The blind men screamed out even louder, “Jesus, Son of David, show us mercy, Lord!” So Jesus stopped and had them brought to him. He asked them, “What do you want me to do for you?” They said, “Lord, we want to see! Heal us!” Jesus was deeply moved with compassion toward them. So he touched their eyes, and instantly they could see! Jesus said to them, “Your faith has healed you.” ... And the two men became his followers from that day onward. [Matthew 20:31-34 TPT]
Whenever I read about blindness I am transported back in time to April 1972.
In my parents home in New Jersey, my wife Ellen told me that she had gone to the eye doctor.
The doctor told her that she was going blind and would shortly be sightless.
For the next three years I watched my beautiful wife suffer in the darkness.
I became intimately acquainted with the desperation voiced by the two blind men in this story.
I helplessly watched as my wife descended into physical and emotional darkness.
Such is the setting for two desperate men sitting beside a dusty road crying for mercy.
Can you imagine the reaction of those two when Jesus stopped and touched their eyes.
I can imagine it because I experienced something just as awesome.
In August 1975 I came home again to news concerning my wife and her eyesight.
My wife had been to church with neighbors and Jesus touched her left eye [read about it here].
And a week later this healing began to take root in my heart.
I was shocked when Ellen passed the eye test and got her driver's license.
Like the two in the story our lives had been turned upside down.
And like them we began to follow Jesus.
Lord, have mercy on me, Son of David!
... this devotion is part of the Red Letters series. Click here to read more.
I still get goose bumps when I think about your wife's amazing story and healing.
ReplyDeleteGod is Good, All the time, an then some.