My brother, Jim, suffered from depression on and off for most of his life. When the clouds gathered around his eyes, no light could be seen in him and no light was allowed in. Even those he loved the most could not reach him during these dark days of depression. There were times he did not want to live and he attempted suicide three times over the span of thirty years.
Not only did my brother suffer the depths of depression, he also lost his eyesight gradually. Over the last fifteen years of his life his body lost muscular control due to a Parkinson-like disease beginning in his toes and very slowly working its way up to his upper body, finally affecting his speech and swallowing.
Jim could not imagine God in this world of his. But the Good Shepherd was searching for my brother, just as He continues to search for all of His lost sheep. A short time after my brother entered a nursing home to live out his days, “coincidentally” or, perhaps, “miraculously” events and people surrounded him.
A woman my brother had befriended decades earlier when she was accidentally shot and paralyzed recognized his name on a Metro Mobility bus. They had not seen each other in twenty years. It “just so happened” she lived a few short blocks from the nursing home. She began to visit Jim, motoring down the avenues in her wheelchair to visit with a Bible in her hand.
Jim connected with a motorcycle-riding chaplain and one day during a hymn sing at the home, he broke down in tears; tears that had not been shed in years, if ever. And when his wife and I and one of our aunts stopped by to see him on, what happened to be, his wife’s birthday, he told us.
“I have found Jesus. I am born again!”
None of us will forget that day. The veil was lifted from his eyes never to be seen again. The last three years of his life were spent in physical agony, but inwardly, he was filled with a countenance of peace we had never witnessed in him.
Yes, Jesus does perform miracles. My brother’s body and sight were not healed in this lifetime, but his spiritual eyes were opened and he experienced pure joy for the first time in his life. He began to focus on the things above, the eternal home of heaven and the loving kindness of a Lord who forgave him and loved him enough to die for him.
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary and what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:18
Yes, my brother lost almost everything the world holds most dear, but he gained his soul. He was blind, but his spiritual eyes were opened. And I picture him now, leaping for joy in the arms of the one who found him
Lord,
Your amazing grace finds us and opens our spiritual eyes to truth and peace. Thank You for the hope my brother found in You and we await the day we will all be together again.
Amen
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