Are Illness/Disability and Christian Ministry Incompatible? - Part 3

Reason 5

I am challenged also that we are called to live by faith and not by sight.  What we see and do is not the whole story of ministry. Ministry has to be about what God is doing.  Even though He uses us as 'clay pots' for His purposes, His purposes are greater than the obvious activity of the pot.  Just because in my scope of vision I 'see less' happening according to my idea of 'ministry accomplishments', does not mean God has stopped working.  God is much bigger than that!  Just like I mentioned in a previous blog post about marriage being an unexpected ministry, so is my illness/disability.  

Comments and questions from those around us have shown us that God has been pleased to demonstrate various aspects of Christian living through this situation such as: 

• A husband caring for his wife 'in sickness and in health' instead of sending her back to her village to be cared for by her mother; 
• not being ashamed of getting around in a wheelchair including even fully reclined in the wheelchair (laying horizontal) in public such as in church, and at a restaurant; 
• trusting God with joy and contentment even when healing does not come;
• God can still use someone in productive ministry with a disability.  

These are all 'behind the scenes' aspects of God at work - ministering - through us, aspects that may not be what we consider our main 'ministry'.  But in God's eyes and purposes, they are just as significant as any 'obvious' ministry that we envisaged.  God wants to reach people's hearts, and this has all been part of reaching hearts with the reality of the gospel.

Reason 6

We know very well that we are in the front line of a Spiritual Battle and our struggle is not ultimately with the 'physical' issues.  We are totally convinced that Satan doesn't want us here and in addition to health issues has tried again and again and again to discourage us and make us want to quit and go home.  And he will certainly make every effort to hamper ministry and try to inhibit the truth reaching people's hearts....and so we value your partnership in prayer in this battle as 'with thanksgiving' we make our requests to a loving and almighty heavenly Father.

Reason 7

But we have learnt (and are very much still learning) that God is sovereign and more powerful than Satan. In addition, this world's momentary troubles, are all about working God's eternal purposes in His world and in the hearts of folks here in Botswana. We are limited by our own perspective on the circumstances around us, and so we instead trust in God's sovereign plans and purposes in and for those circumstances.  Even what Satan plans for evil, God is busy planning for good (as the story of Joseph and his brothers demonstrated) 

By His grace, God is working greater plans than we can see, and we can also rest in the knowledge that we are on the 'victory side' and His promise is true that 'as your days, so shall your strength be'..... with your prayers, we are compelled to press on.  

So do I think that illness/disability and ministry are ultimately incompatible?

 - By God's grace, absolutely not!

Are Illness/Disability and Christian Ministry Incompatible? - Part 2

Reason 2

I am reminded of many great Christians down through the ages who have had significant ministry and impact all the while with a constant battle with a physical limitation/health challenge.  

I think of:

• William Wilberforce who battled terrible times of pain and discomfort with Collitis alongside his years of work to end the slave trade
• Amy Charmichael - missionary to India - who spent many years before her death, bed-bound, but it was during that time that she wrote her many books
• Joni Eareckson Tada who has spent over 40 years as a quadriplegic in a wheelchair and has more recently additionally battled ongoing severe pain and cancer but has had immeasurable impact across the world in her work to help the disabled
• many of our favourite hymns were written by folks who experienced significant physical/mental suffering..... not to mention Fanny Crosby who was blind

And this is not to mention the Apostle Paul who had a 'thorn in the flesh' throughout his whole ministry.  Now there are some who will argue that we don't know what the 'thorn in the flesh' actually was.  I have had one Pastor give me his argument for why he believes it was just 'persecution' in general and not a physical health issue.  I beg to disagree since I think there is a great deal to indicate it was a problem that affected him in some physical way, not least because: he ended up taking a medical doctor along as his travel companion; the thorn is specifically said to be 'in the flesh'; and whatever it was, he says in his own words that it kept him 'weak' and God said to him "My grace is sufficient for you; for My strength is made perfect in weakness". (2 Cor 12:9) Thus Paul was able to go on to say that instead of wanting his 'thorn' to disappear, that he could 'glory' (boast, gain honour) in his infirmities. 

We can attest that God takes the 'weak' things of this world to shame the strong! (1 Cor 1:27)

Reason 3

I also believe that God not only can use us in spite of our physical weaknesses, pain and limitations, but because of them.  The Apostle Paul tells us in Galations 4:13-15 that it was because of a physical infirmity that Paul came to first preach to the Galations.  Somehow it seems that some of Paul's plans were 'changed' and worked around his time of 'sickness', so as to end up in a position that he had to be in Galatia and because of that had opportunity to preach the gospel, that he otherwise was not planning. These 'changed' plans were actually the plans God wanted to happen. I think too of the boy that Jesus healed and explained that the reason the boy was sick was so that God's glory could be revealed through the boy!  God let him be physically 'ill' so that Jesus could come along and heal him!  We might say, 'but Jesus healed him'.  But while that may be true, firstly God let him be 'sick' for many, many years before that because He had a plan!  While this might be hard for us to understand, we must also remember that God's ways are higher than our ways!  We are to trust in the Lord and not our own understanding (Prov 3:5,6)  It is a great encouragement to know that whatever our circumstances, (including illness) that God has a much bigger plan in mind to grow us and bless others as He works all things together for good!

In my own situation, it is because of being laid 'horizontal' and unable to read because of the worst early stages of my POTS, that I began listening to audio books and sermons which 'gave birth' to the idea of a audio solar player of bible teaching as a discipleship tool to use here.  Thus we were led to connect with MegaVoice and team with them to produce a collection of 'Storyteller' players with messages on various topics and the "Pocket Preacher" with 2 years of daily discipleship material. I would never have thought of the idea nor had time to listen to all the files we have put onto the player except for the 'limitations' I found myself with.  What seemed to be limitations, were actually God's facilitations! God is definitely not limited by what we might see as limitations - He's much, much bigger than that!

Reason 4

Having said all this, I also believe that times of difficulty and testing, are also times for us to be reminded that any ministry that is God's work needs to be done in His strength and power.  Our own effort in our own strength will be ultimately useless and ineffectual. When things 'go wrong',  we are prompted again to turn to the Lord in prayer, seeking Him to act and intervene, acknowledging it is "not by might nor by power but by My Spirit" says the Lord, "and that  the battle belongs to the Lord".

Read on in Part 3 for Reasons 5,6 & 7.....

Are Illness/Disability and Christian Ministry Incompatible?

We have recently received two emails which caused me to think again about this topic.

Both were from Christian friends (one here and one overseas) and in a context that desired to encourage us and assure us of prayer, but included an inference....that illness and effective ministry were incompatible.

They said "Without good health it is pretty much impossible to work effectively." 

and

"Maybe you need to think about staying in Australia for a while until you are both fully recovered. I find Botswana difficult enough when well and it would be impossible for me to work here if I was sick..."

Now without a doubt, let there be no confusion about our perspective on this, life is a lot more 'easy' when a person is well!!!  These last weeks with my POTS and Andrew developing Pericarditis, in our human-ness we sure wish we were both at full health and strength, and from our human perspective it is easy to feel that ministry is being hampered by our current limitations. ....and we certainly do pray that within God's will, that he would bring us healing and enabling to be giving our full energies to particular aspects of ministry once again.  We don't have to think twice on that!

However, as we discussed these comments, it only took a moment to realise that a great part of our ministry here, since the beginning, has been in the midst of illness and disability of various kinds.  Very, very little of our time here as been 'smooth' and many bumps in the road have often been health related.  I also began to be reminded that while these comments from dear friends were said in love for us, I believe there are several reasons why God would have me view my circumstances differently....

Reason 1

We had hardly first arrived in Botswana when Andrew broke and dislocated his elbow which resulted in many weeks of pain, limitations and physiotherapy which completely 'disrupted' and curtailed all the mission's plans for our first 6 months of orientation and language/culture learning. (but they were the same disruptions that made the way possible as it had not been before, for me to be able to attend my only sibling's wedding!)

In fact these emails prompted me to actually list down all the significant illnesses/disabilities/injuries we have had between us since arriving in Botswana and I was actually shocked.  (And it didn't take into account various 'runny tummy bugs', migraines, flu, and allergy problems and various other minor issues.)

Yes, life in Bots is tough enough without physical weakness/illness as well, but its kind of like God has 'trained' us from the beginning to cope with being 'less than fully fit' in Botswana.  

- Andrew's been hospitalised twice, 

- got facial, hand and inhalation gas burns while catering for an event at church, 

- spent several months mostly in a wheelchair when a tibia stress fracture refused to heal, 

- he's had pneumonia, 

- had months of complications from a nerve block in his arm (used instead of an anaesthetic in a surgical procedure) with his arm in a sling

- And then there was the severe Arrhythmia that has plagued him the last 6 months (with pain and exhaustion) - the Doc was amazed he hadn't had  a heart attack by the time he saw him. 

- Since we have been here, he's been diagnosed with NCS, seriously low BP, and Klinefelter Syndrome

- and now the many weeks of weakness/recovery from Pericarditis

then...

- I've had some serious flues/ lung infections on the brink of Pneumonia, and developed Chronic Bronchitis, 

- had Salmonella, 

- tore a shoulder ligament

- had a year of a frozen shoulder

- and now Dysautonomia/POTS for the past 3.5 years keeping me mostly horizontal and using a recliner wheelchair for out-and-about mobility

...we never thought we would both be regular patients of a Cardiologist before we were 50!  

(But even in that, God has been so gracious and faithful to provide us with such a great cardiologist, so close and much more cheaply than if we had been in OZ.)  

Now we are not saying that our ailments are any worse than anyone else's but, it is a very real reminder that the thought that we need to be healthy for God to use us and for ministry to happen successfully, may not align with God's idea of success.....and if we needed to go home to Australia to recover, every time we had a 'serious' health issue, we would virtually never be in the place of ministry God had placed us!

Read on in Part 2 and Part 3 of more reasons as I consider this issue......