GIVE ME YOUR EYES...SO I CAN WALK BY FAITH AND NOT BY (MY) SIGHT....

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I'm nearsighted! In fact, my vision is 180/20. The American Optometric Association
states that a person with 20/20 vision can clearly identify a row of 9mm letters from 20 feet. A legally blind person with vision of 20/200 has to be as close as 20 feet to identify objects that people with normal vision can spot from 200 feet. So a legally blind person needs a distance of two feet to spot the letters on a standard eye chart that is 20 feet away. In other words, I am almost legally blind.
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Legal blindness is very common in older people because eyesight tends to worsen with time and age. Approximately 135 out of every 1,000 people over the age of 65 are considered legally blind. A few weeks ago, I had a guest speaker in one of my classes at the university from the NJ services for the blind. She stated that over 290,000 senior citizens in NJ are legally blind or close to it!


For me that means that I can see things near but not far away. I wear very strong contacts and then I must have reading glasses for reading since my contacts aren't the bifocal kind. I'm probably more aware than alot of people of the incredible blessing of being able to see. I also know that there are different kinds of "seeing". Oftentimes, I've heard things in our family like:

• "I want to see! Can I see?"
• "Why didn't you let me see?"
• "What do you mean you didn't see that? It's right in front of your face!"
• "I didn't see it coming?"
• "I'm having trouble seeing it the way you do."
• "Do you see an end to this?"
• "I wish I could know what God knows or see what He sees!"

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There are many people where you live, much like in New Jersey, who would love for people with merciful hearts to read to them or drive them places that they can't be driven. The needs are staggering! I have an inkling that if you and your family are on the lookout for someone who is legally blind who needs to be served that God will provide just the right person.

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Sister, we need spiritual eyes! We need the eyes of our Heavenly Father to see what He sees. We need His perspective. This week I got some cartoon pictures from a friend of mine. Her infant grandson was in the emergency room last week having seizures and is now on medication. She begged for prayers. It was hard to know what was happening...still harder to see the purpose in such illness. Yet, my friend, Sonya, who also suffers from fibromyalgia maintained an incredibly God centered perspective through it all.

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I have worked and worked to make the cartoon strip that Sonya sent bigger than this but for some reason this is as big as blogger will make it. I will try to explain beside each picture what is happening. I'll use my words to help you see what you may not see:)

1. This young man is praying, "God protect me!"

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2. Then, he gets up from praying and starts walking.

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3. All of a sudden he gets hit on the back of the head with something.

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4. He looks up to heaven with clinched fists and says, "Why?!!????"
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5. Hurt...with a "goose egg" on his head and fists still clinched, he then "sees" that there are other rocks that have missed him.

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6. All of a sudden, he has the "Aha! moment" when he "sees" or "gets it".

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7. Jesus had answered his prayer. He was taking many hits on this young man's behalf. The "hits" that Jesus had taken on this young man's behalf were so much more than anything this young man had had to suffer. The cartoon has Jesus saying, "Are you alright? I might have missed a small piece."

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How do you "paint the picture" of life or of God for your children? Your grandchildren? Your spouse? Is it with a bruised ego and clinched fists? Or, is it with the perspective of one who sees what Jesus has and is doing for you? The perspective of faith? Trust?

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God give us Your eyes to see what You see! Give us Your eyes to see how we can serve others both physically and spiritually! Help us start with our own families today.

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