Meeting Desiree

When my life changed from corporate executive to Christian author, it not only had a profound effect, but a personal one as well. This path has not always been easy, but the people that I’ve met along the way have made it so rewarding.
When you decide that you’re going to publicly proclaim your faith and share your story with others, be prepared that many in the world will not want to hear it, even those whom you called family and friends. Many of Jesus’ disciples abandoned Him throughout His ministry and Jesus warned those who remained that the world will turn against you because of Me and the Gospel. At one point, I wondered if I would have any friends left at all, although I’m deeply grateful for the few who have remained by my side. However, I remain committed and have prayed for God to remove those who would hinder me from doing His Will and open my heart to those who live in His light.

That’s when God introduced me to Desiree.

Before knowing Jesus Christ intimately, I shamefully must admit that I would have come up with a hundred excuses why I couldn’t be a friend to Desiree. I’ve lived most of my life blind, not physically but spiritually. I could only see people from a human perspective and not through the eyes of Christ.
Desiree relies on a wheel chair to get around. Her wheel chair would have been my excuse for never taking her out to lunch. Desiree also has a speech impairment, which would have been another excuse to limit our conversation to a simple hello. Desiree has limited muscle coordination, which would have been another excuse for me not to become close to her.
The list of excuses could have been endless due to my spiritual blindness. Yet God sees His children differently than we see each other, or even ourselves. God sees Desiree as a divine instrument to be used as a reflection of His light and love. When my eyes became spiritually opened, I saw myself from God's perspective. It became crystal clear that I was the one who was disabled in God’s eyes, not Desiree.
God has graciously placed Desiree in my life so that I could witness someone who lives their life to please God and not the world. This is a lesson we should all embrace. The Bible teaches us to be imitators of God, not man. Desiree is an imitation of God, whereas I have been an imitation of the world.
How often in the Bible do we read about God using the weak to humble the strong? Jesus himself said He came into the world not to be served, but to serve others and to give up His life as ransom for many.

“But many who seem important now will be the least important then, and those who are considered least here will be the greatest then.”
(Mark 10:31)

May we all learn to see through the eyes of the Holy Spirit, and not live in spiritual blindness, seeing others solely with our eyes and not our hearts. When we do this, we may discover someone whom the world overlooks, but whom God uses to open our hearts and be more like Christ. Thank you Desiree for loving me despite my disabilities.