“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “if the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” James 4:13-15 TPT

We surely don’t know what tomorrow will bring . . .

On December 14th, 2023, I played Scrabble© with my mom. It was just an ordinary day or so I thought. However, I went to bed that night feeling totally fine, but woke up blind. It was such a shock! I could see absolutely nothing out of my right eye and only a little bit of light and shadow with my left; but the Lord is so good, and this didn’t surprise Him at all. He knows everything that’s going to happen to you ‘tomorrow’.

A couple of weeks before that it had been strong on my heart to enter into the rest of God, resting in His completed work. In advance provision, He had prepared my heart–for my heart to trust.

When a crisis happens, the first words out of our mouths are critical. . .

as is every single word you say thereafter about the subject.

You can’t say you have faith one moment, but speak unbelief the next. In other words, if your words are not lining up with the faith you say you have, then you are not truly in faith. You might think you are, but you can’t be expecting one result if you are speaking another.

The Lord knew this blindness was coming and His preparation to fill my heart with trust gave me the gift of faith and no fear. Right in that critical moment, I couldn’t see with my eyes but my mouth could speak;  I spoke out loud, “This blindness will not remain, my eyes will see!”

“For the overflow of what has been stored in your heart will be seen by your fruit and will be heard in your words.” Luke 6:45b TPT

Immediately after speaking that, I got an inkling of vision in my left eye. It took many attempts but I managed to maneuver through my phone to call my prayer partner. It was like punching around in a closet. I was grateful to have her in speed dial, because I could recognize the color that went with her name. As we prayed, more vision came in that left eye, enabling me to call my eye doctor. They got me in right away.

I had had a laser on my right eye, to lower the pressure of glaucoma, just 4 days before. One would think this was all stemming from this but I only had it in one eye and both eyes were affected. They tested my eyes and I couldn’t even see the great big E with my right eye, it just wasn’t even there. My left eye could see black, but it was a blur, so I consider it a miracle that I was able to call those two numbers. I had prayed a couple weeks prior to this and asked the Lord to get me off glaucoma drops. My prayer all along has been for my healing of glaucoma to fully manifest. This has been a progressive journey. I have regained peripheral vision (twice) that my doc said was impossible. I told her that nothing is impossible with God and the tests have proven it. Now, she immediately took me off one of the glaucoma drops, that was the strongest, the one she figured was the culprit, and put me on steroid drops and ointment. Thus began a whirlwind of doctor appointments every 4-5 days and a cornea specialist was brought into the mix. He took me off the other glaucoma drop in the right eye as well and prescribed a milder steroid and a different ointment.

In the midst of this drama . . .

I went for a scheduled dental appointment. I would have liked to have canceled but it is so hard to get in. Praise God for my friend that waited patiently for me. I have been believing for my tooth to heal for 2 1/2 years. They wanted to do a root canal and crown. The x-ray showed the root had shrunk up and was blunt. It hurt terribly but I refused. I stood in faith for the root to re-grow and be rooted as normal. The first year I couldn’t eat on that side at all. Even soft foods made the tooth throb. Second year, occasional soft foods, but it still pained so I stayed away from it. They tried to do another x-ray midway but their machine malfunctioned and they had to skip it. The last 6 months I have been able to eat on that side, even really hard stuff with no pain at all. They took another x-ray on this visit and it showed the root, re-grown, seated, and totally normal. The dentist made no comment, but started to poke, prod and tap hard on that tooth and the two on either side. She kept saying, “Does that hurt?” “Does that hurt?” No, no, NO. There were also three teeth they wanted to fill above the teeth, where gums had receded. I said no and have believed for the gums to come back down. Now she only finds one that “troubles” her. “The other two I’m not concerned with.” she said. “I still want to fill the third one.” No, no, NO!

My eyes improved with every visit, but it was one visit in particular that there could be no explanation but a miracle from God. In 4 days time my right eye went from seeing 20/90 to 20/40 and my left eye went from seeing 20/80 to 20/12.5. I had never heard of 20/12.5 but this is what they termed seeing two lines better than 20/15, whereas 20/20 is perfect vision! In that same 4-day period, my pressure went from 22 and 26 to 12 and 15. The miracle of that is that my left eye had a detached retina years ago. It not only detached, but the surgeon said my retina had shattered and it was a very difficult surgery. He was ecstatic that I came to see 20/25 after it healed, which I praise God for, and the expertise of that surgeon, but it didn’t stop there. That eye also underwent laser to bring the pressure down and when that didn’t work, a Trabeculectomy; surgery to create a mesh-like pathway for the eye to drain fluid. A pressure reading in that eye of 12 was only seen briefly after that surgery and then it started to climb once again. Even with those strong drops and two different kinds, continuously, she couldn’t get it below 22 anymore. Now, with the strongest drop taken away, the pressure is 12.

Praise Jesus!

So this incredible vision in my left eye enabled me to return to work. I knew it was going to be hard, but I wasn’t prepaing for just how hard. Both days were super busy, and though I could see really well up close, anything beyond a few feet was a blur. I could know people, from memory and of their shape but their faces were a blur. I didn’t realize how much I read lips when it’s too noisy to hear. Keeping up with the stamina required of the job and the constant struggle to see, absolutely exhausted me; and by the end of the second day I was fighting tears.

The 3rd day was a milder day and though it was still hard to see, I was enjoying the calm and my wonderful co-working family. I love my job!

But, this is the exciting part. . .

At 8:20pm, suddenly, I could see a co-workers face from about 8 feet away!!! It was still a lil blurry, but I could make out his features and see expressions. Wow! I was like a kid again, looking around, everywhere, to see what I could see. Later I realized that 8:20pm is 2020 military time, which is what we go by at work and 20/20 is perfect vision!

I take that as a confirmation, because ‘perfect’ hasn’t manifested yet, but it’s coming!

Exuberant with my newly-minted sight, my son took me grocery shopping. I have not yet attempted to drive; my work takes me into the dark, and the lights when driving at night are quite the distraction. There was a snow storm predicted, so every store was packed out. The noise, people, shapes, colors and florescent lights was just too much for my brain to cope with. I went home traumatized, exhausted, slept fitfully, and I woke up with a splitting headache. I have come to realize that with every new level of vision, my brain has to re-calibrate and learn how to see with that particular vision, because the two eyes are not in sync with each other. I would have thought this would be easy, because I have done mono-vision for years but it seems to be different with an eye that is trying to heal.

So, here we are. It was a very long story to tell you that I have learned to rest in Him. I fully expect my total healing to come. My right eye has already had a miracle as well, for before the blindness, my eyes were off the charts; worse than 20/400 I was told, but correctable. Now, after my suddenly, at 2020 the other night, I expect I am seeing 20/25 in that eye without correction! Glory to God!!

Which reminds me . . .

You didn’t know this, but remember Nicholas? He is the prisoner I wrote about in another post, “Genuine Fruit”. Nicholas is part of “Project Turn” a partnership with Duke University Grad School, Divinity Program. He was one of 6,000 inmates chosen to be in this program. They chose ten inmates to take classes side-by-side with ten Duke Grad students. He came up with the idea of an education class needed in the prison and was given the go-ahead to help develop it. They have asked to use my books for the class, as mandatory reading. Glory to God! Well, that class started that night that I had the sudden vision. It wouldn’t surprise me if he had asked those men to pray for me that night. He knows of the issue I’m having. Wouldn’t that just be incredibly wonderful for them to see a miracle happen as a direct answer to their prayers! Will you join them and believe for a miracle? I want to see perfectly and no more glaucoma–at all!

Thank you for your prayers!

A special thank you to my dad, my son, and my friend Jamie for their incredible patience in hauling me around to appointments, waiting through them, and running me around for prescriptions. Thank you so very much!

No one is an island. We need each other!

God Bless You Reader,

Lori J. O’Neil