Three Angels Broadcasting Network Devotional.
I Once Was Blind
By Jenni Poling
June 8th, 2026
“One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.”
John 9:25
“Look at the train,” my brother or sister would say.
“Where, where?” was my usual reply.
“It’s right there!”
“Oh there,” I’d finally say, feigning to see it. To which my sister would often reply in disgust, “What do you mean? It’s already gone!” She was the only one in the family who seemed to notice a problem but concluded that her little sister was just weird.
Time passed, and I began attending kindergarten. I walked to school by myself, and my teacher’s warning to “Stop, look, and listen” before crossing the street became, “Stop, squint, listen closely, and hurry across the street!”
As we began to learn to read and spell, it became difficult to keep up my charade. However, I quickly learned to scan the vocabulary words taped to the closet door. Our teacher would write them on the chalkboard and call someone to read them out loud, and I’d quickly memorize their positions by listening to my classmate’s answers. Then, three or four months later, the inevitable happened. The teacher called on me to read the words on the board first!
“I can’t see the board,” I replied meekly, hanging my head a little. The next thing I knew, a boy in the front row was asked to change desks with me.
Again, she asked me to read what was on the board.
“I still can’t see it,” I replied.
Undaunted, she pulled my desk forward, so it was halfway between the front row and the board. “Now,” she said triumphantly, “you can read what’s on the board!”
“But I still can’t see it,” I replied in an agony of embarrassment.
To make a long story short, my teacher, my parents, and my eye doctor were all amazed when they discovered my extreme nearsightedness. This led to my first pair of glasses—strong ones—and my next report card noted that my spelling was much improved!
So why did I try to hide my disability in the first place? Others couldn’t understand it, and I couldn’t explain why. In retrospect, I know I didn’t like to be different, and I certainly didn’t like that difference to be noticed. It made me uncomfortable, so the best solution seemed to be to hide it.
Perhaps little kids are funny that way, but are grown-ups really so different? Don’t we hide the things we think will make others like us less if they know about them? Don’t we hide our differences, our uniqueness, to make us more acceptable to others? We hope our faults will escape their notice.
Should we be this way? It seems we’ve developed a society of conformity. We accept our own faults but decry them in others—and we trust almost no one!
I often hear that the solution is to become more vulnerable, open, and honest about ourselves; by doing this, we can learn to tolerate our differences. While this may be a start, I think there’s another way to move forward in our search for meaning and purpose: reaching beyond ourselves.
In the words of a favorite author, “There is no limit to the usefulness of one who, setting self aside, makes room for the working of the Holy Spirit.”
Setting self aside? What a revelation that is, and what a world of freedom it opens up! To move beyond the scope of our fragile feelings, to see the world as it is, and to be enabled—by God’s grace and the power of His Spirit—to serve! No more guilt, no more bemoaning our failures, no more hiding our light. If self is dead, transparency is no longer painful. We can become the people God created us to be.
In Romans 6:13, the Bible says, “And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.” Problem solved.
Oh, and yes, people still think I’m a little weird, but I’m okay with that! We’re not all the same, and God deals with each of us as unique individuals—as if there were no other person on earth! Appreciate and share your God-given uniqueness today.
I Once Was Blind
By Jenni Poling
June 8th, 2026
“One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.”
John 9:25
“Look at the train,” my brother or sister would say.
“Where, where?” was my usual reply.
“It’s right there!”
“Oh there,” I’d finally say, feigning to see it. To which my sister would often reply in disgust, “What do you mean? It’s already gone!” She was the only one in the family who seemed to notice a problem but concluded that her little sister was just weird.
Time passed, and I began attending kindergarten. I walked to school by myself, and my teacher’s warning to “Stop, look, and listen” before crossing the street became, “Stop, squint, listen closely, and hurry across the street!”
As we began to learn to read and spell, it became difficult to keep up my charade. However, I quickly learned to scan the vocabulary words taped to the closet door. Our teacher would write them on the chalkboard and call someone to read them out loud, and I’d quickly memorize their positions by listening to my classmate’s answers. Then, three or four months later, the inevitable happened. The teacher called on me to read the words on the board first!
“I can’t see the board,” I replied meekly, hanging my head a little. The next thing I knew, a boy in the front row was asked to change desks with me.
Again, she asked me to read what was on the board.
“I still can’t see it,” I replied.
Undaunted, she pulled my desk forward, so it was halfway between the front row and the board. “Now,” she said triumphantly, “you can read what’s on the board!”
“But I still can’t see it,” I replied in an agony of embarrassment.
To make a long story short, my teacher, my parents, and my eye doctor were all amazed when they discovered my extreme nearsightedness. This led to my first pair of glasses—strong ones—and my next report card noted that my spelling was much improved!
So why did I try to hide my disability in the first place? Others couldn’t understand it, and I couldn’t explain why. In retrospect, I know I didn’t like to be different, and I certainly didn’t like that difference to be noticed. It made me uncomfortable, so the best solution seemed to be to hide it.
Perhaps little kids are funny that way, but are grown-ups really so different? Don’t we hide the things we think will make others like us less if they know about them? Don’t we hide our differences, our uniqueness, to make us more acceptable to others? We hope our faults will escape their notice.
Should we be this way? It seems we’ve developed a society of conformity. We accept our own faults but decry them in others—and we trust almost no one!
I often hear that the solution is to become more vulnerable, open, and honest about ourselves; by doing this, we can learn to tolerate our differences. While this may be a start, I think there’s another way to move forward in our search for meaning and purpose: reaching beyond ourselves.
In the words of a favorite author, “There is no limit to the usefulness of one who, setting self aside, makes room for the working of the Holy Spirit.”
Setting self aside? What a revelation that is, and what a world of freedom it opens up! To move beyond the scope of our fragile feelings, to see the world as it is, and to be enabled—by God’s grace and the power of His Spirit—to serve! No more guilt, no more bemoaning our failures, no more hiding our light. If self is dead, transparency is no longer painful. We can become the people God created us to be.
In Romans 6:13, the Bible says, “And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.” Problem solved.
Oh, and yes, people still think I’m a little weird, but I’m okay with that! We’re not all the same, and God deals with each of us as unique individuals—as if there were no other person on earth! Appreciate and share your God-given uniqueness today.
Three Angels Broadcasting Network Devotional.
I Once Was Blind
By Jenni Poling
June 8th, 2026
“One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.”
John 9:25
“Look at the train,” my brother or sister would say.
“Where, where?” was my usual reply.
“It’s right there!”
“Oh there,” I’d finally say, feigning to see it. To which my sister would often reply in disgust, “What do you mean? It’s already gone!” She was the only one in the family who seemed to notice a problem but concluded that her little sister was just weird.
Time passed, and I began attending kindergarten. I walked to school by myself, and my teacher’s warning to “Stop, look, and listen” before crossing the street became, “Stop, squint, listen closely, and hurry across the street!”
As we began to learn to read and spell, it became difficult to keep up my charade. However, I quickly learned to scan the vocabulary words taped to the closet door. Our teacher would write them on the chalkboard and call someone to read them out loud, and I’d quickly memorize their positions by listening to my classmate’s answers. Then, three or four months later, the inevitable happened. The teacher called on me to read the words on the board first!
“I can’t see the board,” I replied meekly, hanging my head a little. The next thing I knew, a boy in the front row was asked to change desks with me.
Again, she asked me to read what was on the board.
“I still can’t see it,” I replied.
Undaunted, she pulled my desk forward, so it was halfway between the front row and the board. “Now,” she said triumphantly, “you can read what’s on the board!”
“But I still can’t see it,” I replied in an agony of embarrassment.
To make a long story short, my teacher, my parents, and my eye doctor were all amazed when they discovered my extreme nearsightedness. This led to my first pair of glasses—strong ones—and my next report card noted that my spelling was much improved!
So why did I try to hide my disability in the first place? Others couldn’t understand it, and I couldn’t explain why. In retrospect, I know I didn’t like to be different, and I certainly didn’t like that difference to be noticed. It made me uncomfortable, so the best solution seemed to be to hide it.
Perhaps little kids are funny that way, but are grown-ups really so different? Don’t we hide the things we think will make others like us less if they know about them? Don’t we hide our differences, our uniqueness, to make us more acceptable to others? We hope our faults will escape their notice.
Should we be this way? It seems we’ve developed a society of conformity. We accept our own faults but decry them in others—and we trust almost no one!
I often hear that the solution is to become more vulnerable, open, and honest about ourselves; by doing this, we can learn to tolerate our differences. While this may be a start, I think there’s another way to move forward in our search for meaning and purpose: reaching beyond ourselves.
In the words of a favorite author, “There is no limit to the usefulness of one who, setting self aside, makes room for the working of the Holy Spirit.”
Setting self aside? What a revelation that is, and what a world of freedom it opens up! To move beyond the scope of our fragile feelings, to see the world as it is, and to be enabled—by God’s grace and the power of His Spirit—to serve! No more guilt, no more bemoaning our failures, no more hiding our light. If self is dead, transparency is no longer painful. We can become the people God created us to be.
In Romans 6:13, the Bible says, “And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.” Problem solved.
Oh, and yes, people still think I’m a little weird, but I’m okay with that! We’re not all the same, and God deals with each of us as unique individuals—as if there were no other person on earth! Appreciate and share your God-given uniqueness today.
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