WOW!!!!

Sometimes I’ve wondered what it would be like to be present when Jesus restored the eyesight of the blind man in Bethsaida (Mark 8:22-25). The shock and the joy he must’ve felt as he saw what he’d been hearing around him all his life was probably overwhelming to say the least.  I think Friday I got a tiny picture of what the reaction may have been like for that blind man when I saw our son Matthew react to seeing clearly for the first time.

We knew Matthew had horrible vision because he squinted ALL the time.  He needed to be 12 inches from the television screen to play the Wii.  We didn’t know how bad his sight was until we took him to the eye doctor this past Friday.  The doctor said he hated to throw out the word “blind,” but Matthew could not see ANYTHING outside of 6 inches from his face.

My dear Ukrainian friend, Anya, volunteered to come to his appointment and translate for Matthew and the doctor.  What an absolute blessing Anya has been for our family.  She has helped translate for all 3 of our boys now.  

Matthew was quite adamant about NOT having to wear glasses mainly for appearance purposes.  He wanted contact lenses.  Skeptically the doctor agreed to allow Matthew to wear contact lenses because of how bad his vision is and also how clean and responsible Matthew is for his age.  We still had to purchase glasses for Matthew to wear in the evenings per doctor’s orders.

The doctor reclined Matthew’s examination chair all the way back and put one contact in Matthew’s right eye first.  Matthew said in Ukrainian, “I already see 100 times better!”  When the doctor put the left contact in his eye, Matthew sat straight up, wide-eyed and looked all around the darkened room exclaiming, “WOW!!!” He looked around again and gasped in happy awe, “WOW!!!”  I’m pretty sure Anya and I both had tears in our eyes!  His reaction to seeing for the first time was priceless!  “WOW!” he kept saying over and over as he looked around.

After we left the doctor’s office the first thing Matthew said was, “I like Anya.  She is very good and very beautiful.”  (I can understand simple Ukrainian).  The second thing he said was, “Thank you for my lenses, Mama.  Thank you!  Wow!! I like these lenses!”  The whole 30-minute ride home he was enthusiastically pointing out motorcycles, Hummers, Mustangs, police cars and all sorts of things.  “Mama! Look! Hummer!”  “Mama! Look!  Helicopter!” 

Tim barely walked through the doors at 6pm before Matthew stampeded him, “I can see, Papa! I have lenses!”  Anyone he saw he told them he was wearing contact lenses.  He was so excited.

In the Bible healing the blind was a miracle only Jesus performed.  Likewise, spiritual blindness is only cured through the blood of Jesus Christ.  I am praying for Matthew and all our family members who may have spiritual blindness.  I pray their eyes would be opened and that they will see the love of Christ and believe in faith!

I saw a few parallels between physical blindness and spiritual blindness that I wanted to share.  The first parallel is it takes faith to see physically. The blind man at Bethsaida had to trust Jesus who put spit on his eyes and made him see.  Matthew had to trust me as his mom that I was leading him to a doctor who could help him.  He had to trust Anya to translate and the doctor who was touching his eye and putting contact lenses into his eyes.  Spiritual blindness requires faith in Christ, the Great Physician.  Second, Matthew was FILLED with joy and thankfulness for his new sight.  Those of us who have spiritual sight should live a life characterized by joy and thankfulness.  We should want to tell everyone we know about our sight and the Great Physician who gave it to us.  Third, Matthew has increased devotion to me as his mom.  Since Friday he has been more loving, respectful and affectionate.  Every day we should desire to show our love and devotion for Christ more.  It’s a testimony of the change in our lives from blindness to sight!  Finally, with eyesight Matthew has increased discernment.  No longer will he walk in darkness.  He won’t walk in front of moving cars, or miss someone sitting quietly in a room.  He will be able to see out the windows and doors and determine if it is a friend or a stranger on the other side of the door.  He can see his school work from further away which helps him learn easier.  Similarly as Christians we should have increased discernment.  We should see the world from a biblical world view.  As we grow and study God’s Word we should be able to discern between behavior that is dangerous and behavior that is edifying.  

I am so thankful for the calling in our lives to adopt Matthew.  He is such a joy and so full of enthusiastic life.  I’m thankful for all that I have learned from him already.  I am thankful for a husband who loves the Lord and is tender to God’s leading.  I’m thankful for the amazing father that Tim is to our kids and godly male example he is to our boys.  I’m thankful for Anya, for her friendship, and for her using her God-given abilities to translate to help our boys.  Most of all I am thankful for my salvation in Christ and my spiritual sight!  I’m thankful I don’t have to aimlessly stumble around this world without the Light in my life.

What a priceless memory forever etched in my mind of Matthew’s reaction when he saw clearly for the first time!  WOW!

Getting ready to see for the first time

Learning how to put in and take out contact lenses

Outside enjoying his new sight!