Have you come to that point with your child's diagnosis or challenges where you kind of forget that they are a big deal, that you still have the possibility of regression, or that the issues might be something you could be praying about? I was reminded of this fact a few weeks ago.
Our church has four different services, and we were at one that we don't usually attend. My daughter (who is blind due to a condition called aniridia and her battle with glaucoma) and I were walking down the aisle to exit after church had ended. We typically make a bee-line out because she doesn't have much patience when we chat with people after the service.
A gentleman spotted us and reached out to me. He said, "I notice your daughter is walking with a cane. I'm blind too. I remember those days of using my cane." He proceeded to ask me what conditions made her blind, if she was learning braille, and a few other questions that we typically get asked when we encounter a blind person.
"Can I pray for her?" he asked.
"Of course." I replied, hoping desperately that my daughter would gracefully handle this delay in our departure.
Bill took our hands and began to pray for God to bless our daughter, to heal her if it be His will, to bring good doctors into our midst, and good medicines and treatments as her life progressed. I felt slightly convicted because we had an eye appointment coming up that Tuesday and I had thought nothing about it! I had even considered canceling it because we were going to see our out-of-state-doctor in July, so figured that would be soon enough!
We thanked Bill for the lovely prayer, my daughter had taken it all in stride, and we departed for home.
Little did I know that on Tuesday we would be told that our daughter's glaucoma was again creating an increase in pressure in her eyes and that there was dryness beginning to show on her cornea. Both of these revelations would typically cause me to panic, but I remained calm knowing that Bill had been moved to reach out to us and pray for us in advance. I knew that God had gone before us to prepare a way and that were not alone; that none of this was outside of God's plan.
We needed to add a new eye drop to our daily regimen, and that was scary! But I had heard Bill pray days before that the right medications and treatments would be made available to our daughter. God was already working on it!
We even ended up transitioning to a new doctor as a result of this appointment! I was shocked, slightly startled and off balance by that, but then remembered Bill praying for us to have the right doctors at the right time. Hallelujah! God had prepared a way.
I saw Bill a couple of weeks later and approached him, re-introduced myself and told him about our appointment. I told him how his prayer was such a blessing because it kept me balanced and calm about all of the unexpected changes. I also was able to share with him that the new medications were working and that our new doctor seemed to have even greater knowledge about some of our daughter's more rare conditions, so the change was truly a blessing!
Don't forget to pray for yourself and others. What a amazing God we have that He prompts us to pray for one another so that we can be the essence of God here in the flesh.
Pray: Heavenly Father, thank you for people like Bill who are not afraid to reach out and pray for complete strangers. Thank you for the assurance that you are always with us and that nothing is out of Your sight. May we all become a bit more like Bill in our willingness to SEE one another and to PRAY for one another. Amen.
