Seeing Through the Eye(glasse)s of Christ

Something that I have wanted to do for a long time was to be involved in medical missions, but I didn’t think I would ever get the chance because I don’t have a medical degree-and don’t plan on getting one anytime soon. When I heard about a medical team coming from Florida to Nicaragua at the same time we would be there I jumped at the opportunity. They said they would need help even from people that didn’t work in the medical profession. So off I went with team seveneleven to Granada, Nicaragua.

 

Before each day the whole team; us, the medical team, and the staff from the church, would pray and invite God’s presence into the clinic, and ask for His guiding hand over the day. We worked as a unit. Even though we were placed in different areas, we were all there for one main purpose, and we were all one body in Christ. Each person worked in their unique way, and each position was there to help the other. One part of the body can not say to another part, ‘I don’t need you’, because we all need each other to function correctly.

 

 

The way the clinic was set up was one half was the medical side, and the other half was the optical side. On the medical side they had blood pressure and blood tests for blood sugar and anemia. After the patients got tested they would go see the doctor for an exam. After they saw the doctor they would go to the pharmacy to get basic medications and vitamins. On the other side of the clinic the patients would get their eyes tested to see if they needed reading glasses. This is the area I helped out with.
 

 

 I have prayed all year that the Lord would allow me to see miracles in the lives of His children around the world. God truly performed miracles in the lives of these people at the clinic. Most of the patients that came through the eye clinic were from ages about 40 and up. Some were younger, but most of them were in this age range. Before they came to the clinic they had gone through a large part of thier lives not being able to see clearly close up and far away. Person after person would come and sit down in front of a piece of paper with lines of different sized numbers printed on it. Through translation, we would ask them to read the lines of numbers out loud to us. Most of them not able to even see the larger numbers on the page. They would look defeated and embarassed, because of their lack of ability to see. As we handed them a trial pair of reading glasses, and asked them to read the lines with the glasses on it was as if their whole world changed! They could see!! A huge smile would form across their face, and some would praise the Lord for their new sight! Who would have thought that one pair of reading glasses could turn someone’s world upside down? Praise Jesus!! Then after they were tested for the correct prescription they would come over to me so they could pick out a pair of glasses that they liked. This is what I got to witness over and over, and be a part of, for a whole week! It was amazing seeing person after person dicovering the gift and miracle of sight given to them from God. There is nothing more powerful than seeing God’s love and healing hand placed over His children. These people were truly experiencing God.

 

Testing people’s vision

 

Picking out glasses

 

After they went through the clinic, before they left, there was a prayer team by the exit door. Each person that came through got prayed for. This was the most important and impactful part of the whole clinic. Several people each day came to know Jesus as their Savior! The prayer team consisted of many amazing teenagers from the youth group, and a few of our team members. Hearing the youth pray for these people was so amazing and powerful. The Holy Spirit was most definitely present throughout the whole week.