#IDontLookBlind

I recently joined a couple of retinitis pigmentosa support groups on Facebook. People with RP are sharing their stories and experiences and encouraging us to embrace this part of our lives. Nobody plans to have a disorder, and it can be difficult to cope with for many reasons, but it helps to know that we’re not alone in this.

Joining groups never really occurred to me because I believed — and still believe — that God can restore my vision, or at the very least stop it from progressing beyond what I experience now. It’s what I pray for often, what I know God is capable of doing, so I just don’t give much thought to RP throughout my day. But one thing happened recently that led to my search for support groups: My genetic testing for Luxturna came back negative.

I guess a part of me wanted Luxturna to be the solution to my RP. I had the genetic testing back in the summer, and I wanted to be in the small percentage that is eligible for the treatment. I wanted God to work a miracle through medicine, but Luxturna is not the answer for me. That’s what I found out a few weeks ago at my yearly appointment with my retina specialist.

It was discouraging news, but I’m thankful that researchers are working on treatments for this rare disorder. This is just the first one. One day, the FDA may approve a treatment that will help me, but for now, I’ll keep praying and waiting. Because here’s what I know: It’s no more difficult for God to restore my vision on His own than with treatment. He doesn’t need the help of therapy to do it.

And if He decides not to? He’s still a good God with good plans.

People have commented to me about my faith in dealing with RP, and I have to laugh a little because I feel like on the faith scale, mine is the lowest. Learning to be OK with the eyes God gave me has been a process, and during the frustrating days, I just repeat to myself the truths of God’s Word and rest in the comfort that nothing can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus my Lord (Romans 8). I can’t help but have joy in all things because God’s great love is with me through it all.

So what does all that have to do with joining support groups? In the past few weeks — since the negative results — I realized something I hadn’t considered while I was working through this part of my journey. God may have given me RP as a gift, as a way to reach more people with the story of His great love.

I’ve used this part of my story as a testimony to God’s faithfulness to those in my immediate circles, but by breaking my eyes, God placed me in a very unique circle of people who need the hope of Christ, too. He placed me in the RP world to share my faith story with people who are suffering and who desperately need hope and joy. I don’t believe God allows these kinds of things in our lives to keep them quiet. I believe He allows them so that we can relate to and minister to people outside our everyday lives.

God uses Christians with RP, too. He needs people who are willing to minister in a dark world, literally, and I get to be one of them.

When I chose to follow Christ, I sacrificed all of me, so this life isn’t mine to live. If God wants me to be in the RP circle, then I’m going to do my very best to show Jesus there. And if one person finds hope in Christ as a result of my testimony, I’ll celebrate and thank God for the gift that RP is.

In the groups, people are sharing their stories with the hashtag #IDontLookBlind. If you see that hashtag used anywhere, stop and read the story. Encourage them, pray for them, and let them know that they’re supported. It’s a dark world out there, and we can all share a little light.