As I thought further about this, I began asking the Lord to give me eyes to see and make me aware of these upcoming opportunities and not waste them. This led me to the title of this letter which is:
In December, I had cataract surgery in my right eye. (I will have surgery on the left eye later this month.) What you may not know if you haven’t had the surgery is that not only do they remove the cataract but they put in a new lens that allows you to see 20/20 in your distance vision or your close-up vision.
To be honest with you, I was not aware of that but since my distance vision plus night driving is not good, I opted for the lens for distance. After the surgery, I closed my left eye and looked out my right. I was amazed how everything I saw was clear and bright and that I was seeing 20/20. I closed my right eye, opened my left eye and I was equally amazed that everything I saw was cloudy and yellow. What a contrast! Not only that I can now see 20/20 in my right eye but I see light in a new light.
As I thought about this contrast in vision, the Spirit brought to mind that to see 20/20, not only did I have to have a new lens I had to have my cataracts removed. In the same way, if we are to see 20/20 spiritually we are going to have “spiritual” cataract surgery as well as a new spiritual lens. The problem with spiritual cataracts is the same with physical cataracts. If they are not dealt with surgically, then our spiritual eyesight will only get worse. I look at our spiritual lens as God’s truth. We know God’s truth is true but because of our spiritual cataracts of unbelief, false beliefs, past woundedness and our flesh we see ourselves, others, and God through a yellow, cloudy and distorted lens. Unless the Lord removes these cataracts, even though we have a lens of truth, our spiritual eyesight will get worse resulting in a spiritual blindness and a hardness of heart.
Since confession is good for the soul, I thought I would share with you three areas of my life where the Lord wants to remove my spiritual cataracts.
Have a greater attitude of thanksgiving. I have discovered that I need a greater heart for and desire to give thanks especially in painful times. It is much easier for me to whine than to give thanks. However, that thanks is not limited to God. It is a greater heart of thanksgiving for Paige, for you and for others.
See people in 3D instead of one dimension. As I was encouraging you in my September letter to look beyond the externals and see people in 3D, God is still exposing my tendencies to judge people or their motives and make self-righteous comparisons. The Lord continues to ask me questions when I am tempted to judge or compare: “What do you really know about this person? Do you know all of what is behind what they are saying or doing? Since you don’t know, why don’t you err on the side of love and grace?” These are hard questions but necessary ones the Lord is going to continue asking me to set me free-er to see people 3D.
Be more compassionate. This is such a hard one for me because of my past woundedness plus the hardening of my heart as a result of 30 years of religion. Therefore, I am diligently and intentionally seeking the Lord to transform my heart to express more compassion to others because I want to take advantage of every opportunity to be more compassionate to every hurting person I will encounter this year.
I don’t know what your spiritual cataracts may be but whatever they are, I pray that you seek the Lord to remove them so that you can see 20/20 in 2020. My ongoing prayer for you will be centered around 2 Kings 6:17:
“Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” And the Lord opened the servant’s eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”
I hope you will pray the same for Paige and me. Thank you!
One of the opportunities Paige and I want to take advantage of is the opportunity to thank you for your amazing support that comes through your prayers and gifts. You may think you play only a small part but please know that God has brought us all together as a spiritual team in order to set the captives free through us. I firmly believe that like no other year in ministry, we are going to see exponential opportunities to get the Christ-life truths out to more believers around the world than ever before. Thank you for being such a vital part of what God will be doing in 2020. It is going to be an amazing year.
