Back in May, when we were distributing shoes in Emanuel, we met a special young boy. This boy had wandering eyes and couldn’t see much at all. We weren’t equipped to do any testing that day because we had just went to church and did the shoe and food distribution. The mother asked if she could bring him the next day to where we were working.
As we arrived at the site, the young boy was one of our first patients. Because of his wandering eyes and inability to focus, it was impossible to get a reading. Cristina Lindsey and I tried for almost an hour before we gave up in tears, feeling as if we had failed.
This morning, as we started the clinic, Cristina and I were surprised by the same little boy, Eric, there to have his eyes checked. Emanuel is not too far from where we were working and they had walked over, wanting desperately to try again. We immediately decided that we HAD to try but that God was the only way it was possible. So we gathered as many people as were available and surrounded Eric and put hands on him in prayer.
We prayed boldly for God to guide Tom’s hands and the reader so that we could get a reading. As I prayed, I sensed that there were many around us watching and even those praying that needed to KNOW that God can do anything and that miracles are still possible. So I prayed that God’s glory would be evident to all watching and those who heard later.
After we finished the prayer, Tom went to work, trying to get a reading. He tried several angles and positions and we finally put Eric on my lap so that he could try again. As I held Eric’s head, I prayed once again that Eric not only would receive glasses today and be able to see, but he also would see God. For a moment, I thought about telling Deb to start looking for any children’s glasses in the extra inventory but then that still small voice said “Don’t try in your own power. God’s got this!”
Finally Tom got one of the eyes to read, but the other wasn’t happening. The eye turned too much out and wouldn’t focus. So we decided to try with the one that we had. As he sent the information to the computer, we saw that there was only one possible match (after we reduced the parameters way off from the reading). We continued to pray as Deb looked for the one possible match that the computer found. She pulled out the glasses that were in the specified slot and almost screamed in amazement. We looked and they were children’s glasses!
We put them on him and the look on his face was priceless! He could see!!!! We shouted and sang Glory to God, crying and then proceeded to explain to the mother why we were so happy. We explained how impossible it was and that only with GOD were we able to fit Eric with the glasses. We asked her to tell the story to Eric as he grew up so that he would always know what God had done.
As the family left and we started to log the inventory, Deb noticed that the bag Eric’s glasses came out of didn’t even have a number on them. We don’t know HOW they got in the slot that they did….but we know WHY.
I truly believe that miracles are still possible and I KNOW that God uses them to strengthen, encourage us and most importantly to recognize HIS GLORY.
TO GOD BE THE GLORY!
