Here’s How to Enhance Your Spiritual Vision
Have you ever had to walk by faith, not by sight?
The kind of faith that requires you to see with the eyes of your heart, even when circumstances look bleak and impossible? God taught me a lesson in vision both physically and spiritually when I had unexpected eye surgery several years ago. During a particularly challenging season in my life, I went in for a routine eye appointment after having a few symptoms that I thought were related to my contact lenses…
You can have spiritual vision, even when your physical vision is limited…
Imagine my surprise when the report came back that I had a retinal detachment in my right eye! I was only 27 years old at the time. One minute, I was expecting a change in my contact lens prescription; the next minute I was getting prepped for a surgical procedure that the physician wasn’t convinced would work. Since I had already eaten that day, the doctor had to do the procedure when I was wide awake! Talk about scary!!! My heart began racing, yet, as I prayed, I felt the peace of God come over me, and I experienced an indescribable supernatural strength. As a person who tends to be scared of needles, God enabled me to do what I could not have done on my own: I had to sit completely still, or I was told I could go blind in that eye. Two injections placed a gas bubble near my retina, and two laser surgeries helped secure it. This large gas bubble, which pushed my retina back in place, made my field of vision almost entirely black.
I prayerfully had to trust that my vision would be restored and that the black I was seeing was actually working for the benefit of my healing.
It took several months for the bubble to completely disappear. For the first week after my procedure, I had to sit in a chair with my head completely tilted on my shoulder all day and night, which was very painful on my neck but helped keep the bubble in place. Throughout this process, I prayerfully had to trust that my vision would be restored and that the black I was seeing was actually working for the benefit of my healing. If you have ever felt claustrophobia, that is a feeling I experienced on that side of my eye frequently. As time went on, the bubble went down ever so slightly so I could begin seeing a little at a time, starting from the top of my eye and working its way down to the bottom. After about 3 months, it disappeared, and I could see clearly!
He opens our vision and helps us realize how He has been working behind-the-scenes all along!
Although this experience was both challenging and unnerving, God showed me a spiritual epiphany: As we trust Him when things are “dark”, He shows us little by little how He is working. Then, He opens our vision and helps us realize how He has been working behind-the-scenes all along! Just because we can’t see what He is doing, doesn’t mean He isn’t moving on our behalf! God wants us to trust Him even when situations don’t make sense in our natural minds.
What areas seem “dark” right now in your life where you need to trust God?
God taught me some very valuable lessons about vision that I pray encourage you in whatever season of life you may be in right now:
- Difficulty can give you a revelation of Scripture and make it come alive to you personally! I had always read the Scripture: “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7), but that verse really rang true in my heart and continues to ring true to me after going through this challenge.
- Know that no matter how dark things look in your physical vision, God is completely Sovereign and able to work supernaturally. He can work everything out for your good, even the hardships that you are going through or will go through. (Romans 8:28).
- God can strengthen us to be more than conquerors and help us overcome things that we cannot do in our own strength. Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” That Scripture was one that I prayed during my procedure and is a constant encouragement in my life. Just like Peter walking on water toward Jesus during the storm, we can walk on the waves when our eyes are fixed on Jesus.
- God’s timing is perfect. He orchestrates our steps and leads us by the power of the Holy Spirit. In my situation, He got me to the doctor when I needed to go. He also closed a door for me to travel that summer and veered my steps, because of my surgery. He works in mysterious ways, and we have to trust Him to guide us. He is fully able to light our path. (Psalm 119:105).
In this journey of walking by faith, let’s encourage each other that even during the hard times, the overwhelming and discouraging times; at all times, God is faithful. He is able to use even the toughest circumstances to strengthen our faith; to teach us important lessons for our growth. We may only see with our spiritual vision and not see the big picture yet, but keep believing. One day, we will say, “Aha! This is how God worked everything out for my good and His glory!”
Let’s let our faith be our eyes.
My prayer for you: Father, I pray for the person reading this right now. Jesus, you know what they are going through and care deeply. I pray that you will flood their heart with light and give them spiritual vision and understanding that surpasses their spiritual eyesight. Calm their anxiety and their fears and fill them with Your supernatural peace. Overwhelm them with your unfailing love and speak to their hearts with these Scriptures. You are able to bring good out of every situation, Lord, and we are believing that in the Mighty Name of Jesus. Amen.
Ephesians 1:18-20: “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”
2 Corinthians 12:9-10: “But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Matthew 9:29: “Then He touched her eyes and said, ‘According to your faith let it be done to you.’”
