Daily Epiphanies
Monthly Column by Carol Brinneman

Jesus touched the eyes of the blind, light flooded in and they beheld His beauty. I saw many blind people during my years in Africa. I saw hundreds more who were blind spiritually to the reality and presence of Christ.

When Jesus left this earth, He promised to be with us always until the end of the world. I know He is the Eternal Intercessor pleading for me before the Father, praying for wider spiritual eyes for me! As He appeared suddenly on several occasions after His resurrection, surprising His disciples, I also am caught breathless at these epiphanies in my own life.

For months I forgot about a satchel in which I had nestled the lifelike baby Jesus doll that I lay in our manger each Christmas. Going through some suitcases one day and wondering about the contents, I opened the satchel. What a fright the child gave me! I laughed with relief. “It is I, be not afraid.”

In quietness I wait daily to encounter Him as one who watches in the woods, eager to sight a raccoon, a rabbit, or a deer. I look for my Lord. I search as in the game of hide and seek, knowing that I will find Him and will squeal with delight at the discovery! Does He not say in His Word, “‘You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 29:13)?

In Africa, we often bumped along through the game reserve, hopeful of a sighting. And then, a monkey or warthog appeared. We stopped and told our son, then very young, where to look. After many tense and delightful seconds, he too captured the vision and we knew it, because he sucked in his breath.

As I read God’s Word or a book about Him, I scrutinize every page for a new line to add to the portrait of His majestic face. That portrait is never so familiar that I bore of searching for Him, of seeing Him in a new light. In graduate school, my photography professor defined a prize-winning photo as one that, at first glance, startled you and “Oh!”...caught your breath! Indeed, the depths of our Lord’s person are such that every time we look at Him we are astonished anew.

“My heart says of you ‘Seek His face!’ Your face, Lord, I will seek” (Psalm 27:8)! True, I peer through a veil darkly, but I do see Him—through eyes of faith. Every glimpse of Him rejuvenates my spirit and excites me to seek Him more.

Dear friends, seek and you shall find. Christ is right there in front of you. Do you see Him? 

About the Author:  Carol Brinneman serves as a writer and editor for a mission. Visit her website at: www.ncbrinneman.com/carol.