Link to Ted Edwards Home Page
We sincerely thank you, our church family, for the great outpouring of love
that you have showered upon us since my recent eye surgery. You have
encouraged us with your cards, phone calls, visits, and meals.
Having had congenital cataracts, I've learned to cope with sight
disabilities my entire life. Those of you who've had cataracts know how your
vision can become fuzzy and distorted. Years ago, I had the cataracts
removed from both eyes and then later had surgery for the removal of
secondary cataracts. But I have never experienced anything like this
before.
It happened really quite unexpectedly. Within a 24-hour period on the
weekend of September 22-23, my vision went from being able to see 20/25 to
total blindness. I have never experienced a detached retina before. In fact,
in my 40 years of life I do not even recall talking with anyone about what a
detached retina is or how it affects your eyesight.
Today, I know what it feels like to have your eyes open and yet see only
total darkness. This is the blackest darkness that I've ever experienced.
It's amazing how we take for granted such a tiny organ. So much information
comes into our brains from such a blessed part of our body. I thought about
all the beautiful sunsets that I've ever seen, the many hues and shades of
colors that the Lord paints in the sky on those special evenings. Even more
importantly, I began to see the faces of my family and friends in my mind's
eye. And I wondered to myself, "Will I ever be able to see their face again
or will I have to rely on the memory of my mind's eye?"
I then began to think about the words from a song that we all know. Amazing
grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but
now I'm found, was blind but now I see. As I sang that song it dawned on
me the vast difference between our physical eyesight and our spiritual
eyesight: A person can lose their physical eyesight and still spend
eternity in heaven if their spiritual eyesight is focused on Jesus. But what
would it profit a man if he had 20/20 eyesight physically and was
spiritually blind?
So this last week, I've been praying for the Lord to restore my physical
eyesight. (The surgeons say that I'll regain about 80% within the next 12
months.) But even more importantly, I've been praying for the Lord to give
me 20/20 spiritual eyesight.
Think about it -- 20, 40, or 60 years from now ... which set of eyes will be
more important to you? ... Your physical or your spiritual eyes?
We are extremely grateful to be a part of such a warm, loving family like
West-Ark. I appreciate the fact that many of you have asked what you can do
for our family. Right now I believe that the most important thing you can do
is pray for us. Pray that the spiritual eyes of our heart will be open to
see clearly what the Lord is trying to teach us at this time.
See you in Bible Class!
Link to Ted Edwards Home Page