A
disability is NOT a blessing! I have heard this throughout my life, but hearing
someone else say it recently brought this gross misunderstanding back to my
mind. A lady told my mom, "My daughter has been blessed with two
diseases."
I looked up
the definition of blessing. It means "to bestow good of any kind upon." A disability is not good. It causes indescribable pain and torment for people.
I am in the process of writing a book about my life, detailing what I have went
through. It has NOT been good. I would not wish cerebral palsy on my worst
enemy.
Having to get four shots around my ankle last week was not a blessing.
Driving almost two hours both ways to Augusta every six months to get pain medicine is not a blessing.
Sleepless nights are not a blessing.
Being cut on and having extensive recoveries from surgeries is not a blessing.
What is even more disturbing is a well-known woman with a
disability says, "I am suffering for Jesus." I have news for everyone
reading this blog. I am NOT suffering for Jesus! He went to the Cross 2,000 years
ago and took every pain and disease known to man upon Himself so that we
wouldn't have to bear them. You may be asking, "Well, if Jesus took all
diseases for us, why are there so many disabilities like Lou Gehring's Disease,
muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, MS, and narcolepsy? I will tell you.
John 10:10 has the answer. "The thief comes only in
order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy
life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)."
Amplified Bible
The devil is the one who puts all sickness and disease on
humans. He wants to stop you from fulfilling God's plan for your life. God did
not "bless" anyone with diseases or disabilities. And He didn't put
sickness or a disability on you or a loved one to "teach you
something." He certainly didn't make me this way. Saying that is just like
saying, "Oh, God sat up in Heaven one day and said, "I'll give her
cerebral palsy." That's just not who He is.
Diseases and everything bad came as a result of what Adam did
in the Garden of Eden. Up until that point, everything was perfect. Adam didn't
know anything about pain.
Similarly, I am not suffering for Jesus. While the Bible
speaks of suffering, God is not talking about physical suffering. It's a
lie that many people have believed in order to feel better about what they are
going through. Most don't say it out loud, but they think, "This is for
God's glory! God's got something great for me to do because He gave me this
disability!" Friends, God had a wonderful plan for your life before your
parent's ever even thought about you. Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For
I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not
to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Study the Word and ask God to show you the truth. If you really desire to know the truth, He will reveal it to you. A disability does change your perspective, but it is not a blessing. I will never be one of those people who say it is.
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3 comments:
I think people get it wrong...it's not the disability that's the blessing...it's the strength, wisdom, empathy, compassion, love, etc. that comes from having a disability that's a blessing. I don't know much about what your going through but I know enough to know that your disability is not a blessing. But I know enough from my own suffering to know that all of my pain has made me a person that can understand another's suffering in a different way. You can relate to those going through things like you in a way that I never could...that is the blessing. The ability to minister to those hearts and show them that you can live an abundant life despite what the fall of man has brought upon you. I think it's up to us to use the pain that we have been cursed with and turn it into a blessing by reaching out past our own little world and bless someone else's suffering heart. And you are doing that, by sharing you story.
I get what you mean. People who separate a disabled person from their disability probably means well, but it's hard to ignore the fact that they are, in fact, experiencing a diverse predicament from those who are freely abled. A disability limits someone, but that doesn't mean they should left it define them. It just means they've come to terms with who they really are, and they don't need other people to shake up what took them to have plenty of courage to accept. Thanks for sharing that, Madison! All the best to you!
Jason Hayes @ DECO
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