Ginny Owens is a nationally-known contemporary Christian artist. A three-time Dove award winner, her music has inspired thousands of people to a deeper faith in God. She plays the piano and sings of love she’s written for God with a sweet clear, voice.
But the most staggering thing about Ginny Owens is the fact that she is completely blind. She was born seeing, but a degenerative eye condition gradually took her sight until, at age three, she became completely blind.
Listening to her music, knowing this fact, brings rich new colors to the tapestries of words she weaves. I invite you to enjoy her song “Wonderful Wonder” by clicking on the link below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L14JsjqJ7Uc
“Wonderful Wonder” by Ginny Owens I don’t know the ocean’s crystal blue / And I don’t climb the mountains for the view / Or wish upon the stars above my head / Or bear witness to a marvelous sunset / But the very thought of things I’ve never seen / Is all it takes to bring me to my knees Oh, what a wonderful wonder / A display of great beauty and power / Oh what a wonderful wonder You are to me I wish that I could see life through Your eyes / To gaze upon the canvas from Your side / To understand all that You’ve done before / And to realize the plans You have in store / But when I long to know what I don’t see / You give me the courage to believe Oh, what a wonderful wonder / A display of great beauty and power / Oh what a wonderful wonder You are to me I can hardly wait until the time / When You will turn my darkness into light / And I finally find my way to Heaven’s door / Where I won’t need my faith anymore / And when my eyes behold Your majesty / I’ll join with the angels and we’ll sing Oh, what a wonderful wonder / A display of great beauty and power / Oh what a wonderful wonder You are to me
The first time I heard that song, I was deeply moved. First, I felt so sad for Ginny that she has no memories of the great beauties of this earth: oceans, mountains, stars, sunsets. I can imagine she hears her family and friends talk about these places with amazement in their voices, and I wished for a moment that she could know that beauty, too.
As I listened the third verse, I realized with a jolt that when she sees Heaven, it will be the first thing she ever sees! What an incredible thought! Ginny lives in a world of darkness and visual sameness. Can you imagine what it will be like for her on that Great Day when she is given a new body, with new eyes, seeing colors that humans have only dreamed of?
All of a sudden, I thought, “That’s us. All of us.” We are used to the spiritual darkness we must live in at all times. We have never known any different. Can you imagine God, Jesus, and a host of angels looking at us, saying, “There is so much more you don’t see!! You have no idea what is all around you all the time.”
Remember the story of Elisha and his servant in 2 Kings 6? They were surrounded by a strong army with horses and chariots from the King of Aram. Elisha’s servant was terrified when he saw the soldiers, and he hurried back to Elisha, asking “What should we do?”
“Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed that God would open his servant’s eyes. God did – and the servant “looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha” (2 Kings 6:17).
There is a greater reality than ours, co-existing in the same space as ours. We don’t know all the science behind how it works, and sometimes the pains of this life cause us to ask hard questions. But God wants us to know with certainty that human experience is not all there is. He wants us to choose to be aware of it, to seek it out, to live life placing our trust in a greater world that can never pass away.
It is incredible to think that all of this is going on right now! The spiritual world doesn’t awaken someday in the future. In Luke 20, the Sadducees, who didn’t believe in an afterlife, questioned Jesus about the Resurrection Day. Jesus tells the Sadducees that though God is called “the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,” he is not the God of the dead. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob didn’t cease to exist when they died – God is “Not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to Him, all are alive” (Luke 20:38). Wow!! Unlike us, God can still see all those who are physically dead. Amazing!
The greater reality is full of things humans don’t experience with their five senses. All creation has a limited existence, and it is tied to a system of time. There are unseen beings, boundless and non-corporeal, interacting with creation; those who have died continue to exist; and Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control are the supernatural works of God in the lives of people who trust Him. “Heaven and earth will pass away,” Jesus says, “But My words will never pass away” (Matthew 24:35).
And when we get to Heaven someday, we will be just like Ginny Owens – it will be our first time to really See, too. We’ll get the full view of the meaning of this world, and we’ll see the Truth and the Life for who He really is. Our human minds cannot fathom the “wonderful wonders” He has prepared for us! (1 Corinthians 2:9).
I am so thankful that we don’t have to lodge our hope in this broken life. God uses the pains of our lives to help us wake up to that fact. If we love this world, we will be broken, too. Instead, we can, with joy, “Fix our eyes on what is unseen, because what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).
Bicky Tolar
Abilene, Texas
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