One month later...

A couple of weeks before my June 8 cataract surgery on my right eye, I happened onto a painting of Jesus healing the blind man.  As I shared in my last post, I was terrified of this surgery because of all the trouble I've had with my right eye over the years; in addition to a detachment and loads of floaters, I have had ocular migraine centering in my right field of vision.  I could not imagine coming through the bright light of cataract surgery without side-effects.  But when I looked at the image of Christ and the man whose vision was restored, the Holy Spirit touched my heart and I was enabled to place my trust in the Lord.  There was still fear, but faith in God's will for me outweighed the fear and off to surgery I went.  

Ninety minutes out of surgery, I had astoundingly clear, 20/20 vision or better with no lens correction.  I don't know what the very bottom line on the eye chart measures, but I was able to read that line with no errors.  I had no floaters.  It was amazing.  The tech who checked my post op pressures and visual acuity kept saying, "This is really unusual."  

What was really odd is that I had chosen to remain near- sighted.  I'd had a near lens implant, and under the best of conditions should not have been able to see well at a distance.  But I could.  Colors were astounding.  When I got home I walked out to my flower garden and the only thing I could think was that this must be what it is like in Heaven.  The colors were crisp, clean, bright, and new.  The beauty pierced my heart and tears flowed.  I don't think you are supposed to cry immediately following cataract surgery, but I did.  I knew something special was happening but I really thought they had somehow implanted the wrong prescription for my lens.  I was fine with it though.  

Over the next few days, my vision gradually receded to the prescription I had requested and the old, familiar floaters returned.  On day 5, I put on my old glasses and was surprised to note that I could see perfectly well with the correction I'd needed prior to surgery (again, this is what I'd requested). The only difference was that the smudge of cataract was gone so that for the first time in years, with correction for near-sightedness, I could see clearly at a distance through my right eye.  

I have avoided highway driving for years because my distance vision had become blurry. But my three week fitting for new glasses revealed distance vision that could be corrected to 20/15 in both eyes. This afternoon I drove a few miles from my home to see my grandkids, and the two miles of country highway driving were beautifully clear even as I scanned a quarter mile in the distance.  I am wearing my old glasses still, and am looking forward to even better vision when the new pair arrives.  

I'm not even going to try to figure out why the vision in my left eye also seems better...

I imagine the unusually clear vision immediately following surgery can be explained somehow, but you aren't going to convince me that the Lord didn't gift me with just a few days of clarity of sight that I won't have again until Heaven.  I had prayed for years regarding my eyesight, and on my surgery day I asked everyone I knew to pray for me.  I'm not sure what happened but...I know the Lord was with me.  

Fear is not a personality weakness or a failure of faith; it is a side effect of living in a fallen world and of having suffered in ways that were hard in the past.  When we place our trust in the Lord and move forward even though we are afraid, I think it blesses God's heart.  

Grateful.  

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Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Note:  Google Image Search says that the picture below is most likely an AI created work, and there is no reference as to the creator.