We think our chronic illness is a 605 pound, bar-bending beast and we cannot find our way out from under it. But it is as light as a toothpick for our all-powerful God. Why do we try to handle our beasts alone, in our own pitiful strength? We are fools to do that when God is standing beside us ready to lift a finger and lighten our load. He is more than able.
Read MorePeople in Jesus’ day understood what my mother quickly learned: Congenital blindness is untreatable (v.32). In the opening verses of John 9, the disciples don’t question if the man born blind can be healed by Jesus because they assume a congenital defect is beyond a miracle. Instead, they use the man’s predicament as an opportunity for Jesus to clarify a debated question. “Who sinned to cause this blindness,” they ask, “the man or his parents?”
We have an innate desire to connect cause with effect. But from Jesus’ reply we learn that causation is not as important as purpose. Jesus answers that neither the parents nor the man sinned—the blindness exists so that the wondrous signs of God can be displayed.
The miracle of sight in this passage is a much bigger miracle than it first seems. It led the blind man to faith in Jesus, making him completely whole spiritually and physically. We too, born spiritually blind, have been given the gift of complete healing from our sins. Jesus already compassionately provided the cure on the cross. Our part is to obediently accept His free gift of salvation. When we understand our deep need as blind people, gratitude compels us to worship Him and declare along with the blind man, “Lord, I believe.”
Read MoreThe Rise & Fall of Mars Hill, a podcast by CT Magazine, took the evangelical world by storm last year. My readers already know I think it’s excellent. Now that the podcast is finished, I’ll go so far as to say I think this should be mandatory listening for all seminary students, both as a cautionary warning and as a way to initiate thoughtful discussion about your own ministry style, goals, and calling.
Chad’s story reminded me that good things and painful things can happen at the same time.
Our experience with Mars Hill was brief and tangential. We were involved in a church in the Acts 29 Network, a church-planting ministry created and led by Mark Driscoll. Every episode of Rise & Fall affirmed our experience at that small church. The stories told by the disenfranchised of Mars Hill paralleled our story. When we spoke up, we too were “thrown under the bus.”
It took 17 episodes for CT to recount the losses at Mars Hill. Yet Chad’s story is different. His story recounted losses and blessings.
Chad’s story caused me to stop and consider a list of blessings, silver linings, from my chronic illness. The silver lining of chronic illness is learning there is a purpose we cannot see in the pain we cannot escape.
Read MoreShelley wasn’t phased by my inability to sit up in bed on my own or move from my bed to my wheelchair. She was there to help with those things. She dispensed cheer alongside my daily meds. Not the fake kind of cheer, but the infectious kind that makes you want to get up and dance, then laugh at yourself when you fall down.
Shelley was an exceptional example of what it looks like to obey the second greatest commandment: love your neighbor as yourself. (Matt 22:39). Obeying that command can look like a lot of things. If I take Shelley as my example, it looks like offering ourselves freely not expecting anything in return. It looks like being interested in others and making the people around us feel special… because people are special. It means being people who love others they way we want to be loved.
We all need to be loved and cheered on by personal cheerleaders, especially when we are suffering and feeling alone. We need to be reminded that we are unique and worthy of friendship. The best cheerleaders in life are the ones who celebrate our victories and help us find joy when we’ve can’t find it on our own.
Read Moreit was tempting to put all my trust in the perinatologist. But with every new bleed, the lack of answers the doctors could give caused me to remain cautious and keep my trust in check. For as long as my lungs have bled, I have wanted a doctor with enough wisdom to explain why my body continues to grow bad blood vessels and how to stop it from growing more.
Compassion goes a long way in helping a suffering person endure the unimaginable. I appreciated his compassion so much, but what I wanted more was answers.
Without answers from the wisest physicians, we decided to trust God with my physical life. That was the moment I stopped hoping in the wisdom of doctors for my deliverance from future bleeds.
Psalm 20:7 finishes boldly, “Our boast is in Yahweh our God, who makes us strong and gives us victory!” The name of the Lord our God is Yahweh, I AM (Exodus 3:14). His very name is the foundation of our faith. On the other side of human limits we find hope in the infinite strength and wisdom of God. Where man’s abilities end we can find a new beginning — to trust “in the name of the Lord our God.”
Read MoreIn The Scars That Have Shaped Me, Vaneetha Rendall Risner shares the spiritual journey represented by her scars. She shares her story of life-long illness (Polio & Post-Polio Syndrome) and trials (death of a child and loss of her marriage) with simple writing and honesty.
Each chapter is written like a journal entry or blogpost making this book a quick read. It may be quick but it's also packed with great theology. With vulnerability, Vaneetha reminds herself and her reader of the unchanging character of God, even in the midst of illness and loss. While my own scars and suffering are different, I found I could relate to something in every chapter which is a testimony to the presence of the same God with both of us.
In her book, you’ll find many of the same themes I write about: lament, waiting, loneliness, acceptance and dependence on God, and the sustaining grace of His presence.
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