Welcome to Day 2 of our #GodlyAdventure. Tiffany Montgomery is sharing encouragement for walking with God through chronic illness. It’s a tough subject to navigate between diagnosis and healing, but here’s what to do.
Walking with God sounds so simple, easy in fact. And it is when life is good and everything is going well. But Trusting God and continuing to walk with Him when life is hard – or when you are diagnosed with an incurable disease – is anything but easy. Walking with God through sickness requires a level of trust I had not expected.
Hi, my name is Tiffany Montgomery and I have an autoimmune disease. There’s no cure for it, the best doctors can do is treat the symptoms and monitor the body systems it attacks.
I am now dealing with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis or Chronic Illness
My prayers range from “God please heal me” to “What is your plan with this illness in my life God?” “’Why did you let this illness into my life? You could have stopped it – said not this one – but You didn’t.” I even whine at Him a bit with “Why are there incurable diseases in this world at all?”
There is fear in my heart about the unknown in my future now. My children are so small and I want to enjoy raising them– watching them start their own family. I worry I will miss important parts of it now because I am sick and in pain so often.
How can I trust God? Can I continue walking with God through Chronic Illness?
I feel the temptation to walk away from Him whisper in my ear. After all, He could have healed me and yet He chose not to. Then I am reminded of Paul and Job and Moses – even Jesus Christ Himself.
These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world. John 16:33 NASB
The life of a Christian is not free of pain and suffering. In fact, we are repeatedly told it will be hard and then given example after example of how God can use the hard parts to be glorified and win the lost world to Himself.
Moving from Questioning God to Trusting God
Have you been walking with God long?
I met Him when I was 5 years old and immediately fell in love with His unconditional love. That supernatural love that loved me first, made a way for our relationship, then sought me out to purchase me with His blood… it is an extravagant love.
God’s love has been wrapped around the good, bad and the ugly parts of my life.
- Through abuse and neglect.
- PTSD as a youth.
- Bad relationship after bad relationship – leading to tremendous loss.
- In the darkest hours – when I thought the world would be better off without me.
- Years of depression and anxiety.
He caught me time after time.
Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Deuteronomy 31:6 NASB
Trusting God has been a slow process. It started with a child’s prayer and has matured as I’ve seen He won’t let me go or let me fall.
Trusting God has been a slow process. It started with a child's prayer and has matured as I've seen He won't let me go or let me fall.Click To TweetHave you experienced that kind of extravagant love?
About 15 years ago God began to teach me what it meant to surrender my life fully to Him. I was saved, but I had been keeping parts of my life apart from Him. You see I was not fully trusting Him.
I was angry at Him for allowing the abuse and pain that seemed to plague my life. He could have stopped it, said no Satan – not today – not this child. But He allowed it and I feared He would allow more to come. So I justified compartmentalizing our relationship.
Do you trust God with every part of your life?
Now I start the day thanking Him for the blessing of a new day and handing my life over – freshly surrendered – to Him to do whatever He wants. “Your Will be Done in my life Lord.”
Surrender and Trust go hand in hand when Walking with God
What I’ve learned over a decade of surrender to God… When I hold onto parts of my life -not surrendered to God – I miss blessings from Him. Blessings come in unexpected packages when you surrender everything to God.
- Surprising friendships
- Healed and restored relationships
- A strengthened Marriage
- Freedom from the resentment and bitterness that held me captive from years of refusing to Forgive
- The ability to give and bless others
- Wisdom to mentor others
- A ministry orchestrated by God to encourage women
Walking with God through Chronic Illness is not easy
I wish there was a handbook to surviving and thriving in life with a Chronic Illness. Expect this. Avoid that. Embrace this. Move here. Try that. But there are so many illnesses in our world and they affect us all differently.
There are days I don’t have the energy to get out of bed. Some days start well and by midday, I am in tears from the pain. My ability to focus has changed. There are limits on what I can accomplish now that were never there before.
Even my quiet time has had to change.
But I feel like God was preparing me for it all along. Every hardship added a piece to my Spiritual Armor. Each pain – that God never left me through – built my faith and ability to Trust Him.
I can continue walking with God through Chronic illness because He has walked with me through everything.
Has God been faithful in your life? I am reminded of that old hymn “Great is Thy Faithfulness.” As He has been, He forever will be.
We can trust Him – even through Chronic Illness. He’ll be there with us even on the worst days. He won’t let go of our hand when we are crying out in pain.
Do you struggle to Trust God when life gets hard? Do you have a Chronic Illness as well? I would love to pray for you as you continue walking with God. Would you drop a comment below so I can add you to my prayer list?
Jesus Girl | Wife of Bud | Homeschooling Mom | Owner & Writer at HopeJoyInChrist.com | Rising Entrepreneur | Louisville KY
Tiffany is a Jesus Girl with a passion to Encourage and Equip Wives and Moms through practical Biblical Discipleship. She loves to unite with biblically minded women to grow their Christian Marriages inside her growing Facebook Community!
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What a blessing this series will be to so many women all over the Kingdom!
Agreed, Tiffany! I love how He walks with us through everything!
Thank you for this article. I was just diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder and I find myself asking, “Why, God?” too many times to count. He is so good, and I was recently born again. Thank you again for sharing your story!
Thanks for stopping by, Rachael! I’m so glad this helped!
Tiffany,
Thank you for sharing some of your journey with us.
I once moved out of state to help a friend who had this very disease.
She tried for many years to find answers and she had young children too.
To say this road is hard is an understate but you are right to be lifted up by God’s word, and knowing this time on earth is only part. You are in my prayers, and I would love to send snail mail to you if you are up for it? (Encouragement, fun cards, etc)
I struggled alone with many things for most of my life so finding people who understand PTSD/anxiety has helped me open up and begin to heal.
Let me know about the mail idea.
Blessings!
What a fun idea. Let’s chat by e-mail. Find me at tiffanymontgomery@hopejoyinchrist dot com
Praying for you today.
Thank you for sharing a bit of your story with us. Living with chronic illness is not easy as a few of my friends tell me. I have watched them live with their pain and have seen their faith in action as they continue to trust in God despite their circumstances. Or is that, in the midst of their circumstances? Either way, pain, no matter what kind of pain, can be used to draw us closer to Jesus, closer to God our Father and when we do that, we bring Him glory.
Praying for you today, Tiffany. May you have a ‘good’ day in the Lord!
Amen to that. Pain has a way of sanctifying us. The key is to Trust HIM.
Thank you Tiffany for your honesty. People don’t understand these invisible illnesses and it can be so hard. I have Fibromyalgia, have had it for many years. In the last 2 years I’ve developed chronic migraines with constant vertigo, which has disabled me. My children are grown, I cant imagine homeschooling, although I know God does provide enough for each day, so when it’s not enough to do what you planned move into God’s plan for the day.
God bless you!
I second that. God’s plan is best… and I am learning to rest in HIS grace.
Praying for you today… for your healing… for strength and peace in the plan God has for you.
Please pray for my husband, Mark. He has cancer. Thank you.
That’s such a scary diagnosis. My prayers are with you both.
Tiffany- thank you for sharing with us your journey and also tackling a tough to talk about subject. 🙂 Blessings
Praying God will use it to bless others. Praying for you tonight.
Wow! “Do you trust God with every part of your life?” Thank you for sharing about such a personal and tough topic 💕
~Katherine
It’s a blessing to serve. Praying over you today that God blesses you and your family.
I so enjoyed reading your article on chronic illness. I to suffer with a very rare autoimmune disease. I have grown closer to GOD through this valley in my life. My faith has grown strong. He is my refuge, He’s my hope, and He gives me piece. Romans 12: 12 is my life verse!
Hello,
Thank you so much for your courage in sharing your testimony and speaking on this topic. Invisible illnesses are very hard to live with! I didn’t even know what fibromyalgia is, but I have it! On a rollacoaster ride with God atm. That makes so much sense, I do trust him in certain areas and some not! Does this just change over time? Please can you pray that out from this illness I would learn to live for God alone and know his peace what ever the circumstance!! Love, Alexandra
Thank you! I have been struggling to find the energy and commitment to study God’s word like I used to through my pain. And after passing out in Sunday school from it last week I was feeling so frustrated and worried. I was glad to stumble on this post 🙂