And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. Genesis 1:3-4

In one of my husband’s eyes there is a dead spot that does not allow light through.  One of his eleven eye surgeries was performed by a different surgeon than Todd’s regular. When Todd went to his follow-up appointment, he tried to tell this other surgeon that something was wrong.  The man dismissed Todd and told him he was fine.  By the time that they figured out that there was a problem, irreversible damage had been done. 

Today the specialist confirmed that he will never see out of that spot.

Have you ever been there?  Do you have a spot that you need to let the light through?

Todd feels like this sermon by our pastor, Johnny Wade, is a classic.  I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Light is a wonderful thing.  God is light.  Whenever I want more of God, then I must seek more light.  If I am going to have more of God then I am going to have more light.

One time I was having trouble seeing.  Things were getting harder to see. When I was driving, I would judge distance by when things would no longer be a blur.

One night, I judged a car was a long way off because the headlight was blurry.  I was in the process of passing when I realized that the vehicle was right there!  God helped me to pull over into the ditch. I was not judging the light right.  I decided I would not pass anything anymore at night.

Then I went to the eye doctor.  He shone a bright light into my eye.  All of sudden, the chart that had been blurry…I could see!

My eye was not letting that light through.  I had cataracts.  There was something in between the light and my processing.

We tell the Lord, “I want to see clearly…I want to see what I need to see and the way I need to see it.”

There is a battle between light and darkness.  When you come into a dark room and turn on a light, darkness flees.

My family were froggers. We’d wait until about ten o’clock at night and wade up to our waist in water. 

If we found a frog, we’d put this light in the frog’s eyes.  You had to come up behind because if anything got in the way of the beam of light, the contact would be broken, and he’d jump. My brother Tommy was a snatcher, and I was a thumper. 

The power was the light.  We’d check our light to see how far it could go.

Have you checked your light?  God reveals things to us.  We have to accept what God shows us.

When the doctor showed me that I had cataracts, I wanted something done.  I wanted to process the light.  They cut that cataract off, and I could see again.  It worked!  I had cataract surgery on the other eye, and it worked it too.

Then one day, a curtain crossed my eye…like someone pulled down a curtain.  It got worse.  I couldn’t see through the curtain unless I went out into the bright sun. It bothered me that I couldn’t see.

I called the eye doctor.  The office said, “Well, we’ll tell the doctor and call you back.” Twenty minutes went by. Then thirty minutes.

I called them back.  I said, “I still can’t see.” 

They weren’t nearly as worried about it as I was.  People may not be as worried about you not getting the light you need, but you need to be. 

I called my doctor who was on vacation in Arizona.  He said, “We are going to take care of this.  You need to get into a doctor.”

I said, “They won’t do anything.”

He set up an appointment with his doctor friend in Independence.

God cares.  He’ll make an appointment. 

I got in.  The doctor didn’t even charge me.  He said, “What you need to do is get to Wichita.”

He called the retina clinic in Wichita.  They told him, “We close at such and such a time.”

He told them, “We have a window of time this has to be done. I’m sending him now.”

The retina clinic said they would stay until I got there.

God will make a way. 

We had to make an effort.  I couldn’t drive.  That means I didn’t go?  No, it means Connie had to drive.  She doesn’t like to drive in Wichita, but that wasn’t a consideration.  The situation with my eye was more important than what made us comfortable or uncomfortable. 

Can we see spiritually? 

I got to Wichita.  They were waiting.  They said, “We have an operating table.  You have so many more hours of a window of time to fix this.”

They operated.  It worked. 

Then they said, “You’ve got to spend thirty days looking at the ground.  You will have to rent a chair that turns your face and spend all awake time looking at the ground.”

I spent hours.  I did it religiously.  I didn’t cut corners or take chances.  I did exactly what they said.  I deemed it important.  It was me being able to see or not! 

It did not matter that the chair got uncomfortable.  I wanted to see. If I need to, I would do it again.

As the eye was clearing up the gas ball inside got smaller and smaller.  One day it was gone.  That same day, the other eye broke lose. The curtain closed for the other eye. 

This time, I didn’t call the doctors who didn’t care.  I called the one who cared.  We got right in there.  We took care of it.

“I wouldn’t want to go through that,” you say.  Well, I didn’t either.

The first time, it didn’t hurt.  But the second time, it really hurt.  They had me strapped down and then awakened me as they did the surgery.  I had pain! The poor woman holding my hand could attest to that because I was giving it all I had!

It cleared up.  Then we went to a wedding. I thought…uh oh!  I see a flicker.  I didn’t want to ruin everyone’s plans, so I didn’t say anything until we got home.

I called the doctor and said, “I can’t see out of this eye.” 

He said, “I want to see you tomorrow first thing.”

The next morning was Sunday.  They aren’t open on Sunday.  But they are if you need them. This time as they did surgery, there was no pain. 

That’s been eight years, and I can see. But if I get a cloud over my eye, I’m calling the doctor.  We’re going to take care of it!  I want the light.  I want to be able to process the light. 

If there is a problem, take care of it.  With Todd’s eye, they played around, and it has been damaged.

Go where you can get help.  God will make a way. 

Let there be light.  You want closer to God…let there be light.  God gave you this light, so use what He gave.   

How do you know you are closer to God?  You’ll get more light.    When you hide from the light, you’re in trouble.  If you say, “I want more victory”…you want more light.  God is light.

You might have to go through some things to get light, but it’s worth it.  Give me light!