Perhaps you’ve received some news recently that has thrown you for a loop. Someone you love or care about is sick or dying. Or maybe someone close to you is struggling with the darkness of mental illness. Or maybe you yourself have had a health problem or a devastating diagnosis. In this life, we can be reasonably sure that none of us will be spared from suffering. How do we reckon our pain and suffering with a loving God who is supposed to take care of us? There’s a verse in first Peter that says, “After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” Our guests have found comfort in the truth that God is a God of healing and restoration, and that their suffering has produced endurance, strength, and knit them together in compassion for others. For this episode, we’ll hear from Meg Apperson, a mother of four who advocates for her special needs daughter Avery, and Karlie Green, a congenital heart disease survivor. 

Links, Products, and Resources Mentioned:

Jesus Calling Podcast

Jesus Calling

Jesus Listens

1 Peter 5:10 NIV

Past interview: Amanda Kloots

Upcoming interview: Granger Smith

Meg Apperson

Craniosynostosis

Single suture craniosynostosis

Sky Full of Stars: Learning to Surrender to God’s Perfect Plans

Karlie Green

Two Hearts, One Hope: A True Story of Enduring Faith in the Messiness of Life

Congenital heart disease

Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma

Interview Quotes:

“The Lord really supernaturally spared both my life and Avery's life by kind of shielding us from how involved her defects would turn out to be.” - Meg Apperson

“When you become a special needs parent, initially, your every thought is just consumed with either the present, how you're going to support this child, or you're learning how to meet their needs.” - Meg Apperson

“It's so hard to come into a place where you can kind of release that white-knuckled control over your life or your children's lives or your future. And so really, what I, as somebody who struggles with wanting to control things, I really just have to pray, you know, ‘Lord, help me, help me to be malleable. Helped me just be able to surrender.’” - Meg Apperson 

“The Lord is not surprised by our humanity. He made us human, and so He is not put off by the struggle to surrender.” - Meg Apperson

“There is light at the end of the tunnel. There is. And that light might not show up today, it might not show up tomorrow. But when you put your faith in God, when you start praying and really talking to Him and getting to know Him, you know, just like the Bible says, He does everything for the good.” - Karlie Green

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Enjoy watching these additional videos from Jesus Calling YouTube channel:

Audio Playlist: https://bit.ly/2PrbuwH

Video Playlist: https://bit.ly/2PsmEkJ

What’s Good? Playlist: https://bit.ly/3i7VUlZ

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