‘I was born with no eyes and my husband is blind too’

Philippa Lomas shares her journey of faith and discipleship:

I was born without any eyes and am completely blind. As you can probably imagine, this was a great shock to my parents, who had other, fully sighted, children. My parents are both Christians, but they really wondered what good God could bring out of the situation.

Despite their shock and sadness, they were very determined that I should be brought up to do everything as normally as possible. They fought to get me into the mainstream village school, and from there they fought to keep me mainstream all the way through to A levels in the sixth form of a local school. They learned braille, and members of my family made tactile picture books for me to spark my interest in reading.

Having Christian parents, we were all involved in church life. I attended Sunday school with my brothers and sisters. The church included me in many ways. the pastor’s wife learned braille so she could transcribe things for me like hymns, Sunday School lessons, etc. The teachers of the Sunday School would make me tactile representations of the Bible stories they were teaching and those stories have always been stuck in my head.

As I grew, I always knew that God was with me, I knew Jesus had died for me to forgive my sins. I was always praying in my head and having a conversation with God. Especially as I went through the school years and not only the lessons got harder but the attitudes of the children and teachers got harder and harder to cope with. I was still glad I’d been sent to a mainstream school, but I was even more glad that, in an ever-changing world, God always remains the same and His attitude towards me will never change.

I was baptised in Potton Baptist church when I was 12. I still attend this church and am now involved in the administration side of things as well as helping to lead singing when needed. Through out my years as a Christian, there have been some very dark days. It isn’t as simple as giving your life to Jesus and everything is smooth from then on.

I have had many occasions when I have felt far away from God. A bad relationship when I was in my late teens led me to feel that I was too wicked to be forgiven. But gradually I realised that no matter what I’d done, and how far from God I felt, Jesus died once for all sinners, which must therefore include me. After this I prayed for an opportunity to serve Him in some way, and became involved with a charity which took me on three mission trips to Guatemala to encourage the inclusion of disabled people and spread the news of God’s love and forgiveness.

In more recent years, I have settled in Potton with my husband Will and our three children. We all attend Potton Baptist, and are very much involved in the church.

Life still has its struggles, the latest of these for me being that I have lost a good part of the hearing in my left ear due to an infection which burst the drum and even after surgery has left lasting damage. This for me as a blind person has been a huge struggle as I rely heavily on my hearing. It has knocked my confidence even with the use of a hearing aid, but has made me rely even more heavily on God and His protection of my life.

I met my husband Will on a Christian holiday for visually impaired people in 2012. Will is also totally blind, due to being born three months prematurely and being given too much oxygen at birth. He was raised as a Catholic, but had drifted away from the religion. He went on the holiday specifically for the hair-raising activities which were planned, such as zip lines, indoor sky dives and theme parks, etc.

During the first few days of the holiday he listened politely to the Bible talks given by Kevin Vicars, but gradually his attitude of disinterest began to change. Will accepted Jesus as his Saviour during that holiday. I have never seen someone change so much in such a short time. We were married in September 2013.

Will has a great gift of playing the piano by ear. He was brought up playing the organ for his Catholic church, and then played for various competitions and in several restaurants in his teens. He now plays each Sunday for our church and is an incredible blessing to us. He also accompanies me whenever he can if I am asked to sing anywhere, although as he works full-time as a customer service agent for a local housing association, he more often has to record backing tracks instead.

I have always loved to sing and as I mentioned, I help to lead the singing on Sundays. One of my favourite hymn writers is Fanny Crosby, who went blind at the age of six weeks. She lived over 100 years ago and wrote thousands of hymns praising her Saviour. One of the ones I feel sums up my story is called Saved by Grace. It says ‘and I shall see him face to face, and tell the story saved by grace’. I will never be able to see in this world, so I will not see my children’s faces, or the faces of my family, but I will see Jesus. When I die, I will have perfect vision. The first thing I will ever see is the face of the Saviour who gave His life for me, that I might live forever with Him.

Stan Evers, Philippa’s former pastor said: ‘I remember Colin and Marion’s trauma when their daughter Philippa was born without eyes. Her birth was especially difficult for her mother. I was delighted to see how the church adapted to Philippa’s special needs.

‘Two of the highlights of my 25-year pastorate at Potton Baptist Church, in Bedfordshire, are Philippa’s baptism at the age of 12 and her marriage to Will. They met at a Torch Trust Holiday for the blind. I conducted the wedding and took the official photographs! Now they have three – a fourth one on the way – seeing children. Philippa cannot see their lovely faces. Philippa has a sweet singing voice and has made a couple of CDs. She is a remarkable woman whose is life is a testimony to the sufficiency of God’s grace.’