"My disability is punishment for something I or my parents did wrong."
How it sounds in your head: Sometimes I wonder if I'm disabled because of something bad I did, or maybe my parents sinned and I'm paying for it. Maybe God is mad at us and this is how He's showing it. Maybe if we were better Christians, this wouldn't have happened.
"And His disciples asked Him, saying, 'Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?' Jesus answered, 'Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.'"
-- John 9:2-3Religious teaching connecting suffering to sin, based on Old Covenant thinking that Jesus explicitly demolished.
He's heard teaching about 'reaping what you sow' and sees disability as evidence of divine punishment. Religious messages about suffering as consequence make him search for fault to explain his condition.
Blind from birth, everyone assumed it was punishment for sin. Jesus declared NO SIN caused it, then healed him with mud and spit—the delay from birth wasn't wasted years but setup for God's glory demonstration.
I REFUSE the lie that my disability is punishment for sin. IT IS WRITTEN that Jesus declared the man born blind was NOT disabled because of sin—his or his parents'—but to reveal God's works. My condition is not evidence of God's anger but opportunity for His glory. IT IS WRITTEN that there is NO condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. I am RIGHTEOUS by the blood, not by my body. I carry the BARAK blessing—the same blessing that protected Abraham when he LIED twice. I am not cursed. I am COVERED, LOVED, and FAVORED beyond measure.
The Father isn't punishing you—He's POSITIONING you for glory. Like the blind man's lifetime of darkness was setup for a miracle that made Pharisees tremble, your story is being written for HIS fame.