Our Pastor was doing a teaching on Sunday and I was taking notes as I always do.
He was sharing the story about Ananias and Saul in the book of Acts in the New Testament.
Saul had been arresting and persecuting the new believers and in the effort of getting his attention God blinded him.
It was powerful and shall we say it was a ‘life altering’ moment to not be able to see?
Saul was on his way to find believers to persecute and arrest them.
vs 3. As he was approaching Damascus on this mission a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him.
He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him,
“Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”
“Who are you, lord?” Saul asked.
And the voice replied,
“I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
Chapter 9: vs 8 – 10
Saul picked himself up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes he was blind.
So his companions led him by the hand to Damascus. 
He remained there blind for three days and did not eat or drink.
In a split second and a moment in time he was dependent on others.
I found it significant that he was blind for three days the same amount of time Jesus was in the tomb before his resurrection.
I also thought of the trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Three is not an accidental number.
In complete shock and helplessness he had a lesson to learn.
What a change that was for him as he was a man of power and authority and now he was blind and in the dark taken down to a level of dependence and fear.
(kind of like God giving him a time out in the dark to do some thinking)
vs 7. The men with Saul stood speechless, for they heard the sound of someones voice but saw no one!
In the background God is already setting the scene up for Ananias to go find Saul.
Now we already know the history of Saul.
He was a bad man and he was feared by many.
vs 10. There was a believer in Damascus named Ananias.
The Lord spoke to him in a vision, calling, “Ananias!” 
“Yes Lord!” he replied. (I found that fascinating because the only way he would know that it was the Lord is if they had a relationship and he was used to hearing the ‘voice of the Lord’ or maybe it was just a knowing in his spirit.)
God told him to go find Saul.
“He is praying to me right now. And I have shown him a vision of a man named Ananias coming in and laying hands on him so he can see again.”
(He was praying most likely for his eyesight to come back to him)
Ananias argued with God and told him how bad Saul was.
He knew that to get close enough to touch him would be taking a risk.
God said GO and he did.
He was obedient and trusting even with his fear alongside him.
He found Saul in vs 17-19. He prayed over him and the scales on his eyes fell off and Saul was able to see again.
The whole point of this story is layered.
It is about obedience. It about trusting. It is about letting go.
It is about listening. It is about the restoration of hearts and health.
It is about transformation.
It is about God doing a work in our lives without our knowledge to bring us to a place where he wants us to be.
It is about God using others to help change and transform us.
It is about how God will do what he has to do in order to stop our bad behavior.
I am sure Saul never forgot this lesson on the road to Damascus.
To be transformed from light to dark then to light again is life changing.
He is a God who transforms and changes us so we can become better people.
He is a God who doesn’t give up and who will get our attention and rescue us because of his deep love.
So the question for us is this:
Has there ever been a time when God pursued you towards a place of healing?
Did you know in the end it was God who directed your ‘change of heart?’
This is definitely something for us to think about.