By Nile Hosni and Milo Haskour —
All Justin Kayne’s activity — teacher, football coach, surfer, brother at church — came screeching to a halt when an as-yet-undiagnosed disease slammed him in bed with migraines, depression and hopelessness. He forgot who he was.
“Don’t commit suicide today,” a journal entry says. He kept a chronical of the disease that rendered him useless. At first doctors thought it was long Covid, then a mold infection, then — after 30 doctors and 60 treatments, they just didn’t know. Actually, several journal entries say, “Don’t commit suicide today.”
“I had headaches, confusion, a rapid heart rate, derealization, tremors, and the list goes on,” Justin says “I felt like I was being tossed to and fro.”
Five years later, Justin Kayne works with migraines. But he has energy now and imposed himself on his circumstances. Now he can look back and wonder at how he made it through.
“That truly was a dark time in my life,” he says. “I didn’t see hope, it took me 1-2 hours to know who I was.”
On one of those bleak days, God spoke to him a verse from the Bible: “No weapon against you shall prosper.”
It was meaningful. But the next time he walked into church (the Lighthouse of Santa Monica), a sister in the church, Jenni Edralin, came up to him and told him a prophecy: “God put you in my heart and told me to give you Isaiah 54:17: No weapon formed against you shall prosper.”
The coincidence was mind-boggling.
During another dark week, Justin felt confronted by God to go to church.
“At this point in life, even getting up and showering felt exhausting, I just had no energy left,” he says. He asked God for confirmation, a sign, because realistically, he was wiped out just from going to the bathroom.
Just hours later, his buddy, Lucas Moraida, called to chat with him and encourage him. He concluded the phone call by telling him, “I feel like God wants you to return to church.”
Justin was floored.
Today, Justin is back at serving God. He teaches middle school at the Lighthouse Church School in Santa Monica and encourages the youth to put their trust in the Lord.
