By Benescke Janse van Rensburg

At the end of last year, ophthalmologists made a shock discovery when a 68-year-old woman arrived for a routine operation. Instead of removing her cataracts from her eyes, they discovered 27 disposable contact lenses in her one eye! She has been wearing disposable contact lenses for 35 years without ever visiting a doctor. Over time she became used to the irritation in her eyes and attributed it to dryness. However, after the contact lenses were removed, the irritation was gone for the first time and her vision was much better.

As believers, we sometimes experience a "irritation" on our inside. If we investigate it carefully, we will realize that it is probably the Holy Spirit that makes us aware of something that is not right in our lives. It can be various things, including your impatience with your children, your love for a gossip story, flirting with someone outside of your marriage, a wrong decision or even a dodgy transaction you are currently working on.

The moment we identify the source of this irritation and steer away from it, we experience peace returning to our hearts. Yet, if we ignore it, we too start to live with the "irritation" (as the woman with the contact lenses) while we blame it on something else. It blindens us to experience God's best for our lives.

In 1 John 1: 9 we read: “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”

Is there an irritation in your life? When Jesus ascended to heaven, He send us our Comforter in the form of the Holy Spirit as a gift to make us aware of this irritations in our lives. Let's identify the cause of it and do something about it. This may also allow us to look at life with completely new eyes and a clearer vision. God bless.

Father God, thank you for your Holy Spirit, who leads us daily, warns us and comforts us daily. Please help me to immediately respond when I experience that irritation in my life. I ask this in the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

• See photo of the women's contact lenses and the news article on the social network, Fbook page, Stories van hoop or at www.benescke.co.za