I once was blind but now I see

We grew up the best of friends. Cousins by birth, sisters by heart. Although our homes were separated by thousands of kilometres, it didn’t matter. Each time we were reunited, it was as if we had never been apart. No one knows me like my cousin Erin does.

But our differences also significantly defined us and often had us questioning each other in a bid to understand where the other one was coming from. Especially as we grew into young adults. I was the dreamer and the romantic. Erin was the realist and activist. I loved romantic movies, she loved musicals. She loved news and politics, I loved the entertainment news. I went to uni and studied business, whilst Erin went to uni and studied politics and religion.

These differences also spilt out into our Christian faith and walk. Both of us are very strong Christians so our desire to live for Jesus was our strongest bond. What I couldn’t connect with Erin about was her passion for social justice, her fight for the poor and her missional heart. Don’t get me wrong – I admired her immensely for her passion and advocacy. But it didn’t interest me. I believed God had called me to minister in other areas that I was passionate about and that was different to Erin’s calling.

I believed this – up until 2 years ago. In 2011, I applied for a job with World Vision as Regional Relationships Coordinator - and I was successful. This excited me. For different reasons than you may be thinking. Firstly, I was excited I was working for a Christian organization but I was mostly excited that 10 years after graduating from my Human Resource Management degree, I was finally able to use it! And of course, when I told all my friends and family, Erin was the one who was the most excited for me. And so began a new season of God teaching me.

What I have learned in this past two years has changed my heart and my idea of what Christ calls us to as his followers. Working for World Vision opened my eyes up to a world I never realized existed. A world that needs our help. We are citizens of an entire globe and when Jesus call us to love our neighbours, he means the poor hardworking farmers in Ethiopia, as well as the people who live next to us.

Isaiah 58 tells us that if we spend ourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed then our light will rise in the darkness and our night will become like the noonday.

My blindness to God’s people and their need for justice has been lifted. The light has shone in – the light of Christ’s love for his people – into my heart. And now I want to shine that light stronger than ever before.

Sadly, today is my last day with World Vision. I have had to leave this beautiful organization for personal reasons, but I am so grateful. I am grateful for the people of this organization who work tirelessly to help bring sustainable change in the lives of the poor. I am grateful to the people who partner and support World Vision, giving out of themselves to help others. I am grateful to Erin who is an inspirational example of what it is to have a missional heart and passion for justice. And I am grateful to God for opening my eyes and lifting my blindness and for breaking my heart for the things that break His – so I can love his people.

Keeping your eye on the blue line

She was looking at me as if I shouldn't be there.

I had asked her to share her lane with me, as every other lane was taken, and she declined. I was there to do laps in the pool just as she was, but she didn't want to share.

Now I was swimming two lanes down from her in another lane that some lovely person had agreed to share with me and out of the corner of my eye, I could see her watching me and it was a clear message - this was her territory and she was not impressed by me.

"How can I do this?" I thought. After a pretty stressful couple of months, the doctor had told me that swimming was great for stress. So here I was - trying to release some stress and enjoy my time in the pool before picking up the kids from school and all I could feel was the awkwardness of someone disdainfully staring at me. Not only that, but there were three teenage boys in another lane who were making their colourful language heard throughout the pool complex.

I am never coming back here. I knew this wouldn't work. I hate this. ....These were the thoughts going through my mind. Not exactly the thoughts I wanted to be thinking during some time out!

But as I continued to push and move through the water, I started to focus on the blue line at the bottom of the pool. I focused on my arm strokes, my kicking, my breathing..and on the blue line. Suddenly I realized all noise was a complete muffle and I was no longer aware of other people watching me and what they might think of me...it was as if it was just me and the water and the blue line.

And then I saw it!!! As I followed the blue line down the pool, it led me to the deep end....and painted on the wall at the deep end for me to see my goal was a black cross.

You see, when I stopped focusing on the noise and the looks and the opinions of others, I could swim lap after lap after lap - and I enjoyed it. I began to feel my mind relax and my body got into a rhythm and I could feel the stress melt away as I focused on the path that was my blue line and the cross that was set before me.
The word of God says:

"Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you." Proverbs 4:24

"Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,  fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. " Hebrews 12:1-2

It is so easy to get caught up in the noise of the world and the opinions of others. But..if we throw off these things that entangle us and tie us down and persevere to follow the path set before us -  our body and soul fall in rhythm with the Spirit and our minds relax as all things become muffled by our eyes fixed on our Saviour.

I am going back to the pool. I am ready to persevere again. I am ready to drown out the world around me and keep my eyes fixed on the blue line.