Sonrise Magazine

By Jenny Anderson

Knit Together – Psalms 139:13-14 By Amy J Heath Acrylic Paint

Who Am I

Why am I me?  I was born into this world as an infant like everyone is, so what makes me unique from everyone else born in this world?  Why is it that the bible says that not only I am wonderfully and fearfully made, and that God knew me while still in my mother’s womb, Psalm 139:13.

It is the mystery of life that, according to God’s Word, we are each uniquely fearfully and wonderfully created for the purpose of  God’s Kingdom. 

In my case, I went blind at the age of 33, and for 30 years the specialists were calling it a freak accident of nature.  It was very recent that they finally narrowed my condition down to Stargardst Macular Degeneration.  This means I was born with it, and yet it did not show up as a defect.  I was 33.  If my mom had known I was going to go blind from a genetic condition that runs in the family somewhere, it would have broken her heart.  Conditions like this can cause a mother, or a couple, to seek to end the pregnancy., however, I can honestly say that she would have continued with it. 

Knowing now that I was born with a genetic factor, it grieves me to know that there are many out in the world discussing abortion blind to the understanding/fact/reality to the wonderful creation inside of them.

What makes us who we are?  As I have been studying at Seattle Bible College, as well as some doctor appointments that have been very educational, I have learned a lot about what makes the body work the way it does.  Even the small organ of the eye has many working parts that allows it to work the way it does.  The small organ of the eye is not a mistake of some chemical exchange, but had to have had a creator, and the creator was and is most ingenious.

Or consider the way our speech is transmitted from the mouth, I learned in one appointment that, from the brain, when someone has a speech problem, a Neurologist knows exactly where to look in the brain for the cause of the problem.  The fact that I can use my nerve endings in my fingers and the rest of my body to transmit the information to the brain, an invention that only the most intelligent creator would have been able to design.  As a blind person, I can use my sense of feel to tell me what is going on around me.  Even my hearing is a part of that.  Once one sense is lost, one becomes most reliant on the senses that are left, and that includes my hearing.  I have learned over the years to identify sounds in my world that most people would not even pay any attention to. 

Despite my visual loss, I can carry on most normal functions by using my other senses or by adaptive technology that makes up for the loss of sight.

So once again, I ask the question who am I?  God made me for a reason, for the purpose of his kingdom, even with the flaw of loss of sight.  In  I Corinthians 12:27,  Paul talks about each member being needed in the body of Christ, and I or any other is not the exception to this rule.  We all have a part to play in the Kingdom of God, but we must trust him with our flaws and yes, genetic disorders, and know that His purpose for our lives will be revealed in time if we stay obedient in our walk and our faith remains intact.