So, let’s say you decide you want to know more about me than just that I’m blind. You don't freak out and run away from me. You haven’t already decided what I’m like, and you decide to take a few minutes to talk with me because you want to know more about me than just that I’m blind. You are going to treat me the way you would want to be treated. So, you come up to me and say “Hello,” because I might not see you looking at me and smiling and trying to make eye contact like other people would. I  say “Hello” back and we start talking. You’re going to learn some other interesting things about me that you might not have expected. Let’s see how many other words we can come up with to describe me other than "blind." 

One thing you would find out about me is that I’m a Christian. I don’t just mean I go to church. I mean God is part of my life every day. When Mr. Davis asked me to come and talk to y’all, I was telling him that I went to a Christian school for middle school. I had a teacher who spent time every morning teaching us about the Bible. I learned a lot about who Jesus was during the first few months I was there and knew I wanted to have a relationship with God, be forgiven for the wrong things I did, and become part of God’s family. That’s the most important decision I’ve ever made. 

I think my life would be so different if I didn’t know God. I know He made me who I am and that He has special plans for me and that He loves me. How do I know that? Because the Bible tells me those things. I   know God helps me every day and that He always listens when I pray and that He’ll take care of me no matter what happens. 
 

I started going to church regularly and doing stuff with the youth group. They needed someone to write the “Youth News” for the church newsletter that came out every month.  My Mom volunteered me to  do that one month and let the church secretary know I was good at writing. She asked me to keep doing it and I   wrote that column until I moved away for college. A little bit later, our youth group started working on a Christmas musical and I really liked one of the songs that had a solo part. My Mom knew I liked it, and   she told the music leader that I could sing really well but was too shy to let people hear me. Well, he just kind of told me one day during practice that he wanted to hear me sing it. I was really scared but I was taught not to argue with grown ups so I thought I had to. I sang it and they gave me the part. I started singing in church a lot after that. 

The people at that church didn’t make a big deal about me not being able to see well. They   encouraged me to do the things I could do, like writing and singing. I felt like I was really doing things that were helpful and I learned something really important about doing things for God. I learned that God wants me to focus on what I can do and what He’s asking me to do rather than worrying about what I can’t do. I couldn’t see well but there were other things God had given me to do so I could  feel that I was helping and encouraging other people at my church. That doesn’t mean I thought I was the best writer or the best singer. God doesn’t expect us to be perfect or the best when He gives us something to do, He just wants us to do the best we can, to try our hardest and take it seriously. That means we don’t have to compare ourselves to other people we know. God has a plan for them and a plan for us and all we have to do is follow God in doing what He’s asking of us personally.       

Later on, I started singing for special programs at my high school. I was back in public school by then and I always sang Christian songs. I felt like a lot of the people I knew and went to classes with didn’t really know what it was like to have a real relationship with God.   I wanted to sing songs that might help them think about God more. I did a lot of writing at school, too, and sometimes I would talk about God and being a Christian in the things I wrote. It was important to me to use whatever situations I was in to share hope and faith with other people who might need to know about that stuff. I thought of my school as my mission field.

For two summers (before and after my senior year) my family and I  and a group of other people from  our church and some other local churches went on short-term missions trips to Mexico. That was a really special experience. It helped me understand what life in another country was like.  The people we met didn't have much, but they were so  nice to us and so glad we were there. We did Bible School and church services with a  little church outside of the  city of Valles. 

By the time I finished high school, I knew God wanted me to become a Christian Counselor. People from school or church, other teenagers, would call me when they were sad or upset about something and needed someone to talk to. I didn’t always know what to do or say but I knew I could listen and let them know I cared about them. I wanted to help them to feel less alone and   wanted them to know that I would pray for them and be their friend.     

I  knew that studying counseling or psychology was going to mean I'd be in school for a REALLY long time. The first place I went to college was North Greenville. 
www.NGU.edu
It’s a Christian school in the upstate. I wanted to be back in a place where I could have more Christian friends. 

That first year at North Greenville was really interesting and I decided I wanted to write a book about it.   It can take a really long time to write a book. I kept working on it while I went to college and then while I was taking classes and special tests to become a counselor and then after I got my first job and was trying to really get settled in to working. I didn’t give up. I would get discouraged. There’s a verse in Philipians that says when God begins a good work in you He’ll be sure to help you finish that good work and I always knew the book would happen when it was the right time. I finally finished it and found a publisher and now here it is. We just got it back about a month ago and I’m really excited to finally have it published.

The thing is, its hard to write a book when you’re busy writing papers and studying for exams at college. School was another thing that I thought I’d never get finished with. After I got my two year degree from North Greenville, I went to Columbia Bible College right here in Columbia. 
www.CIU.edu
We talked a lot about missions when I was there and I learned a lot about what God was doing in other countries. A lot of people at that school were taking Bible classes so they could go and do missions work in other parts of the world. I was still working towards becoming a counselor and got a 4 year degree from there in Bible and Christian counseling.

But I still wasn’t done with school. I had to go to something called graduate school. That means more college and all I studied there was counseling.  
www.ed.sc.edu/edst/ce/openpage.asp
I had to learn about different types of people and the problems they can have and the different ideas about how to help them with their   problems. I finally finished all that and then had to take 2 big tests so that the state of SC could know for sure that I knew what I needed to know to start working as a counselor.  

So, then, I had my degree and I had my licenses and I had an apartment and a guide dog and a boyfriend. What I didn’t have was a job. Because here’s the thing. You know how I said people get scared of me because I can’t see and that’s something they’re not used to and how  people might decide how smart I am or what I can or can’t do without even asking me. Well, that happens a lot when people who can’t see try to get jobs.   70% of people who are blind and could be working don’t have jobs. That means that if you had 10 blind people in a room, only 3 of those people would have jobs.   The other 7 people would want jobs but  wouldn’t have them because they weren’t given a chance to show what they could do. I think that’s really silly and really sad.

I had to really trust God at that point because I knew that helping hurting people was my mission field. I knew he wanted me to be a counselor and that He wouldn’t take me that far and have me put all that hard work in just to not be able to find a job.   I prayed a lot and sometimes, I got really sad about it. It took a year after I finished school, but I finally got a job at Crossroads Counseling Center right here in Lexington. 
www.solutionsforlife.org
I’ve been working there for 3.5 years now. The thing about working in Lexington is that people from other towns come to our office because it’s the closest place to go if they need to talk to a counselor. I talk to people who live in Lexington, Irmo, Columbia, Gilbert, Swansea, Chapin, Batesburg, Newberry, and Pelion. Some of those towns are smaller and they don’t have counselors so people drive up the road a little bit to Lexington. That’s closer to them than driving to Columbia and it would be harder for them to see a counselor if they had to go further away. The other counselors who are there and I want to serve these people by helping them with their feelings and their choices and their relationships. That’s our mission field. 

 
People come see me if they’re sad about something or if they can’t get along with their friends or their parents or their husband or wife. People come and see me if they’re having problems at work or school or if they’re upset a lot and don’t’ know why they feel that way. I get to hear people’s stories and ask them questions to help them think about things and give them some ideas so they can start making changes that are good and healthy.   I don’t need my eyes to do that because I listen with my ears and I listen with my heart and I use my brain to think about what I need to do to help each person. I use my mouth to say the things I think they need to hear. I tell them I think things can get better and that I don’t think they came to see me by accident. If they start talking about God or their church, I’ll ask them if I can pray with them and sometimes I talk about the Bible with some of them.

Not everybody I see wants to talk about God. Some people don’t believe in God or go to church. As a counselor, I can’t talk too much about what I believe or just tell people that they need to get closer to God. I’ll get in trouble if I do that. I can still pray for them, though. I don’t need my eyes to pray for people. I know that God is part of what happens in my counseling office whether all the people I talk to know it or not. I know He is because I do my work for Him and I ask Him to be part of it. I ask God for wisdom and strength to help every person no matter what’s going on in their lives. I know that God created each person I talk to and that He loves them and has a special plan for them. I hear about a lot of really sad things but I know God can give hope and can heal people’s hearts. I feel blessed that He uses me as a way of doing that. Even when I can’t talk about God, I pray that the way I treat the people who come and see me shows them something about God’s love. 

I treat other people the way I would want to be treated. That means I let them be who they are and am friendly. I don’t get scared just because they’re different from me. I   don’t make decisions about them before I get to know them. I ask questsions about all kinds of things, not just about one part of their lives and try to find some common ground with them. A lot of clients are glad I can’t see them. They know I won’t make decisions about them based on how they look or what kind of clothes they wear. They think I must know what its like to go through some tough things. They figure I know what its like to be treated like someone who is different. And they’re right about all those things.

So, even though lots of people go to another country to do missions work, I’m one of lots of other people who stay here in the United States. I didn’t even have to leave South Carolina. The people I help already have clean water and food and can see a doctor if they need to, and some of them even have lots of money and can buy almost anything they want. That doesn’t mean they’re happy, though. Money doesn’t mean people have peace in their hearts or give them a purpose for life.

Tags: christian, testimony