Thursday, July 26, 2007

"Amazing Wonder!"

Lisa Reid was a happy, cheerful red head enjoying her childhood in New Zealand where she lived with her family.
In 1987, when she was 11 years old, her mother noticed that she was tripping over things and sometimes complained of headaches but thought it was nothing more than what was normal in a growing child.
However, when she started throwing up , her mother became concerned and took her to the doctor. They immediately ran tests and the diagnoses was a malignant brain tumour. The doctors told Lisa's parents that they needed to operate that Friday because by Monday she would no longer be with them.
Lisa was rushed into surgery for the delicate ten hour operation that removed, piece by piece, the tumour that had invaded her entire skull cavity.
The operation was successful, but Lisa did not come out unscathed.
The tumour had crushed her optic nerve, cutting off the blood supply and the nerve was now dying.
Lisa would lose her eyesight!

By the time she was 14, she was completely blind.
Lisa accepted her new life, learned to adjust to doing things a different way and had as her constant companion a seeing eye dog named Ami.
She grew to adulthood and was courageous enough to live an independent life in her own apartment.

Then one day in November of 2000, she made herself a cup of coffee and walked into the living room to pet Ami. Leaning over to touch the dog she lost her balance and fell, hitting her head on the coffee table.
She seemed to be OK and thought nothing more about it.
She went to bed that night as usual.

In the morning she awoke and opened her eyes -------- in her own words ----
“TO AN AMAZING WONDER!”
She could see!! light, colours – everything!
She had not seen herself in a mirror since she was a gawky 14 year old with braces. Now, ten years later, she was a beautiful, grown woman. She could not believe her reflection!

The doctors said an atrophied optic nerve was incurable and they could not explain how a bump on the head could restore her eyesight, but they could not argue with reality !!
Lisa could see.
The doctors could not say if her miracle would be permanent but Lisa is enjoying the wonders of her sighted world!!

As I listened to her story unfold on a TV documentary, I thought about the parallels between Lisa’s experience and the experience awaiting every Christian believer.

We live in the ‘darkness’ of this world. We cannot see the big picture, we grope about feeling our way around, we stumble and need others to guide us, we struggle to cope with the limitations and circumstances we find ourselves in.
One day we will experience a ‘bump on the head’ and 'fall asleep'.
In the Morning we will open our eyes to ‘amazing wonder’!
Everything will be different…the light, the colors, we will see ourselves for who we really are --- grown up in the image of Christ!
The ‘doctors’ of the science of worldly thought cannot explain the miracle – they say life after death is not possible. At best it is an illusion that cannot last!
But we know….we have the promise of our Lord….we will live in the glory of His presence forever and ever!

“But the God of all grace who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish , strengthen ,settle you.” (I Peter 5:20)
“Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy!(Jude 1:24)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

God is so good that way. What a wonderful story and testiment to the power and awesomeness of God.

Thank you for the offer to help. I'm sure I am going to need a lot of it. For most of my life I have not been a seeker of assistance. I fought my own battles, plowed through new tasks and many difficulties.

Now, I am soooo past that. If I don't know, I say so. If I haven't a clue, I seek someone who does. It's much more fun this way. It's amazing how much ego gets in the way and how as we grow older, we realize that we don't have to, nor should we go it alone.

Since the Lord hasn't chosen to equip me with a brain that is wired for modern (or ancient) machinery and the like, I will gladly seek the wisdom of those who can understand and have the experience.

Carolanne said...

Amen! What an incredible story to remind us of the amazing wonder it is to know God's grace. :)

Lovella ♥ said...

I'm teary after reading this post. What a wonderful Lord we serve.
I love those verses, the last one is one of my favorites.
Thank you for sharing this story today.

Thoughts on Life and Millinery. said...

Your post made me think about how a child we see through faith easily, but then go blind as adults, so to speak, unable to grasp the things we had as children. I don't think we are ever fully cured of our adult blindness to faith, but sometime a hard knock, which drives us to our knees, can clear things up a bit for us.
That woman was so blessed, in so many ways.