Chapter 6- “Blind, but now I See”

The music ended, and all the women sat down, including Jayda and Shiloh. Jayda had followed up on her word and had come to the conference. They had already had the welcome speech and worship time. Now it was time for Kristin to give the first talk.

Kristin walked confidently onto the stage and smiled.

“I don’t about you, but I am very thankful to have had such a wonderful evening of worship!

As you know, our theme for this conference is light and darkness. As I began to think about this subject, I couldn’t help but think of the time when Jesus spoke on the same subject, only this particular time He spoke of the human eye.

Here is what Jesus says in Matthew 6:22-23, ‘The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be filled with darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!'”

Kristin stopped reading and looked out at the audience.

“When I read this verse, I immediately began to to do research on the human eye. In doing this research, I found that our eyes have something called rods and cones in them. Now a lot of you have probably heard of such things because of some type of science class you took in school.

However, I found something within theses rods that rather amazed me. There is a protein that resides in each rod in our eye that scientists call Rhodopsin. There is something that is significant and amazing about Rhodopsin. When light enters our eyes, the light hits the Rhodopsin and the protein changes shape! The Rhodopsin’s change in structure is what allows us to see.

You may be wondering why I bring this up, and I bring this up because I believe we have a spiritual Rhodopsin. I believe that when God’s light touches us, we change our “structure.” Once you are touched by Jesus, you are never the same!

Everything changes in our lives when we openly accept Jesus as the true light and King of our lives. Instead of seeing us as guilty, He sees us as forgiven, redeemed, and set free! He calls us a beautiful new creation, and we are forever His child.

Once light enters into our eyes, a signal is then transmitted from the Rhodopsin. The brain then receives the signal, so that it may make sense of what we are seeing. Jesus is our brain for us. Jesus is the only One who can make sense of our messed up and sticky situations. He is the Only one who can lead the way when we are unsure of where to go. Jesus is the Only One who can pull us out of the darkness and into His great light.

That is why I love it when Jesus says, ‘But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be filled with darkness.’ You see, Jesus understands that if we don’t have light filling our bodies, we would be lost. Without light, we are blind.

Kristin swallowed and then continued.

“I believe tonight that there are people in this room who are walking in darkness, and their spiritual Rhodopsin is looking for Light. I believe there are people in the room who have forgotten that Jesus has called us out of darkness and to live in His glorious light. I want you to know, that if that person is you, your good Shepherd is calling you home.”

Jayda’s heart dropped, and suddenly Jayda knew that this was why she felt as if she should come tonight. Jayda quickly stood up, ran out of the auditorium with her bright red hair bouncing after her. Jayda quickly looked around and found the nearest bathroom.

She walked into the biggest stall and started pacing. Jayda suddenly came to a conclusion that frightened her. Was God calling her back to Him? Was her good Shepheard calling her back to the pen?

Jayda shook her head frantically and tried to ignore the overwhelming voice that seemed to be shouting, “Come back to me!”

“Why should I go back to you?” Jayda shouted out with angry tears in her eyes. “You betrayed me! You said that You would always love and protect me, but you didn’t!

Why didn’t you protect me from my dad? Why did you let him abandon me and my mom? Why did you let my Aunt get cancer and die? Why didn’t you save me from all this emotional and physical pain with my tics and anxiety?! Why did you give me this horrid life that I want to run away from? Why haven’t you fixed all of this?”

With such anger and desperation, Jayda called out, “Why don’t You answer me?!”

“They always said you loved me, but your actions have proved to be the opposite!”

With heavy tears rolling down her cheeks, Jayda sunk down to her knees. Her mind flashed to a scene that was all too familiar. Her mind saw her old church sanctuary with brown pews. The brown pews faced a stained glass window that had a picture of the beloved cross of Jesus.

In that moment, when all seemed to be wrong, Jayda heard a small whisper she would never forget, “Was dying for you not enough to prove that I love you?”

Jayda now sobbed all the more. Her whole body shook.

“I’m sorry, I am so sorry,” Jayda repeated over and over again.

Jayda’s eye began to twitch, and for the first time in fifteen years, she honestly and truly didn’t care.

To be continued…(Psalm 119:130)