God Spent 17 Years Preparing Me to Become Blind

Welcome to Grit, Grace, and Inspiration.

I'm your host, Kevin Lowe, and I'm excited to welcome you inside.

This is the kind of place where your glass will never be anything other than half full because we choose to focus on the positive side of life.

Now, this doesn't mean that we shy away from the real talk.

No, not a chance.

Matter of fact, we explore all aspects of life.

From the good, the bad, and the ugly.

But all of that is done with one purpose.

One purpose.

To inspire you to never give up on life, even when it may seem like life has given up on you.

Now I get it, life is hard.

But starting today, you've got grit, grace, and inspiration.

What's going on, and welcome to the podcast.

My name is Kevin Lowe, your host, and well, today is episode 130.

If you're new around here, well, first and foremost, welcome to the podcast.

This is the kind of place where uh we get together and talk about life, the ups and the downs, the good and the bad, and sometimes kind of wishing we could turn right around.

Now, today's episode is coming out on a kind of special day for me because it's one week away from a pretty monumental anniversary in my life.

And that anniversary I'm referring to is the day that both my life was saved with the removal of a fateful brain tumor, but also marks the day that I became blind because I came out of that surgery with my life saved, but at a cost no one ever expected.

And that was my eyesight.

But that anniversary is next week.

And so what I wanted to spend some time today talking about is an idea of is it possible for us to prepare for life's challenges?

I will be the first to admit that I have always said no.

That we can do all that we can to prepare for stuff in life.

But the fact of the matter is, is that in my instance, even if I had known I was going to become blind, I don't believe there's any way that I could have been fully prepared to handle the toll that it took on me, to have my life basically flipped upside down, everything that I love stolen from me.

I just don't think there's a way to prepare you for that.

But the reality is that I don't think we have to prepare ourselves.

As a man of faith, I believe in all my heart that God takes care of that for us.

I believe that God equips us with the things that we need to handle what is to come.

And that is where today I want to dive into this topic of the first 17 years of my life were spent preparing for me to go blunt.

And I didn't even know it.

So, what am I talking about?

About this idea that God prepared me for what was to come without me even realizing it.

Well, that's the gift of being able to look back.

Because when we're in the midst of life, it's hard to see the big picture.

It's not until we travel down the road that we're able to look backwards and we're able to see all the ways that we have gone, the roads that we have traveled along.

And I like to view life as this big giant jigsaw puzzle.

And it's not until we get that bird's eye view can we fully understand how the pieces all fit together and what they all meant, and why this happened when it did.

So looking back on my childhood, those first 17 years leading up to an event that I had no idea was even gonna happen, I can see so clearly now how God was fitting it all together, all the way back to giving me the personality that he gave me.

God gave me this positive upbeat personality right from the get-go.

This has been me.

This isn't something new that's happened to Kevin.

No, I've always been this positive guy.

Same with other characteristics that God gave me.

He made me a very organized person.

What other kids do you know of that enjoy telling their mom, hey, don't worry, I'll rearrange the uh kitchen pantry to make things a little bit more organized?

Or wake up early on Saturday morning and are in their bedroom cleaning and getting everything organized where it just looks just perfect.

Yeah, that was the kind of kid I was.

Now I'm able to really benefit from being an organized person.

Because if I was not organized, well, being blind, that would just lead to a total headache.

Yeah, you ever tried to look for something that you misplaced with your eyes closed?

Exactly.

That's what I'm talking about.

But there were other things that God did for me growing up also.

Besides for just giving me these characteristics or personality traits, he also gave me a life of experiences.

I was a kid who knew with all my heart I wanted to do this.

I wanted to play football, or I wanted to play baseball, or I wanted to start surfing, skateboarding, rollerblading, whatever it is.

I had many different passions that I felt like, ooh, this is the thing for me.

And my poor parents would have to hear me constantly talking about this or that nonstop, begging them to buy me new rollerblades or a new skateboard, whatever it is, until, you know, of course, I would get those new products and I would, you know, rollerblade.

I mean, heck, I was I was all into some rollerblading back then.

Same with skateboarding.

But it always seemed like though I never stuck with it very long because, well, all of a sudden there's something new, something else I'm passionate about.

Now, at the time, I think to my mom, that was probably super frustrating.

Because here she was, she would spend all this money buying me new stuff, getting me all set up, and then all of a sudden the wind would change directions, and Kevin's ready to do something totally different.

Well, when I look back on it now, I can realize as frustrating as it may have been to my mom, it was actually God letting me experience all these different things, letting me try out all these different things growing up because he knew what was going to happen when I turned 17 years old.

Another point I want to make about this, where God's hands were at work, is that I got to travel and do a lot.

Growing up, we were blessed in the fact that we got to do some really cool vacations.

Living here in Florida, we would go down to the Florida Keys, or we would head over to the Gulf Coast and take trips where we would be snorkeling, scuba diving, fishing, whatever it was.

Or come wintertime, we'd make the trip up north, whether it was to go visit family in North Carolina or to head up to Snowshoe, West Virginia to go snow skiing.

As I got older, I got to do even more traveling, like going all the way to Alaska and California.

Alaska, we drove all over that state.

And most of that trip was spent looking out the car's windows and seeing the sights.

Like I said, I got to do all of this while I was still just a child.

I also got to do a lot of outdoor things, like hunting and fishing and riding dirt bikes.

Riding dirt bikes was by far the biggest part of my childhood.

It was something that I did with my dad, something that I loved more than I think anything else I've ever been into, because it was going fast.

It was freedom.

And it was that adrenaline rush.

Me and my dad, matter of fact, we would spend a week camping at this state park called Croom over in Brooksville, Florida, a couple of hours from our home.

We would camp all week doing nothing but riding dirt bikes all day long.

It was incredible.

Again, experiences.

I got to experience, do try so many things.

I thought it was just me being fortunate or just me and my personality.

But there was a deeper meaning behind it.

Because as I said, God knew what was going to happen.

And he knew that this was my chance to live.

Here's something else that's pretty cool.

Growing up, I was never somebody who really made friends with people of my own age.

Maybe this was partly to do with the fact that I spent most of my time around my sister, who was five years older, along with my cousin Josh, who was her same age.

So for me, growing up with the older kids made me think of the kids my own age as just kind of silly and stupid acting.

So with this, it was not really a big surprise that as my sister was in high school, me still in just elementary school and then middle school, I still hung out with her and all her friends.

I got to go to all the high school parties, I got to go to all the high school football games, I got to do all this cool stuff with my sister and her friends.

And I had a blast doing it.

Now, at the time, of course, had no understanding of it.

No understanding that when I got to be that age, when I got to be in my junior and senior year of high school, when living life is what it's all about, that my life would be turned upside down.

Well, some may say that I missed out on a lot in that junior and senior year.

And yeah, they're right.

But the fact of the matter is, is when I look at it from the big picture, God already let me experience that when I was much younger, thanks to my sister and her friends.

As I said, those first 17 years fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.

Everything building me, molding me, creating me into the man who could handle what was to come.

None of us get the choice in this life.

The choice to decide if we're gonna be the one who has to face hard times.

We don't get to choose what happens to us down the line.

I mean, yeah, we we we get to make some choices.

We do certain things to to you know set us up for success later on, or or to be sure that we're healthy.

But the reality is that we're really just living this life.

God's got it all under control, and it's all part of God's plan.

And to be quite honest, I find peace in that, in knowing that there is a force greater than me at work here, that I'm not the one fully in the driver's seat, that there is somebody who's helping to steer that car with me.

Because me, myself alone, I'm not capable of it.

And no, I wish that I didn't go blind.

I wish that I didn't have to have experienced this loss.

I mean, heck, I wish right now, today, nearly 19 years later, that I could see again.

I also wish that my family didn't have to go through what they did seeing me have my life ripped away.

But I understand that I can't see the big picture always.

God sees the big picture.

And that's where I am so thankful.

I'm so fortunate that I have had that relationship with my creator, that I can trust him and say, all right, God, let me just make you proud.

Let me live and not worry about tomorrow, not regret yesterday, but instead just focus on the here and now and be sure that I'm doing the darndest I can to make the most out of this very moment.

And that's all I can do.

And I think that's all any of us can do is to live for this very moment and not worry about what is gonna come tomorrow.

Because all that does is that steals our energy for living right now.

And that, friend, is how I can explain to you what I mean when I said earlier that no, we can't always prepare for life's challenges.

But as a Christian, as a follower of Jesus, I believe in all my heart that God is preparing us.

We just have to be willing to trust Him, to go with it, to do our best, wake up every day ready to live to the best of our ability.

And for myself, that's what I try to do.

I want to make my creator proud.

I want to be sure that at the end of the day, when my jigsaw puzzle is put together in its entirety, that it's made one absolutely gorgeous picture.

One of those pictures so beautiful that you don't tear apart the puzzle.

No, you go out to Walmart, you buy that special glue, and you paint that puzzle so it all holds it together and you can put it in a frame.

Yeah, that's what I want out of my life.

And I think that's what you should want out of your life too.

And with that, I leave you to get out there and look at life differently.

To look at your past and see if you can start to see how the puzzle pieces have fit together.

And let yourself start thinking, dreaming of wow, how is what's happening today going to impact tomorrow?

But do that with this positive mindset because that is the one thing we can do.

We can control is that we can control how we view life.

We can be scared of it, we can be worried, we can be anxious, or we can be excited.

We can be ready to get out there and have an amazing day.

And that's how we're supposed to live.

And I believe that's how God wants us to live.

Until next week, just get out there.

Live this life to the best of your ability and realize that today, this moment, it's just one more piece in the monsters of this big, huge puzzle that's being put together to form your life.

Thanks for being a listener of this podcast.

It means the world to me.

And I can only hope and pray that something I say can impact your life to make today a little bit better than yesterday.

Hey, real quick before you go, I have one last thought to leave you with.

I of course hope that you've enjoyed today's episode, but more importantly, I want to remind you that I never want you to listen to an episode of this podcast to hear something that I have to say or that my guest has to share, and think, wow, I wish I could be like them.

I wish I could overcome my own challenges and do the great things that they are doing, but I just can't.

Well, friend, that's where you're wrong.

unknown: You're wrong.

SPEAKER_00: You are capable, you are able, and you darn sure are deserving of having all that you can imagine in this life.

There's nothing special about me or any guests I have on this podcast.

We are all just normal people trying to make it in this life.

And so I encourage you to take a look at yourself in the mirror and remind yourself that you know what?

I can do it too.

Now, of course, if you would like help along that way, reach out to me.

Whether that's as a listener of this podcast, a friend, or if you'd like to work with me as a coach.

My contact information is inside of every episode's show notes, just like this one.

So go down, check out my contact information, and reach out to me today.

With that said, I encourage you to take on the day every day with great, grace, and inspiration.