"My disease is my story—it's what makes me interesting and gives me purpose."
How it sounds in your head: My blog got followers when I shared my diagnosis journey. My testimony is about my illness. People relate to me because I'm sick. Without this struggle, what would I even talk about?
"And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death."
-- Revelation 12:11Enemy counterfeit of 'Romans 8:28' that makes the TRIAL the testimony instead of the TRIUMPH, keeping focus on problem instead of Provider.
Her vulnerability about illness got more engagement than anything else she'd posted. The chronic illness community gave her belonging she'd never felt before. The diagnosis gave her a narrative.
Disciples wanted to make his blindness the STORY ('who sinned?'). Jesus said neither—'this happened so that the works of God might be displayed' (v.3). His story wasn't BLINDNESS—it was the DISPLAY OF GOD'S GLORY when he got healed.
I REFUSE the lie that my disease is my story. IT IS WRITTEN that I overcome by the BLOOD of the Lamb, not by the narrative of my diagnosis. My purpose isn't found in being sick—it's found in being His. My interesting story is that the King of Glory calls me daughter, that I'm seated in heavenly places, that the same Spirit that raised Christ dwells in ME. IT IS WRITTEN in John 10:10 that Jesus came to give me ABUNDANT LIFE—that's the story. The BARAK blessing is my narrative—blessed coming in, going out, in city, in field. THAT'S what makes me interesting.
The Father didn't author your disease to give you a platform—He authored SALVATION to give you an identity. Your story was written in heaven before the diagnosis was written in your chart, and it's a story of GLORY, not just survival.