Last Sunday afternoon, after church, I was walking to the mall with my group when I was abruptly interrupted by a small black bug that thought it would be fun to fly into my eye and either sting or bite my eye. It hurt but I did as my momma taught me and pulled myself up by my bootstraps and went on with my day.
Now comes Monday morning, my eye was swollen and red and I had fuzzy and blackened vision. I didn’t want to miss ministry so I brushed it off and continued on my day like normal.
I got to ministry and made it about an hour through the day. My vision had worsened and I had obtained a headache and felt very dizzy. I called my leaders and we went to the hospital. We spent about 3 hours waiting to see the right doctor and when I finally met with the “specialist” she dilated my eye, took a look, and sent me away with some cream for the swelling and instructions to get an exam done and come back.
I started using the cream and saw an improvement in the swelling and redness by the next day, but my vision was still very off. I went to my exam and got pictures of my eye taken and then once again went back to the hospital to meet with the specialist again.
I entered the room and gave her the exam results. she looked at them and then did some more usual eye testing. She sat me down with the pictures and pointed to a small enlargement in my eye and told me I needed to come back again to see a different specialist, so I did just that.
So now it’s Wednesday. I woke up late and had to rush to get ready. I had to leave by 6:50AM to make it to my 7:30AM appointment. While rushing around my head starts spinning and I stumble while I’m in the shower. Thankfully I caught myself.
We get to the hospital and see the specialist. He glances at my pictures, looks at my eyes, then glances at the examination photos again. He turns to me and tells me I’m perfectly fine and that I’m good to go. In shock, I ask him why my vision is so blurry. He shrugs and gives me some eye drops telling me they might help and to come back in a week if they don’t.
At this point I’m frustrated, in pain, and really upset that I’ve been missing ministry. My head has a pounding headache and my blurry vision makes me dizzy but I agree to do as he has said and head home. I get home and just lay low for the rest of the day.
Finally! Thursday is here and I don’t have an appointment and I can go to ministry. I wake up excited but as I try to focus my eyes before getting out of bed I come to realize my vision is so out of focus and blurry that it would be dangerous to move. So I stayed still until I gained control of my vision. I collected myself, got up, and went on with my day, and boy, am I glad I did!
I got to ministry and after 3 days of being gone, I got such a warm welcoming back. My day was filled with hugs and smiles and wishes of getting better. I was finally able to be around my team and around the campers of Camp Hope. I spent the majority of my day loving on one kid who I have connected so well with. He was in a good mood all day! Seeing his smile made me feel so much better and gave me the energy to power through the hard time.
God has blessed me with such an amazing opportunity and has given me such an amazing place to be. With my team, I feel at home and I feel the love I feel with my family at home. With Camp Hope, I feel such a calling to be there. Working alongside the nurses and working with the campers, I have never felt such joy being in someplace new. I was so scared for what this place might hold but there is not a moment II regret or would change. I am right where god wants me and I can feel it.
Now, it has been exactly one week since the bug had its laugh, but now I get to laugh, because my vision is getting back to normal, and even with the impaired vision, I saw something I hadn’t been able to see before. I got to see the real impact of what just one person can do. An individual may not be able to change the world, but they could change an individuals life.
