Walking by Faith and Not by Sight

By Sheila Burrows

"All scripture is given
by inspiration of God,
and is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof,
for correction, for
instruction in
righteousness: That the
man of God may be
perfect, thoroughly
furnished unto all
good works."
2 Timothy 3:16-17

en, does that TV look blurry to you?”

“No, Mom.”

“Mmmm…I must just be tired.”

At that point, she decided she needed to go to bed and give her eyes a rest. In her prayers that night, she prayed for God to heal her body of the Multiple Sclerosis and especially heal her eyes.

In all of the hustle and bustle of getting ready for work and the boys getting ready for school the next morning, the blurriness in Mom's eyes was ignored. However, as she drove her preteen son into town, she realized she was not seeing correctly.

“Ben, please don’t get scared, but Mommy is having some problems with her vision and you will need to tell me if I am going off the road.”

“Let’s turn around and go back home."

“No, we are closer to town than home. Just tell me if I’m doing anything wrong.”

Ben was scared, but began praying for God to help them make it to town safely. God took care of them during that trip and got them there safely.

“Another trip to the hospital,” she thought. “Why, Lord?”

She quickly was reminded of the verse in the Bible found in II Corinthians 5:7, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” She thought about how her faith had been growing as she dealt with the disease, but yet knew there is always room for more growth.

As she pondered on the verse, she realized that each and every aspect of her life was being lived out by faith in her Heavenly Father. She began to think about what her life would be like if the Lord decided she would no longer have clear vision.

Her prayers were for His will, but she also prayed for His will to include a healing. She realized that the verse might take on a different meaning for her and she needed to be prepared for whatever He had in store for her.

The two weeks of going through the IV treatments and then waiting on them to work were hard on her and the family, but they never lost their faith in the Lord. They prayed continually for a healing and when the vision was restored they praised God for Him being the Great Physician.

As Mom looked back over the weeks of losing her sight, treatments, and the difficulties it presented, she realized there was growth in her faith through the experience. Being able to accept the possibility of not having clear vision took a lot of faith. Had the Lord chose that path for her to walk down, there would have been so many changes in her life.

She no longer would have been able to work at her job or do many of the ministries she was involved in. The days of running “taxi” for her sons would have been over. Losing her sight would have been a life changing experience. But she never lost faith in the Lord.

Many asked how she could handle her circumstances so calmly.  To those questions, she simply relied, “I know God is in control.”

Some asked how she would cope if she didn't get her sight back.  Her reply was sincere and from a pure heart:  “The Lord will help me cross that bridge if and when I need to."

She often asked whether they'd heard the verse in the Bible that says, "For we walk by faith, not by sight," which opened the door to share more freely. 

“The Lord is teaching me a new meaning of that verse. He wants me to realize that I need to be walking by faith more. I need to not be depending upon myself so much but on Him totally. That is why He had given me this loss of sight.”

A common response would be something to the effect of, “I don’t know how I would handle it but I would hope it would be with such a great attitude.”

“The Lord is with me no matter what happens. I don’t have to worry about things because He is the one in control of what happens.  His word tells us in Psalm 46:10, ‘Be still, and know that I am God’ and that is what I intend on doing.”

She knew the only way to survive the disease was to rest in her Lord and have faith that He would always be there for her. She felt one of the reasons for her having the disease was for others to watch how she dealt with it. God used her to show others the true meaning of walking by faith and she knew it was her responsibility to not let Him down.

She learned that traveling the road of life is much like that challenging trip to town so many years before. Just as she had then depended upon Ben's eyes to keep her driving in the right direction, her Heavenly Father will see her through the ups and downs, twists and turns of life, if she will continue to walk by faith.