broken. Now, this is a medical professional and not some “wanna be” or novice saying to do this.

That was the day I truly realized what was happening in our nation and world. Now, before anyone attacks me, I am not, in the least, saying this virus isn't real or that people are not dying. They are, but like it or not, death, disease, and dying have been here since Adam sinned against Almighty God. It is a part of this world. If your immune system is compromised, by all means, take the necessary precautions to live the life God has given to you. But don't expect to force those who are healthy or are not affected by this virus to stop living their lives or change what they are doing because you don't like it or might be scared. God Almighty does not call us to that. He calls us to live in this world without fear and worry.

As I started out this post, God works all things together for the good of those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose. My family and I had no idea how much that verse was true until we experienced how God could take an absolutely horrible situation of a massive life-threatening stroke and use it for good to help set people free in their mindset. My wife and I have already spoken many times before 2020 in public about what took place in 2017; praise God that many people have been encouraged in their faith in Jesus Christ and in their situations by the account. It amazes me how even 4 years later, God is still using this for His good and for His glory to help set people free in Christ. God works all things together for the good for those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose!

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