by Judy Wright 

Katie grew up on an Indiana farm. She majored in Elementary Education in college, taking one year off to be a volunteer missionary in New Guinea. A few weeks before graduation, she was hired to teach a one-room country school for the 2004-2005 school year.

Katie could hardly wait for school to begin. Six students had come to register—five in Grades 5-8, and one shy little first grader. Katie breathed a prayer of thanksgiving for her job. Some of her peers from college were still looking for work, but Katie had been hired at her first interview. Then, just a few days after she signed her teaching contract, her boyfriend, Bob, became her fiancé. Life was good.

But only a few weeks after the wedding, Katie began to have strange symptoms. Doctors frowned and conferred and ordered test after test.

“You have thyroid cancer,” a doctor finally told her. “We’ll have to remove your thyroid gland.  The good news is that the cancer has not spread, so surgery should solve the problem.”

Katie worried about the time off from work, but the school board assured her of their support.  Her family and students and new friends all prayed for her recovery.

But the surgery did not solve all her health problems; her body was unable to maintain the right levels of calcium and potassium. At one point, she had to choke down 26 pills a day to keep her body chemistry in balance—and still Bob sometimes had to rush her to the Emergency Room for calcium injections. But in spite of her irregular attendance, the school board rehired her for the 2005-2006 school year.

Summer 2005 arrived. Katie rested, and slowly her health began to return. She and Bob enjoyed a camping trip together. She could not believe how quickly the summer ended. She also did not realize that her greatest challenge was still to come.

The first time she saw the spots in front of her eyes, Katie said to herself, “I’ve been grading papers for too long.  I’d better take a break!”  Later, she told Bob, “I think I need glasses.”  She made an appointment with an eye doctor.

The ophthalmologist frowned and scheduled consultations. In early October last year, he carefully delivered the bleak diagnosis, but Katie heard the message clearly:  “You are going blind.”

The doctor explained that Katie had developed ulcers on the backs of her eyes. The rare condition has no known cause and no known cure. The doctor does not know whether her other health issues have contributed to the ulcers in her eyes.

During her year as a missionary, Katie learned a lot about trusting God when there is no one else to help. But blindness!—will she be able to trust God with her eyesight?  She and Bob had hoped to start their family before long. How will she be able to take care of her children if she cannot see them?

“This will be my last year of teaching,” Katie decided.  “I had hoped to teach for one more year before starting our family, but the doctors don’t think I have much time left before I lose my vision permanently. Maybe if we start our family right away, I’ll at least be able to see our baby for a little while.”

Not long ago, Katie awoke and opened her eyes to a world she could not see. She called Bob, who called for a substitute teacher. In the time it took her to dress and ride to the doctor’s office, the total darkness was replaced with a fuzzy gray. By evening, she could see again—almost as well as before. But that day gave a warning Katie could no longer ignore.

She resigned from her teaching position in November, 2005, while agreeing to finish out the first semester.  Now she is trying to learn the hard lesson of taking one day at a time.  Every morning Katie feels a breathless moment before she dares open her eyes.  She greets the first ray of light with a prayer of thankfulness for one more day of sight.

Unless God sends a miracle, the doctors tell her, Katie will wake up to blackness before long, and the light will not come for her again—until heaven. Yet God has given Katie courage to keep trusting Him. Perhaps God will send Katie a miracle; perhaps not. Katie is determined to love and serve Him, no matter what happens. When people ask how she is doing, Katie smiles and says, “I’m still hoping for a miracle!”