So that God might be displayed...

Shanell and I have become friends in the past several months over stories and mop buckets. She is a beautiful, feisty mama with 9 kids that come in and out of her house, 4 of which are hers. On top of that, she has been helping out with the maintenance of the school while another employee is not able. To say the least, she is a busy woman.

Every morning I hear the usual "hello sugar" greeting as she passes my window. Last week she was exceptionally excited, so I inquired as to why. Her and her husband were invited to a medical facility that helps kids with glasses. Two of her husband's girls needed glasses, so they made it a family event and all went. Her oldest son, Dean is 16 years old and was born with no sight in one eye and impaired vision in the other. His eyes are both lazy and, as you can imagine high school kids are very unforgiving.

While they were there waiting their turn, the camera crew from News 4 was setting up to capture the other children as they received their new glasses. They asked if Dean would sit in the seat to get the lighting right since the rest of the children were engaged with other doctors. A doctor happened to catch Dean out of the corner of his eye and call him over. Before they knew what was happening, the doctor said to Shanell, "I want to help Dean." Come to find out, this doctor has been correcting eyes for over 40 years and Dean's condition is his specialty!

Tears blurred Shanell's vision as she raised her hands in the air and said, "God's gonna heal my baby!" As we talked, she told how she took him to doctors, clinics, healing services and preachers... but everyone said nothing could be done. Many people told her that Dean had this because he was born out of wedlock or that she had commited some sin.

It brought to my mind the story of the blind man where the disciples asked: "Who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?" Jesus' response: "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life." God took one doctor on one specific day to restore one 16-year-old boy's eyes so that GOD might be displayed in his life!

The surgery took place on Thursday and couldn't have gone smoother. Today, he has returned to school, eyes no longer lazy, vision restored in one eye and able to see lights and blurry images out of the other. Shanell told me today how perfect God's timing is. "He will be 17 in September. Once a child is 17, they can no longer do this type of surgery because the brain is fixed. Jesus knew the exact day and time he wanted to heal my baby."

Tears crept into my eyes as I rejoiced with my friend over the healing of her son and the goodness of our Father.