{"id":3397,"date":"2026-04-25T16:00:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T16:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/survivingmypastbecauseofmyfuture.com\/?p=3397"},"modified":"2026-04-25T16:00:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T16:00:13","slug":"when-god-uses-what-i-tried-to-hide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/survivingmypastbecauseofmyfuture.com\/?p=3397","title":{"rendered":"When God Uses What I Tried To Hide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sometimes I forget that God\u2019s thoughts are higher than my thoughts and God\u2019s ways are higher than my ways. (Isaiah 55:8-9)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recently, I put together a short lesson using my experience of being visually impaired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was a little caught off guard by my enthusiasm to share. After all, my eyesight and I haven\u2019t exactly been besties throughout my life. Hiding my \u201cdisability\u201d at all costs was (and sometimes still is) my go-to coping mechanism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After visiting the first classroom, it became obvious that the kids and teachers weren\u2019t my only audience. My words spoke directly to my OWN heart. It was remarkable how much I needed to hear and rehearse EVERY LAST affirmation I declared during my lesson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I felt understood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I felt liberated from many of the beliefs that lived inside of me all these years but never made their way out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My visual struggles found tangible purpose. It turns out that God can even use five, six, and seven-year-olds to bear witness to our adversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My experience honestly conveyed that being blind (or facing any other physical\/learning challenge) is hard, even frustrating at times. But hard is possible, even though it often requires extra effort along with the support of caring people in our lives. When we choose to do hard things we don\u2019t want to, it strengthens part of our brain that builds resilience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wasn\u2019t expecting God to use those thirty minutes toward more redemption of all the hard things I deal with day in and day out. I went into the lesson with one goal\u2013help students understand blindness better. But God had way more on His agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the book of John, Jesus explained to His disciples that a man was born blind \u201cso that the works of God might be displayed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m honored that God used MY message to inform and encourage students. But He won\u2019t stop there. He\u2019ll continue using me to \u201cdisplay His works.\u201d This lesson, without a doubt, will go down as the highlight of my career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Easter just reminded us, Jesus\u2019 wounds redeem our sins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But they also redeem our hurts, our heartaches, and our struggles. Delivering this lesson didn\u2019t miraculously make me \u201clove\u201d my blindness. Nor do I consider it a gift I wouldn\u2019t trade for the world. Redemption assigned it meaning and purpose, giving me a \u201cgiftedness\u201d of connecting with and comforting others in their suffering. God never wastes our pain if we\u2019re willing to join Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Heavenly Father doesn\u2019t like that I\u2019m visually impaired anymore than I do. But, because we live in a broken world where genetic diseases thrive, He says, \u201cI\u2019ll take that, thank you very much, and use it for something way better than shame, regret, and inadequacy. I\u2019ll use it for encouragement, connection, compassion, and hope.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philip Yancy once said, \u201cPain redeemed impresses me more than pain removed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In all honesty, I\u2019d be ecstatic if God \u201cremoved\u201d my disease. My selfish desire for comfort wouldn\u2019t suffer willingly. But since removal isn\u2019t an option right now, I\u2019m so grateful that He chooses to redeem it while I wait\u2013either for an earthly cure or eternal healing in heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best part of this story came a few days later when one of the most empathetic first graders passed me in the hallway. His soft, innocent voice apologized, \u201cMrs. Thacker, I\u2019m so sorry you’re blind. It just breaks my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More proof that God\u2019s ways are certainly higher than mine. My lesson alone could have NEVER achieved that level of empathy in that little boy\u2019s heart. God did it. I just had to say yes to the task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes I forget that God\u2019s thoughts are higher than my thoughts and God\u2019s ways are higher than my ways. (Isaiah 55:8-9) Recently, I put together a short lesson using my experience of being visually impaired. I was a little caught off guard by my enthusiasm to share. After all, my eyesight and I haven\u2019t exactly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3398,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,16,25,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adversity","category-christian","category-disability","category-faith"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/survivingmypastbecauseofmyfuture.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Vision-lesson-image-600x400.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/survivingmypastbecauseofmyfuture.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Vision-lesson-image-600x600.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"survivingmypas","author_link":"https:\/\/survivingmypastbecauseofmyfuture.com\/?author=1"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/survivingmypastbecauseofmyfuture.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/survivingmypastbecauseofmyfuture.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/survivingmypastbecauseofmyfuture.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/survivingmypastbecauseofmyfuture.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/survivingmypastbecauseofmyfuture.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/survivingmypastbecauseofmyfuture.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/survivingmypastbecauseofmyfuture.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/survivingmypastbecauseofmyfuture.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/survivingmypastbecauseofmyfuture.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/survivingmypastbecauseofmyfuture.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}