Visual Journey

Hey Friends,

This is Odie reporting in today. I hope you are doing great this weekend. Can you believe that we are speeding through April 2021? Time seems to be flying by faster with each passing day.

Seven years ago this month, in the blink of an eye, my life suddenly changed. If you are a new reader click here to see the full story. It was an extremely terrifying time.

Many of you remember that time in our lives. You helped pray me and my parents through that season. I will forever be grateful to all my brothers and sisters in the army of God! You rallied around my family and went to war on our behalf! 

The prayers and support worked! We came out victorious and I do not want to lose sight of that victory! Reflecting on what God has done for me with my vision caused me to look back at the big picture of my journey.

Visual Journey
Here is a brief recap of my vision history. My first visit to an eye doctor was back in 1999. The doctor prescribed reading glasses. Once I had my reading glasses I  found that they were extremely helpful. 

I no longer had headaches every day after school. Turns out all of the headaches were not Algebra or Science related like I had thought. My reading glasses saw me through both junior high and high school and into my twenty's.

By 2006 I realized that I was wearing my glasses most of the time. I could feel my eyes straining without them. I decided it was time to get my eyes checked again. 

I made an appointment with an eye doctor in Pittsburg, Kansas. That doctor gave me the expected eye exam. Then he also expressed some serious concerns that worried him. He encouraged me to find an Ophthalmologist and have some specific testing done. 

That was the beginning of my in-depth eye journey. The concerns that the doctor in Kansas voiced really worried me. Our precious friends at Faith Tabernacle in Weir, Kansas prayed for me that night. I remember that God visited me with a special blessing during the revival service.

A few months later we were home and it was time to get the tests done.  We spent many hours at the eye doctor as they performed a series of tests.

The conclusion: My eye pressures were high and my optic nerves are misshapen. I was given the title of a Glaucoma Suspect at just twenty years old. They decided to just keep checking routinely and watch for changes. The doctor said that the anomalies in my eyes might be Cerebral Palsy related and might not give me any problems.

Eye doctor checkups became normal for me every time we were home. Thankfully things stayed the same. My prescriptions would change from time to time, but nothing dramatic happened.

Then in April 2014, my life changed! I woke up on a Sunday morning to find my vision was gone in my left eye. I felt like I had a massive black smudge over my eye. Suddenly we were navigating uncharted waters. We were trying not to drown in worry and fear. 

Why had my vision suddenly left? Was this because of the other issues the doctors were watching? Could my vision loss be corrected? Was I going to be completely blind? Would I now have to navigate life blind and physically handicapped? Those were just a few of my questions and it was so hard to find the answers.

Every moment that we walked this unknown road we prayed and believed for a miracle from God. On the ninth day, God began to answer those prayers. My vision began to return! It was a real miracle! Within a few months, my sight was better than it had been before it left! 

I want to stress that to you. My vision is better in both eyes now than it was before I had the period of blindness! Hallelujah!

During my time of vision loss, I prayed for God to heal me and or direct me to the correct doctors that I need. I can honestly say God answered both of those prayers.

The doctors diagnosed me with Optic Neuritis, which is where the Optic Nerve is inflamed. Optic Neuritis is a strange ailment. It is hard to pinpoint the actual cause and impossible to prevent it from happening again. There is not a promise that vision will return after Optic Neuritis, most likely never fully return. Praise God I am completely better!

The Optic Neuritis does not seem to be connected to the existing issues. The Glaucoma Suspect worries are probably linked to trauma at birth or Cerebral Palsy. 

We personally say that my sudden vision loss in 2014 was an attack from the enemy. We rebuked the enemy from attacking my life while praying with a friend, and we pled the blood of Jesus over me. My vision instantly started to return.

I have continued to routinely have checkups with my fantastic eye doctors. I am blessed to have Dr. Amy Kopp on my team. She is genuinely concerned about my vision health. She is not afraid to say that God has worked a miracle in my case.

Last month I went in for a checkup with Dr. Kopp. They did the routine vision checks. My prescription changed slightly. My eye pressures were perfect. The pictures of my optic nerves were unchanged. We will continue to monitor things with the checkups.

All of the periodic tests are normal to me now. I do always have a knot in the pit of my stomach when I go for these visits. Getting the good news helped me tremendously. I value my sight. I thank God every day that I wake to find my vision to be clear!

Thanks for coming on this visual journey down memory lane today. I am always grateful that you take the time to read my post. See you next time!

Odie