"... he went and washed, and came seeing"

The story of this miracle is very sacred to me and my dad. A few years ago, he asked me to give him a priesthood blessing because he was concerned about the macular degeneration of the retina with which he was then challenged.

As I prepared myself for this event, I studied this passage with great interest knowing that the Savior certainly had the ability to restore my dad's eye sight just as he had for this blind man. It was also interesting to see the progression of the blind man's testimony of the Savior in this passage.

The day of dad's blessing came and, as it turned out, it was different than I had previously hoped for. His was not a restoration of his eye sight as I was want to bestow upon him, rather the promise of stabilizing sight and the comfort of knowing that he would be able to see when he needed to see and that he would be blessed with the added ability of discernment which is simply the ability to see spiritually. We wept together at the conclusion of his blessing ... tears of gratitude and comfort.

I have long wanted to paint such a scene, and after studying the wonderful photographic body of work by Mark Mabry called "Reflections of Christ", I finally had the basis for this one. I hope it reflects the promise of hope that the Savior provides for us. Acrylic on canvas 24" x 18".