We do not have a God who discounts or dismisses our struggles as necessary for the greater good. ... We have a God who guards great storehouses of our tears, each one known intimately, each one never forgotten, each one part of an ocean where love strokes the ripples and justice roars in the waves. Instead of using our pain, God bathes in the ocean of it with us.
The invisible nature of chronic conditions is common and widespread. In His kindness, God goes beyond seeing to supporting us in our afflictions.
Pain may insist that prayer will not “make it go away,” but prayer always engages me with the power and presence of Jesus Christ.
Let’s reframe the idea that we must be whole to be useful. We should throw out the useful part of that idea and the whole part (when used to mean mended). What if we could discover God’s power within our brokenness? What if instead of looking for usefulness in wholeness, we find a new and more dynamic power in God’s weakness-powered wholeness?
