An Eye-Opening Year

Five years ago when Jesse started kindergarten it quickly became apparent to me that he had an immense problem, but what that problem was I didn’t know. Teaching him was like grasping at straws. As each year passed the more difficult it became for him. I had tried several times to find someone that could be of help to us but failed. I had started to think that perhaps it would be better for him to attend school, hoping we would find help that way. However, the pandemic started and everyone was forced into homeschooling and so I continued to do the same although realizing as each year passed he was getting further and further behind and more and more discouraged. Jesse’s behavior started to change for the worse, especially throughout our school day. I was at a loss as to what to do for him. Throughout these years I pleaded with the Lord for help. Isaiah 26:3 became a verse of comfort to me: “You will keep Him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.”

The 2022-2023 school year was the year the Lord answered my prayer. We came back to the United States for a furlough and found housing through a supporting church in Western Pennsylvania. I remember thinking that this was not where I had originally hoped to be. I had wanted to be near our home church because they are located in an area of the country known for its excellent medical care. In hindsight, I now see why the Lord brought us here. The Lord allowed me to hear through a pastor’s wife of a place that could possibly help our son because to her it sounded like he may have a visual perception difficulty. I’ll never forget the words of the director upon one of our first visits she said that they could help Jesse and that with their visual therapy, he would no longer have to suffer anymore.

“Suffer”, I had never thought of Jesse suffering but after seeing the end results of the visual therapy he received and the massive difference it has made in his life I can now understand what the director was referring to. He truly had been suffering all these years and did not know how to communicate it to me. Jesse attended visual therapy twice a week and as he improved his visual therapy sessions were brought down to once a week. Along with the therapy sessions he completed daily exercises from home. He has worked really hard since October last year and the Lord has blessed him for his efforts. He has met all of his goals and his eye muscles are now at the level of a ten-year-old whereas before they were at a five-year-old’s level. We are thrilled to be able to share with you that he has completed the visual therapy and that he is not suffering as he did before! Jesse has been given exercises to follow from home and in six months he will be evaluated to see how he has been able to maintain the strength of his eye muscles. Please continue to keep him in your prayers.

Home Eye Exercises

The Lord also brought us to an elementary public school and a team of teachers who have patiently and diligently worked with Jesse throughout this school year. He has not caught up completely with the educational side of things, but he has made leaps and bounds toward this goal well enough that he was promoted to the next grade!

The little boy we once knew, smiling and laid back, is starting to emerge… only the Lord can do something like this! 

Last Day of Eye Therapy 

“Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.” Psalm 37:3-5