Do You See What I See? Trust, Obedience & Truth

It is my pleasure to welcome today’s guest blogger, Amber Flores, to www.ChristianFreedom.life. A passionate pursuer of Christ with the gift of counseling all ages (children and adults), Amber holds a master’s degree in marriage and family therapy from Capella University and a bachelor’s in psychology from the University of Phoenix. She is currently working on her PsyD in Clinical Psychology with Capella University. Her treatment background includes experience working with a variety of diagnoses such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder and PTSD.

I believe the Lord will use this post to give you new perspective on scripture that instructs us to trust our Savior such as, “For we live by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 1:7).” The ability to see and trust what God is doing in the midst of the chaotic circumstances that clutter your life has everything to do with how you approach these situations.  The way you see situations impacts your heart and your mind.  Our past experiences affect the lenses that we filter life through. For example, you can view life through a lens of rejection or a lens of faith.

My prayer is that your trust in the Lord’s purposes and plans for your life is strengthened as you read today’s post, “Walking by Faith, Not by Sight.”

Where Did My Sight Go?

Our eyes play a huge role in our ability to understand.

The way we see things can translate in to how we perceive ourselves and our situations. Many times we do not trust what we do not see; however, God tells us to trust him knowing that if we are willing and obedient, he will always reveal himself to us in so many ways.

We all have five senses: sight, taste, touch, hearing, and smell. They all work together in order for us to understand and learn about the world around us.

What happens when one of those senses are taken away?

According to research, the other senses get stronger. How can you live or even begin to trust with no sight? What about with no means of hearing?

Let’s try exploring the spiritual senses that God gives us. I am not referring to the gifts of the spirit. I am referring to the spiritual understanding of the Lord and His glory. If you are a little confused, that is perfectly okay. Although we may not always understand what is in front of us or our circumstances, we just need to listen and obey.

Faith is Not the Issue

We have spiritual eyes and when we are tuned into what is being shown to us, it opens up a whole new world of possibilities.

There were times, and still are some to this day, that my sight has been tested. Having the ability to see a situation as it truly is can sometimes be different than what I choose to see.

Take a moment to look up and take in your surroundings right now. I would guess that you probably see things like pictures, furniture, other people, painted walls, and maybe décor. Looking at all these things, dare I ask what that means to you? For one person it might simply mean clutter, while to another it could mean precious memories or a painful past.

When we are able to truly see what is in front of us, we are able to release all the faith that is stored deep down inside us all.Click To Tweet

As Christians, we all have faith; faith is not the issue at hand. The issue comes when we look at how to release that faith and whether or not we are open to release it completely and fully.

Set Your Sights on Things Above

My eyes see so much more than I even realize, just as your eyes see more than you can fully comprehend.  However, do you focus your eyes on what they need to be focused on?

As I mentioned earlier, what we “see” around us causes us to judge ourselves and our world. When I look around, I do not always see the clutter or memories of the past that others might see. Instead, many times I see hope, grace, mercy, forgiveness, and strength. Do I always see this you ask? Uh….. NO! Life gets in the way and I have been subjected to its negative strides as much as the next person.  I have allowed a negative thought or a negative choice to cloud what is truly going on around me.

Many times I catch myself following a negative path and I begin to pray and focus on the real deal – truth. Then of course, there are those times that I allow myself to wallow in self-pity so that I can feel like the victim.

Why would we subject ourselves to that? Why would someone deliberately feel sad when they can push that sadness away? There are persecutions that we will all face. These trials can hit us like a ton of bricks with the enemy masking our eyes to what he wants us to see instead of what God is asking us to see.

In Focus

One of the best conversations I’ve had with my daughter is when she asked me the famous question, “Why doesn’t God just make us all do the right thing?” I knew that my challenge was going to be making her understand the answer in a different way using our daily lives as a point of reference.

I asked her, “If you were forced to do the dishes, would you get any satisfaction or fulfillment out of it?”

She quickly responded, “Nope!”

Okay – good, she was on the right track with where I was leading her. I then asked, “If you knew you had to wash the dishes and you did it with a right heart, would you get any satisfaction or fulfillment out of it?”

She replied, “Well of course, because I would be doing the right thing”.

I went on to explain that God works on the same principal. We know what we should be doing, so when we do what is asked of us then we feel good about ourselves.  We want to do the right thing more often and we are able to see the benefits of GOOD. I further explained that sometimes we have to be obedient for a long time in order for the obedience through our works to take shape in what God has for us. She was floored at how much sense it made and how much God gives us a choice.

The choice is what you choose to see and how you choose to accept it.Click To Tweet

If we use our spiritual eyes, we can see what the Lord desires us to see instead of viewing life through the filters of our past hurts and experiences.

Do we make the right choice and do what is shown to us in its purest of forms or do we give in to what we want to see and go down that dark path that leads to a negative mindset? The choice is ours.Click To Tweet

The choice is what you choose to see and how you choose to accept it. This life presents all of us with choices; we can choose the right path or the wrong path. Either way, we will reap what we sow. Begin to open up your spiritual senses and allow yourself to grow in areas you could not have imagined. In making the right choice, we should never ask ourselves, “where did my sight go?”