It’s hard to gauge how much faith to put in someone, even someone who is supposed to know everything there is to know (yet obviously doesn’t). I think we believe the experts we want to believe and don’t hear the things we don’t want to hear.

I don’t know how much faith Mom has in her eye doctor, after what he’s put her through in recent weeks, but I was willing to take a leap of faith today when he told her (a) that her eyes were getting healthier, and (2) that she would get her vision back. He just seemed so sure. He was sure of himself, and he had faith that he knew what he was telling us was the truth.

He has always seemed to be certain of what he was saying, and he’s never held back any bad news he thought he had to offer. So when he gave us good news today, I was willing to believe him, his recent track record notwithstanding. Mom is probably a little more skeptical, but then she’s the one who still can’t see very well. And she’s the one who went through such pain this last week because of the treatment he prescribed.

Anyway, believe it or not, the infection in Mom’s eyes has cleared up, and the ulcers that have kept her from seeing clearly are getting smaller. The doctor thinks it was because of something he did; Mom might believe it’s happening in spite of the pain he put her through, rather than because of it. She made some decisions in the last couple of days regarding her own treatment (including not taking anything that caused excruciating pain), and that could just as easily have been the cause of her improvement.

Maybe it doesn’t matter why Mom’s getting better, as long as it continues, and as long as somewhere not too far down the road she can see well enough to read again. I want to believe that will happen. In fact, I do believe it, because I think Mom will do everything she can to make it happen. I have all the faith in the world in her.