As the saying goes…”Seeing is believing.”

Sight is a precious gift! And I use the word “gift“, very seriously! Those of you that have followed me on my Blog, know that I faced losing my sight in my right eye this past summer! It was a very long recovery, but God blessed me with sight back in my right eye!

I prayed long and hard for that gift. I asked for prayer from every faith filled person that I knew! I went to the doctor faithfully, and I followed his instructions to the letter. I sacrificed time and comfort to allow sight to return back to my right eye. And I give God all the glory that He restored it to me at the end of eight weeks. I cherish the gift God gave me and I thank Him for it!

Why did I fight so long and hard for my sight to be restored? Why did I endure the procedure and surgery that it required to regain my sight? Why did I lay flat, face down for so long so that my eye could heal?

Because sight is important! It truly is a gift!

I learned so many things without the sight in my right eye for a time. Sight in both eyes helps with balance(and as we age this becomes more and more important), it helps with depth perception, walking up and down stairs, seeing what’s coming at us from the side, and so, so much more! 

One of the strangest perceptions I had, without sight in my right eye, was an increased level of fear and anticipation. I am not a fearful person by nature. But without being able to see what was on my right side, and therefore what was coming at me from the right side, I had an increased fear level that caused me to walk more hesitantly.

One of my sweetest memories from my healing process was when my daughter would take my right arm and stand on my right side when we were at church, and would walk with me up and down the stairs, or in the parking lot with potholes and uneven gravel. I never said anything to her she just saw, and noticed my hesitancy.

Sight is truly a gift! And when we don’t have it, we can become hesitant and fearful!

So what happens when I face the scripture God led me to in my journey with him through 2024 and His word for me, faith?

“FOR WE LIVE BY FAITH, NOT BY SIGHT.”  

2 Corinthians 5:7

WOW, right after I have personally and physically gone through a time of having partial sight, God is showing me that, that has nothing to do with my FAITH!

When He showed me this verse in His Word and I asked Him if I was supposed to write on it, He gave me a beautiful picture, something that I remember doing from childhood, and was crystal clear in my mind!

We had a big house with an acre and a quarter of property from the time I was in fifth grade. It had big pieces of lawn between and around a horseshoe driveway. We had lots and lots of trees, but my favorite were the Cotton Woods. My Dad hated them because he said every time the wind blew their leaves and seeds blew around and more trees would pop up! He’d have to go around, pulling them out before he could mow. But their leaves were the very reason I loved them the most!

In Summer, Fall and Spring, I would lay on my back in the grass and look up at the leaves in those beautiful trees! I loved watching the wind whistle through the trees and causing the leaves to dance.

They would move in all different directions! The sunlight would shine through them, and make them glisten and turn different colors! I would lay there and feel a sense of God‘s presence. It made me feel that, even though I was so small, there was someone much bigger, and in control of all around me that was right there with me. I was not alone!

It was better than magical, it was SUPERNATURAL!

Yet, the very thing that was making those leaves dance I could not see.

It was the wind, and even though I could not see it with my eyes, I knew that it was there!

The wind is something that we do not “SEE”, but we know it is there!

What happens when the sun shines even brighter and the leaves remain still?

Do I doubt the existence of the wind?

Do I grow discouraged that the leaves will never dance again?

NO!

I know the wind will return, and the leaves will dance again!

I just simply do not know when? I am not in control of the wind, and where it blows! But the key is, I know who is! That is my FAITH!

This is truly what FAITH in God is like!

He is there, even when I cannot see or feel His moving and His working!

And unlike the wind, GOD NEVER FAILS!

God never dies down or stops moving!

How do I know this without seeing it with my eyes? Because of His great faithfulness to me throughout my entire life! God remains faithful, even when I am not!

TRUTH BOMB

GOD’S FAITHFULNESS DOES NOT DEPEND ON MY FAITHFULNESS!

God‘s faithfulness is constant! And my faith can waiver. 

But God still desires me to be faithful to Him and trust in Him, and He proves it by His constant faithfulness to me!

I came across this great quote that I felt spoke really well to this…

“When we do our very best, and leave the rest in God’s hands, every drought will end in rain.”

The sun will set, the seasons will change, and the wind will wrestle through those leaves again!

Our faith in God is dependent on what we know about Him, and not what we see! He does great things for us, and we have wonderful reminders of His faithfulness! But our faith is truly tested, and made strong when we trust in Him, even when we cannot see Him working now!

Faith is a journey, my friends, and even though it is so daily, we must continue to walk it step-by-step, knowing that our faithful God is moving and will make those leaves dance again in our lives!

Here is a prayer that I am praying to increase my faith! Maybe, if you pray it, it will help increase yours as well!

“Dear Lord Jesus,

You bless me every day, and yet I still can struggle to fully trust you. Help me to increase my FAITH and walk by that FAITH, no matter my circumstances. And help me to always trust that you are FAITHFUL  and will always come through for me!”

I love you, Friends, and I’m encouraged to walk this faith journey alongside you!

Speak Truth Love