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A Christmas Vision

Kara Hubbard will see her first Christmas this year. For 18 years, she has lived in darkness.

The born-blind first-year University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) student began receiving her sight at a Chi Alpha Campus Ministries retreat in October. Her vision has gradually continued improving since then.

After her birth, doctors diagnosed Hubbard with optic nerve hypoplasia, a medical condition in which the optic nerve never developed properly. Until a couple of months ago, Hubbard could only perceive degrees of brightness; she could tell if the sun shone or a lamp illuminated a room, but couldn’t distinguish any objects in front of her.

After graduating as class valedictorian in May from the Arkansas School for Blind and Visually Impaired, Hubbard prepared to enroll at UALR.

Hubbard’s mother, Tonya Wallace, had concerns about her daughter being immersed in a secular college atmosphere, and how Hubbard would maneuver around unfamiliar surroundings where she knew no one. But Wallace says the Lord assured her that He would protect Hubbard and that her daughter’s life would be a testimony to others.

It helped that Wallace, 37, says she began receiving visions from the Lord a couple of years ago detailing that her daughter would receive her sight.

On the hour-long drive from their Des Arc home en route to campus, Wallace revealed the visions to Hubbard. From that moment, the two began praying together about them coming to pass.

Hubbard, who became a Christian in 2013, joined the UALR Chi Alpha Campus Ministries group once the semester began.

“I never really understood what it was to follow Jesus until I got involved with Chi Alpha,” Hubbard says.

Holly Talkington, a U.S. Missions Chi Alpha missionary associate at UALR and Hubbard’s small group leader, notes that Hubbard needed a great deal of assistance getting around campus when she first arrived.

But Hubbard’s life began to change at a Saturday night service during a Chi Alpha weekend retreat in October.

“My mom’s vision foretold all of what would happen, including the way it was going to happen,” Hubbard says.

Although the vision involved people praying over Hubbard for an extended period, she didn’t know the exact time or place. Those details became clear after two female students from other Chi Alpha groups — women who didn’t know Hubbard — came up to her and said the Lord had told them Hubbard needed prayer for healing.

The two students began praying, and then many others joined them. Petitions to God stretched over an hour. Hubbard began seeing the room growing brighter; she could differentiate shadows, and eventually motion by the end of the night, although everything still appeared blurry. For the first time, Hubbard could make out the ground on which she walked.

Believing God wanted to continue the clarity of vision, Hubbard decided to get baptized the next day. She went to the baptism without the need for her white cane that for years had prevented her from bumping into objects. As Hubbard emerged from the water, her eyesight improved further.

“I could feel my vision coming into focus,” Hubbard says. “I could see differences in skin tone and I could see clarity of faces.”

Talkington, 27, says she has noticed Hubbard’s eyes are better able to focus compared to before.

Hubbard believes her eyesight will be completely restored. But for now, she is mobile on her own for the first time and able to decipher colors.

“It’s changed my life in lots of ways,” Hubbard says. “It’s definitely strengthened my faith in Jesus. I don’t believe there is anything impossible with Him.”

Wallace concurs that God won’t stop the healing midway.

“This is just the beginning,” Wallace says. “God will be glorified as news of the healing reaches many people, from strangers to relatives.”

Already, many Chi Alpha students are believing God for miracles they never imagined possible, Talkington says.

Hubbard’s faith has inspired both Wallace and Talkington.

“There’s no limit what Kara can do,” Wallace says. “She’s inspired me with the boldness in which she serves God.”

“I want to have the vision Kara has — not just the physical vision — to expect great things from God,” Talkington says. “She’s had to depend on God in ways I never did, and she has a deeper faith than I do.”