A routine eye check revealed something I had not envisioned…literally. I had felt something was wrong…eye strain maybe? A new prescription needed? Little did I know I could barely see out of my non-dominant, left eye. All was cloudy, skewed, and fuzzy. I had a hole in the macular at the back of my retina.
So I had surgery. The eye specialist inserted a gas bubble into my eye and I had to keep my head down for days while it positioned correctly to allow the hole at the back of my retina to knit back together. After the surgery was deemed a success, I had to endure the gas bubble clouding my vision for several weeks while it slowly diminished. The eye surgeon had said he couldn’t exactly predict when the bubble would evaporate. It depended on each individual. But it would happen. I had to be patient and follow his instructions.
At first, it was hard to see around this cloudy black thing. I had to really concentrate. But slowly it began to become less of a distraction and more of just an annoyance. Black floaters began to lift off, and I had the urge to swat them like gnats. By the second week, it reduced to a navy blue opaque dot with a blue veil in the center and it lowered in my vision field to somewhere around my lower eyelid, then my cheek, then mouth, then chin. It became the size of a quarter, then nickel, then dime, and then a bead. At last, this morning when I awoke, it was gone.
Where did I see God in all this, other than Him leading me to an excellent eye surgeon?
This bubble represented a sin in my life that I had not yet dealt with because I wasn’t quite sure I had to. Or maybe it was easier to just ignore it. My dominant faith covered it up and compensated…for a while. But deep down I knew something was not quite right. Once revealed by the Great Physician that I had a hole that distorted my perception of Kingdom living, I was in total dismay, and a tad frightened.
God inserted a “bubble” around that sin. At first, it was all I could see. It became so magnified in my life that it clouded everything else. But little by little, God’s mercy worked in my life. I had to be patient and follow His instructions. My attitude and actions began to slowly change. The hole healed, and the sin’s influence and tendency began to diminish. My thought pattern slowly altered and one day I realized it was no longer part of how I saw the world.
For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 5:19-21).
One letter can make a huge difference. Mean versus moan. Bad vs bed. Dog vs. dig.
others, and loving others takes our minds, actions, and hearts off ourselves. Then, we begin to realize we have something in common – we all need love. We need each other. We need God.
Allergies. Annoying. Postnasal drip, persistent cough, pressure around the teary eyes. I have been under immunotherapy for 6 months where the allergist injects into my body the things that irritate my body, slowing increase the amount, so I will build up an immunity to them. So far, it has only made my symptoms worse and my body wants to reject them even more. The allergist says it is part of the process and eventually my body will accept these irritants.
“What can wash away our sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus…”
I am writing to you, dear children, 
breeze of mercy flow over us long enough to where we believe anew that He really can forgive us and still loves us, in spite of our messes.
Where Did You Find God Today? 