By Dianna Hobbs // Empowerment // EEW Magazine Online

Credit: Getty/Klaus Vedfelt (Illustration By EEW Magazine Online)

Before I started wearing eyeglasses to correct nearsightedness, I didn’t know much about lenses. I used to think that once you got a pair of specks, there was no need to ever change them unless the frames broke.

Now I know better.

Since eyeglass prescriptions only last about one to two years—on occasion longer—before adjustments are needed, you must get new glasses frequently.

Recently, my oldest daughter Kyla noticed that despite wearing her glasses, objects appeared blurry. So, she went to the eye doctor and learned that it was time for an updated prescription. Once she got new lenses, everything was perfectly clear again.

Just as lenses on eyeglasses require updating and adjusting, the lenses through which we see the world need to be changed too. A lot of times, our beliefs about who we are, what we can do, and what will happen to us in the future are shaped by negative experiences, traumas, failures, and letdowns. Therefore, our vision becomes blurred. We get jaded. We look at everything through a pessimistic lens which makes it increasingly difficult to believe God for anything good.

And since faith is required to reap blessings and benefits, a pessimistic perspective is too costly!

For a moment, think about how David saw Goliath in 1 Samuel 17. He could clearly see that this Philistine warrior was an intimidatingly big giant, and this fight would be seriously mismatched. Still, it was not what David saw that mattered but how he saw it.

Think about the ones that were too scared to engage this irreverent giant. They took one look at Goliath and thought, he’s too big to fight, whereas David looked at that behemoth and thought, he’s too big to miss!

See? It’s a matter of perception.

Now here’s a question for you: how do you see your circumstances? I didn’t ask what you see but how you see.

Back in 2016, when I got sick with severe Rheumatoid Arthritis and Fibromyalgia to the point where my bodily functions shut down, I needed a perspective shift. That health battle was so painful and grueling that I expected to die. I was hospitalized so many times and lost my ability to walk. It was awful.

By 2017, my health deteriorated to the point where doctors who had tried every treatment that they could think of finally gave up on me.

“There’s nothing more we can do,” they said. Keeping me comfortable with strong pain-killing drugs was all they had to offer.

Looking at my situation from the doctors’ perspective made everything appear hopeless. It was a devastating reality. But then, God challenged me to see the situation through His eyes. He promised He would work a miracle for me and heal my body if I believed Him to do it—no matter how doctors saw it.

Friend, though it looked bad, I chose to see through God’s lens, the faith lens. I took Him at His word. And guess what He did? He healed my body and freed me from the grip of death. Isn’t God good?

That’s why I tell everyone I know how important it is to adjust the lens through which they see their circumstances. I believe God sent me to tell you the same thing; that’s why you’re reading this.

Listen, if you’re looking through the lens of worry and doubt, this is a divinely ordained moment for you. God is inviting you to switch to the lens of hope and faith. The wrong perspective will make you say, “The problem is too big.” A divine lens adjustment, on the other hand, will make us say, “But God is bigger.”

If you really want to see things the right way, adhere to Romans 12:2 which says that we must be “transformed by the renewing of our minds.”

That word transformed is the Greek word metamorphoó (pronounced met-am-or-fo'-o)—from where we derive our English word metamorphosis. It means to change into another form.

When we go through a spiritual metamorphosis by the power of God’s word, the way we see changes. The way we think transforms. Our perspective shifts. Instead of seeing negativity all around us, we start seeing victory everywhere we look. When our vision is adjusted, we perceive our giant like David perceived his—as one who is coming against our invincible God for whom nothing is too hard.

When we put things in perspective, we win battles. And just as David killed his Goliath with faith and a rock, we kill our giants with faith in the Rock. “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer” (2 Samuel 22:2 KJV).

Our Rock is superior to the one David had, because we possess Christ, the Rock of our salvation. He has given us power to defeat every giant, to overcome the works of the enemy, and conquer everything that comes against us. When your perspective aligns with God’s word, everywhere you look, you will see God’s favor, provision, and power at work in your life.

God, please help me to see as You see. Instead of adopting a pessimistic view, I want to look at my circumstances through eyes of faith. I humbly ask that You reshape my perception. Transform and renew my mind by the power of Your word. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Dianna Hobbs is founder of EEW Magazine Online and CEO of Empowering Everyday Women Ministries — a 501c3 nonprofit organization that shares the gospel and provides humanitarian aid to the hurting. She is also the writer of Your Daily Cup of Inspiration and executive producer of the companion podcast. Follow Dianna on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube. Sign up for her free ministry newsletter here.