“We find contentment when we look to Jesus within our pain rather than waiting for the pain to go. Laying out our suffering before God and others – and refusing to let bitterness become our script – allows us to reach further into the depths of God and find unexpected treasure.
If contentment seems elusive to you, remember that God’s love is far bigger, far wider than we can know…” – Liz Carter
Healing prayer can be really hard emotionally for those with chronic illness receiving prayer.
Why? When the healing doesn’t happen we want someone to blame.
My interview for New Wine Conference, where I spoke to 2000 people. In just 12 minutes of video I tell my story, talk about how chronic illness impacts your faith, and what helps to survive when God doesn’t answer your prayers.
We’ve all said the wrong thing at some point or another…
I put out a question on Facebook about what churches should and shouldn’t do for people with ME – and got almost 100 responses. Some of the stories made me weep – Christians with ME not finding a safe place in churches because leaders believed they were faking their illness for attention. I wanted to represent those answers, along with the facts of ME, in this article for Premier Christianity – but it was a challenge in 800 words!
It’s much easier to draw a correlation in the Bible between good followers of God who have suffered, than good people who haven’t. My interview (30 minutes audio or transcript) on disability and M.E. for Off The Page.
I am Tanya Marlow, sick with ME for twenty years, housebound for the last six, one of the millions missing.
Because of ME, I miss playing with my son at the park, singing opera arias properly; I miss the freedom of going round to friends’ houses for meals or coffee, I miss walking hand in hand with my husband; I miss my ministry in church.
I miss running.
To the person who feels everlastingly behind, behind, behind—you are not forgotten. You don’t have to catch up. This is just Winter. Spring will come. You’re doing just fine.
I have a story about being miraculously healed, but I also have one about not being healed.
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Tanya Marlow blogs on the Bible, suffering and the messy edges of life [read more]