PERSPECTIVE & EYE UPDATE

Perspective: "seeing all the relevant data in a meaningful relationship"

Life is so often a matter of perspective...it is my prayer that the Holy Spirit helps me to refine my perspective from relationship with self to relationship with my Maker. I know the Lord to be a sovereign Lord (having supreme authority over everything) and yet I often allow myself to question details. It is not often the large picture that I question, but in the smaller details, I harbor a weakness in which Satan creeps in and hangs out.

Our sweet Bereket obtained a new specialist for his eye yesterday - a plastics & prosthetics physician at Kellogg Eye Center, Dr. Gregg Doots (a wonderfully patient & kind man with 31 years of experience in his field of expertise who sat & talked to me for 60 minutes as if he were an old friend). Our son Bereket came from Ethiopia to be part of our family with an eye that would require continuing specialized medical treatment for a lifetime - we live 45 minutes from one of the best pediatric eye care centers in the country (Kellogg Eye Center) & 50 minutes from of the most sought after pediatric retina specialists in the nation (Dr. Trese - Beaumont). God's perspective is in the details.

Bereket did not receive medical attention for his eye in Ethiopia until he was about 6 months old and by this time, his eye was bulging from the socket due to excessive pressure in the eye. He had a surgery around 6 months of unknown procedure and the pressure was slightly reduced until he came home. Watching his eye protrude from the socket in pictures left me wondering at times, 'Why can't we get him home sooner - he needs treatment...please Lord speed this up!' This is a result of internal perspective versus sovereign perspective.

Bereket's left eye only opens at 50% of the capacity of his right eye and is 20% smaller. He is blind in that eye, but it is also showing that it is incapable of growth. If it is left untreated, his eye musculature and bone structure will not progress and he will have a sunken eye socket and immature bone growth affecting the shape of his cheekbone and facial structure. He is being fitted for a prosthesis - sclero shell - that he wear over his natural eye that will help to hold his eye open and potentially stimulate muscle and bone growth. He will wear this prosthesis (only removing to clean) for as long as he is able to keep his natural eye (prayerfully a lifetime).

As I sat in the office yesterday and listened to the specialist reveal his findings from the evaluation, I was instantly convicted by the Holy Spirit that God is in the details - He is always in the details! It was a moment in time where I could hear everything, but at the same time I was in instant communion with the Lord, who created my Bereket and is not at all surprised by the findings and plan for today, because God is always in the details. It was a precious moment for me and left me feeling so humbled by His love, provision and protection of the son He created for us to love.

Bereket has the perfect eye for this prosthesis because his eye socket was stretched so far while not receiving treatment in Ethiopia. God was in the details...

The sclero shell that will be made for him needs to be thin and children with dreamy dark chocolate eyes are the perfect candidate for matching color from one eye to the other (the darker the better:0). God is in the details...

It is no surprise to God, the sovereign Lord, the Creator of Life that Bereket would be born with a birth defect that would leave him blind in his left eye. He could have created him with 2 perfect eyes, but He has a plan for Bereket's life that includes his treatment and limited vision. I praise the Lord for the details He leaves us to trust Him to and I peacefully wait to see how those details will affect other people for the Kingdom of God.

'Lord Jesus - thank for that we have communion with a God that is always in the details - that is the Maker of details and that is never surprised. Lord, help me to be less surprised and more humbled by your provision and perfection.'