Covering The Stronger Eye

· by · in walking with Jesus. ·

Last Tuesday, Sissy and I were running a couple of last Christmas errands before the boys finished up school on Wednesday. And I could have sworn that I caught her right eye turning in. It was just for a moment, and I thought surely I must have been imagining things.

But then on Wednesday morning at Li’l Bro’s Christmas program, I noticed it happening again, and several more times throughout the day. By the time she was tired at day’s end, there was no doubting it: something was wrong with her eyes.

sissy with bunny and glasses

We called the pediatrician’s office first thing in the morning, then–after seeing doc–spent much of the following day at the pediatric eye specialist, and the following day hunting down and filling a pair of glasses frames that would fit her itty bitty just-turned-two-year-old face.

The short of the long is that Sis is wearing an eye cover a couple of hours a day and now has prescription glasses for a few weeks to see if that resolves the problem. That’s the best case scenario.

pirate

And I guess I must not personally know too many pirates because I always assumed that they wore patches over their bad eyes, like to cover a wound sustained in a swashbuckling sword fight with some scurvy bilge rat or something like that.

But it turns out–whether or not it holds true for pirates–that little girls are prescribed to cover their stronger eyes. That way, the weaker eye doesn’t just learn to give up and turn in permanently, but grows stronger because it has to work a couple of hours a day.

phone 250'

And I thought that is just like our life in Christ.

He doesn’t just choose to cover over, conceal, and accept our weaknesses. But He blesses us with situations that restrain our strengths for a season so that He can sharpen and heal our weaknesses.

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose for them (Romans 8:28).

It might feel unfair or painful or draining to work through our weakness when God could just let us use our strength. We might even be tempted to ask why (why, God, why this? why me? WHY??????), as if we were receiving a punishment rather than [what will lead to] a blessing.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).

So, dear friends, as we turn the final pages on 2012, if you have been finding yourself somehow pushed into operating out of your weakness, would you consider this possibility as we head into 2013: it could actually be that in this pain and stretching, God is at work to bring about a good result… Won’t you join Him?

9 responses to “Covering The Stronger Eye”

  2. I’m so glad you caught it so early for her eyes. My daughter and I both had this condition and we didn’t “catch” either one in time to correct the vision. Although we did try the patches, etc for her, she was too old to correct. I know how hard it is to wear the patch but it will be so worth it! Thanks for reminding me to change my perspective to realize that God has His hand in everything and a reason for every little thing! And I’m so proud of you for paying attention to your kids and noticing when things just don’t seem right. And I will pray for best case scenario for Sissy but rest assured even if worst case scenario she will be just fine. Chelsea and I both function just fine even with sports, driving, etc. We just didn’t choose to be a pilot for our careers. 🙂

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  4. Thank you, Gina, for the reminders in this post and in the lego post. I’ll pray for Sissy’s eye process as God lays her on my heart.

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  5. I went through the same thing when I was a little girl. I am now 46. The patches I used to wear were beige colored. I really didn’t like wearing them at all, so my mom would draw cute little pictures on them and my doll would get the same patch for her eye. I finally had to have surgery to correct the muscle weakness. The correction lasted about 35 years and had to have it again. My eyes are perfectly straight. The only problem I had from my first surgery was that they didn’t do vision therapy back then, and I don’t have any depth perception at all and one eye is much stronger than the other. I have a tendency to shut one eye off and just look through the other.

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  7. Thank you for that beautiful word. God has been requiring my husband and me to operate out of our weaknesses this year, and I admit to feeling discouraged. Thank you so much for the encouragement and for the reminder that God does have good in mind for us! Blessings to you and yours for the new year!

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  8. My daughter, who is now 11, has the same thing. We caught it just after she turned three. She had glasses and did patching also. Once she learned to read the glasses were not strong enough to hold her eye straight while reading so now she has bifocals. For the past two years the Dr. has slowly been decreasing her bifocal so that soon she won’t need the glasses. Blessings to you and your family.

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