No, that's MY road!

So while I was at my parents last weekend, I discovered a book that my mom had recently purchased – the autobiography of her massage therapist, Delia Knight. Now, normally, I probably wouldn’t give a book like this a second glance, but there are a couple things about Delia that piqued my interest & caused me to take a closer look.

One, Delia grew up in the very same house that I grew up in – the title of her book, “That’s My Road“, showing a picture of the road in front of her former house, just happens to be “my” road as well and one I am very familiar with!

Two, I’ve been to Delia for a massage before & have seen her & her husband when they’ve come to visit and “look” at our house for memories sake – but they are not your average married couple. Delia has 5-10% vision and her husband John is completely blind. This in itself makes their story fascinating to me.

Well, let me tell you – once I started reading, I just couldn’t stop! Her book completely drew me into the story of her childhood, marriage and raising her family. I think sometimes we are so very oblivious to the many stories represented by the people around us & we have no idea about all the challenges they have endured, all the victories won, all the adventures they’ve experienced. Perhaps, this is why blog-hopping has become such a phenomena, because we get the chance to see inside the lives of people in a way that normally wouldn’t happen. We get to share in their pain & struggles and rejoice with them in their celebrations. This is what I felt as I read Delia’s story.

It was first of all intriguing to read because the home she grew up in & the things she described about the house and farm were ones I was intimately familiar with & I was sitting there in that very house as I was reading the book! Even some of the places in Steinbach or Winnipeg that she mentions, or the people that were her friends, were ones that I knew as well. It made reading the book so different from your average story where your mind and imagination have to completely form the images and characters out of nothing.

But what was the most inspiring and encouraging was that while reading Delia’s story, you were carried along on her journey and the many obstacles she encountered as a person with limited vision, and you got to see how it was Jesus who carried her through it all. So many times, He came and lifted her up with a scripture or a song, or a special touch of His peace and comfort. I couldn’t help but love Him more by seeing how He had intervened and come to her rescue so many times when she needed Him most. I can’t even begin to imagine the stories of God’s goodness and faithfulness that we will hear when we meet all the other saints of history. Won’t it be amazing to see how God was working behind the scenes in millions of lives around the globe throughout the ages?

I was also amazed by the community of people represented in Delia’s journey. As a mostly blind woman, married to a completely blind man, you can imagine they had their share of struggle and hardship and pain. Yet, she mentioned countless names of people who gave of their time and resources to assist and help this couple & their family. Whether giving them rides, taking them to the grocery store, helping clean the house, helping with their 3 boys – the list of caring, kind-hearted, and selfless people in this book who truly took the messages of Jesus and walked them out is truly incredible! If only I could be someone like that, who stops being so self-centered, thinking only of my own struggles and cares, and instead thinking of others as better than myself and reaching out to those who are in need – this is what Jesus would do and this is who I would like to become. God, free us from selfishness!

And when I say I simply couldn’t stop reading – I was not exaggerating! I was up until 5am that morning until I had finished the book! Her story gripped me and pulled me in – wanting to see how it all ended & see the result of God’s grace and love in her life. It made me want to write out my story, knowing that God has done soooo much for me, while at the same time, wondering if I even had a story to tell? I think we can downplay our own testimony when it doesn’t seem as dramatic as the next person’s – but we truly do all have a story to tell & an incredible testimony of all that God has done in our lives. I think when we meet Him and see the full picture, we will be blown away by what He truly did for us, things that we don’t even know He did! Wow, what a day that will be!!