Many of you have been praying for me since I received a startling prognosis, and I am so grateful for you. After tears and wrestling, I finally embraced my new identity as a vision-challenged woman.
In June, I was diagnosed with macular degeneration. After the initial shock wore off, you know you are vain when one of my first thoughts was, “If I go blind, who will pluck my mustache?”
I think Vincent and I are in some denial. He says I will not go blind. I think, “O’, surely it will not get a lot worse.” Until my next appointment with a specialist, I can live in this state.
In the meantime, I war with my eyes, trying to focus or blink or eye-drop my way out of the blurriness. It is a relief when I close my eyes or, for some reason, when I wear sunglasses. I have fallen a couple of times because I cannot easily see steps.
This is hard, and I expect it to get harder. The difficulty of it is the very thing that makes it so valuable. As Mike Crawford’s song says, “Blessed are the blind (hungry, weak, bruised…) ‘cuz that’s when you will eat of the bread that matters most.” And that is why I can say with Paul, “Rejoice! He is near.”
I want easy. God has given me something better.
Lost.
No way out.
The end of the rope.
But God.
“The Son of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost.”
Luke 19:10
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
Saint Francis of Assisi
The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing… Luke 4:18-21
These words of Jesus’ sent shock waves through the temple. He was telling them that He was the One they had been waiting for, the long-awaited Messiah.
Hidden Hollow Prayer Chapel
