"Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
"I will never forget the day they moved me away from 'acute care' to 'chronic care' in the hospital. As they wheeled my stretcher under the sign, I got a lump in my throat. It meant 'the doctors don't know what else to do, and I won't regain use of my body'. My condition was chronic.
Why do some hardships never go away? You and and plead until your knees are sore, yet the pinched nerve doesn't heal, the multiple sclerosis doesn't halt, the Alzheimer's doesn't regress, the marriage doesn't get better, the job promotion never comes, and the engagement ring never arrives. After decades in a wheelchair, this is my conclusion:
The core of God's plan is to rescue us from sin and self-centeredness. Suffering - especially the chronic kind - is God's choicest tool to accomplish this. It is a long process. But it means that I can accept my paralysis as a chronic condition. When I broke my neck, it wasn't a jigsaw puzzle I had to solve fast or a quick jolt to get me back on track. My paralyzing accident was the beginning of a lengthy process of becoming like Christ.
May I share with you one of my 'chronic' Bible verses that won't go away? James 1:2-4 says 'When all kinds of trials crowd into your lives my brothers, don't resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends! Realize that they come to test your faith and to produce in you the quality of endurance. But let the process go on until that endurance is fully developed' (Phillips). When that finally happens, the only thing that will be chronic is joy!
Lord, help me to embrace the chronic conditions in my life. I want endurance to be fully developed in my life. Help me to hang on."
This was today's reading in the devotional "Pearls of Great Price" by Joni Eareckson Tada and it spoke to my heart about the chronic conditions I live with. There is a good and Godly purpose to them. May her words minister to you today.
Blessings!
Thank you Weezy...this moved me today. My brother Bobby has had another flare up...Crohn's disease is something he has lived with since his early teens. He, is now 44 and for over 30 years he has battled this horrible condition. He is not bitter but of course, there are times we question why?
ReplyDeleteI will purchase this book for myself and Bobby...love you lady.
Thanks for sharing this. There is so much truth in that.I was in a auto accident on December 4th, 1998.I have spent every day since July 1999 in a power wheel chair unable to do most things I once had no trouble doing.I am a quadriplegia with limited mobility in my arms and hands. I spend a lot of time fight one type of infection or another or even breathing as 80% of my lungs are in that paralyzed area so they no longer work and have to sleep in a upraised position when in the bed which I have to spend lot of times there.I have on more than one time question God as to why? Why am I still here? Why can't I be healed like others I have seen? Some days my life seems like a big "why" and I'm sure God gets tired of hearing me and then like a fresh warm morning wind His spirit comes over me and the words "My Grace is sufficient for now" and then he brings to my remembrance of the people who have come into my life people who otherwise I may never have meet.People who tell me I have been there inspiration and as to why I can never say. I don't feel I have ever done anything that would be noted as noteworthy or special like. There are times when my inability seems extra heavy and tears of frustration and disappointments come unwanted and run down my face and after talking with our heavenly father those tears become tears of joy rather than from frustration and dsiappointments. Through it all God has shown me that through my inabilities He has been able to use me much more than before when I was more interested in doing my own thing.The one item I have learned above all things and that has become my motto for life, "That no matter how bad I am there is always some one worse off than me". Let me thank you again for this story it does make one think. May God's Blessing be yours.
ReplyDeleteI have 12 physical problems. 4 are life threatening, I don't understand they all came within a 4 yr. period. They are permanent. Grace is the answer, as Paul even had to find out. This releases you to pray for others as Paul did and myself. Grace releases fear and stress.
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