{"id":306752,"date":"2021-03-01T07:00:04","date_gmt":"2021-03-01T12:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/%series%\/great-purpose-in-great-adversity\/"},"modified":"2021-03-01T07:00:04","modified_gmt":"2021-03-01T12:00:04","slug":"great-purpose-in-great-adversity","status":"publish","type":"podcast","link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/great-purpose-in-great-adversity\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Purpose in Great Adversity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>, author of the book &#8220;Walking Through Fire,&#8221; joins hosts Dave and Ann Wilson as she tells her story of how God has a purpose for her pain. Hear how she developed polio at 3 months of age and faced overwhelming adversity in her life.<\/p>\n<p>Show Notes and Resources<\/p>\n<p> \tDownload FamilyLife&#8217;s new app! https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/app\/<br \/>\n \tFind resources from this podcast at https:\/\/shop.familylife.com\/Products.aspx?categoryid=130.<br \/>\n \tCheck out all that&#8217;s available on the FamilyLife Podcast Network.\u00a0 https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/familylife-podcast-network\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Vaneetha Risner tells her story of how God has a purpose for her pain. Hear how she developed polio at 3 months of age and faced overwhelming adversity in her life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":294104,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"https:\/\/mp3.familylife.com\/fl2021-03-01.mp3","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"00:27:00","filesize":"24.72M","filesize_raw":"25925492","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":""},"categories":[2906,2860,2090],"tags":[4934],"podcast_series":[8431],"cwp_profile":[9695],"series":[2101],"class_list":["post-306752","podcast","type-podcast","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-becoming-a-christian","category-hardship-and-suffering","category-special-needs-child","tag-overcoming-adversity","podcast_series-walking-through-fire","cwp_profile-vaneetha-risner","series-familylife-today"],"acf":[],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2024\/09\/FLT-Podcast-Cover-2-508x508-3.jpg?w=508","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2023\/02\/image-scaled.jpg","download_link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast-download\/306752\/great-purpose-in-great-adversity","player_link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast-player\/306752\/great-purpose-in-great-adversity","audio_player":null,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"light","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/familylife-today\/id212174303?mt=2&app=podcast","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/0j5UaKdQOHQCuo1bt0ebEm","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"},"youtube":{"key":"youtube","url":"","label":"YouTube","class":"youtube","icon":"youtube.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/feed\/podcast\/familylife-today","embedCode":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"cYVA2jbShc\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/great-purpose-in-great-adversity\/\">Great Purpose in Great Adversity<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/great-purpose-in-great-adversity\/embed\/#?secret=cYVA2jbShc\" width=\"500\" height=\"350\" title=\"&#8220;Great Purpose in Great Adversity&#8221; &#8212; FamilyLife\u00ae - A Cru Ministry\" data-secret=\"cYVA2jbShc\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script>\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/\/# sourceURL=https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-includes\/js\/wp-embed.min.js\n<\/script>\n"},"spectra_custom_meta":{"_wp_page_template":["default"],"transcript_url":[""],"audio_file":["https:\/\/mp3.familylife.com\/fl2021-03-01.mp3"],"transcript_content":["<strong>Bob: <\/strong>As a child, Vaneetha Risner was diagnosed with polio, a disease that would affect every aspect of her life for the rest of her life. That\u2019s something she began to recognize very early.\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> I had just been out of the hospital, and I had been in for a year. One day, walking a little bit home from school by myself\u2014my parents rented an apartment <em>exactly<\/em> opposite my school\u2014so I was going to surprise my mom. These boys came up from behind a rock. They started throwing stones at me, and they called me a cripple. That was my first memory of: \u201cThe world is not safe. I\u2019m <em>not<\/em> going to be protected.\u201d\n\n<strong>Bob: <\/strong>This is <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em> for Monday, March 1<sup>st<\/sup>. Our hosts are Dave and Ann Wilson; I'm Bob Lepine. You can find us online at FamilyLifeToday.com. Growing up with a disability can bring more than just physical challenges. That\u2019s something that Vaneetha Risner learned as a child. We\u2019ll hear from her today about how God met her in the midst of that challenge. Stay with us.\n\n<strong>Bob: <\/strong>And welcome to <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em>. Thanks for joining us. I did an interview many years ago, before I came to FamilyLife<sup>\u00ae<\/sup>, with and author, who\u2014\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> I got to say, \u201cYou\u2019ve done <em>a lot<\/em> of interviews.\u201d\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> I\u2019ve done a lot of interviews. [Laughter] This was with an author who had been through significant adversity in his life. I remember asking him the question: \u201cIf we could go back to the beginning, and I could say, \u2018You can have that adversity removed from your life and live a trouble-free\u2019\u2014or your know, not trouble-free, but\u2014\u2018a less-troubling life?\u2019\u201d He said, \u201cNo; what I\u2019ve learned about God, I would not trade for less trouble.\u201d\n\nI did not believe him and am still not sure; you know?\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> Yes.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> I mean, you meet somebody, who\u2019s going through real pain and adversity, and you think, \u201cWho would choose that?\u201d\u2014nobody would choose that.\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> Yes, you would opt out of that struggle. It\u2019s a hard question too: \u201cWhy does God allow that?\u201d\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Yes.\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> I tell you  as you ask that question, Bob, I\u2019m thinking, \u201cOkay, the pain I\u2019ve gone through in my life\u2014with divorced parents\/my little brother dying\u2014I initially think, I wouldn\u2019t trade it.\u201d\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Really?\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> As horrible as it was, it\u2019s who I am. It\u2019s shaped\u2014\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> It\u2019s shaped you.\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> It\u2019s shaped me into the man that I am today.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> We have a guest joining us this week who has been through adversity. Vaneetha Risner is joining us. Vaneetha, welcome to <em>FamilyLife Today.<\/em>\n\n<em>\u00a0<\/em>\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong>  you. It\u2019s great to be here.\n\n<strong>Bob: <\/strong>Just that smile and joy in your voice\u2014\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> That\u2019s what I was going to say, Bob. [Laughter] What would you expect her to be like?\u2014[monotone voice] \u201cHi, I\u2019m here\u201d?\u00a0 [Laughter]\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> It almost betrays  you\u2019ve lived through in your life because, as you\u2019ve shared in your new book, which is called <em>Walking Through Fire<\/em>, you have had a life  has been marked by adversity.\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> It has; but I  say\u2014also to your point, Bob\u2014I feel like my life has been marked by joy because everything that God has taken away, He\u2019s given me <em>so much<\/em> back in Himself.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> So you understand why those of us, who have not gone through what you\u2019ve gone through, hear you say that and go, \u201cYou\u2019re just putting a spin on this to try to live with the adversity you have dealt with.\u201d Do you understand how we would feel that way?\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> Yes, I do. I think, before I had gone through all of this, I would look at people\u2019s lives that were really hard and think, \u201cI couldn\u2019t go through this\/that; and if I had to, I would be angry at God, and I would hate life.\u201d I feel like the harder life has gotten, the more joy God has given me, which sounds\u2014\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> \u2014miraculous.\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> \u2014crazy.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Yes.\n\n<strong>Ann: <\/strong>Yes!\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> But I am actually  than most people I know.\n\n<strong>Dave: <\/strong> got to be honest\u2014and we\u2019re going to get into your story because the listener, yet, doesn\u2019t know the suffering you went through\u2014but even when I hear you now, I\u2019m like, \u201cIt can\u2019t be true.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Yes.\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> \u201cIt can\u2019t be <em>that real<\/em> in terms of your joy.\u201d When I <em>read<\/em> it\u2014and we\u2019re going to get there\u2014I was like, \u201cOkay, I can\u2019t wait to meet her; because I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s <em>possible<\/em> what she\u2019s saying.\u201d I\u2019m looking at you with this smile, going, \u201cIt\u2019s real!\u201d\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> I think we were all curious because we\u2019ve all read your book; and we were all like, \u201cWow! She <em>exudes<\/em> the love of Jesus and joy in her life.\u201d\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Your adversity wasn\u2019t something that came after you\u2019d had 30 years of trouble-free existence. You developed polio in your childhood; right?\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> Yes, I did.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> I didn\u2019t even know there were still people who were contracting polio. We all think that polio is one of those things that\u2019s gone; that we\u2019ve eradicated it. But share how that diagnosis came about and what you remember from all of that.\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> I was actually three months old, so I don\u2019t remember when it happened. I was in India. In India, they give the polio vaccine at six months. I was three months old; I had 105 degree fever, so my mom took me to the doctor. They thought I had typhoid; so they gave me cortisone, which lowers your fever, but it also lowers your immune system.\n\nWithin 24 hours, they think, I was probably paralyzed then. Then went back to the doctor. The doctor said, \u201cOh, I think she has polio.\u201d They said basically, at that point, there\u2019s nothing they could do for me. I was a quadriplegic; I could not move my arms or my legs.\n\nThe  told my parents they needed to leave India; because in India, several things: one, their medicine wasn\u2019t as advanced as the Western world. But secondly, in India, with a disability, you have a <em>huge <\/em>disadvantage. People think you\u2019ve done something wrong; your family is cursed, so there are <em>no<\/em> services for people  disability; there\u2019s no accessibility. They basically said to my parents: \u201cIf you want anything for her, you\u2019re going to have to leave.\u201d\n\nMy parents did. My dad was a professor, in India, in electrical engineering. They left immediately and went to London. My dad took a job installing telephones.\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> Your family went from sort of a plush, aristocratic lifestyle to what?\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> \u2014to close to poverty. I mean, my mom said, at the time, you couldn\u2019t take any money out of India; so they went with almost nothing. She said they couldn\u2019t afford hot water, so they just used the cold water and slept on a mattress on the floor.\n\n<strong>Bob: <\/strong>Wow!\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> Vaneetha, what did your life, as a little girl, turn out to be? What happened?\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> I had my first surgery in England when I was two. Then my dad got a job in Canada, so we moved to Canada. I went to a free hospital called the Shriners Hospital. At the time, it was the Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children; and kids would live there, basically. I lived in the Shriners Hospital for years\u2014not\u2014one time, I lived there for a year continuously. I was in a body cast, so I was flat on my back in a ward with about 14 other girls.\n\nI spent\/I would say, every year, I would spend, at least, three months in the hospital. Life for me was this mix of: being at home\/being with my family, going to \u201cnormal school,\u201d and being in the hospital.\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> Do you remember how your parents dealt with this?\u2014because, as we hear your story, this fact goes back to <em>human error<\/em>.\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> Yes.\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> It\u2019s one thing when it\u2019s out of your control. But when you can put a name on a person that is somewhat responsible, that\u2019s extremely hard to deal with. Do you remember how your parents, or even you, dealt with it?\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> I think my parents dealt with it by their faith in God. I didn\u2019t have faith in God at that point; I was actually very angry at God. But I think my mom and dad both saw: \u201cGod has done this, and God is going to use it\u201d; and they didn\u2019t know how.\n\n<strong>Bob: <\/strong>Tell us how they came to faith; because India is not known for people, who have faith in God.\n\n<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> That is an <em>amazing <\/em>story on <em>both<\/em>  [of my family]. Both sides, I would say, in the 1800s, had people that were converted. On my dad\u2019s side, my great, great, great grandfather was part of a Hindu Brahman family. His father was a priest, but they had him educated in a Christian school so they could learn English; and he came to Christ then. It\u2019s pretty incredible; like his dad was so angry about it. When he came home from school one day, he had all the family jewels on one side of this huge scale\/all their money, and the Bible on the other. He said, \u201cYou need to choose.\u201d He picked up the Bible and <em>never<\/em> saw his family \n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Wow!\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> Wow!\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> \u2014that\u2019s one side.\n\nThen the other side was a similar story. Actually, my great, great grandfather was a merchant and was in a bazaar, looking at things; and somebody gave him the Gospel of John in a tract. He read it and said, \u201cThis is truth,\u201d and came to Christ, and had to leave his family; because there was so much persecution for becoming a Christian.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> So they [Vaneetha\u2019s parents] were believers from childhood.\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> Yes.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> They had grown up in the faith. That foundation gave them something to hang onto when their daughter was misdiagnosed and mis-treated in the hospital.\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> Yes.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> For you though\u2014I was thinking about it\u2014you said you were angry with God. This was really all you\u2019d ever known. This was your normal.\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> Right.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> When did you start to process: \u201cWait, this is <em>my<\/em> normal; but I\u2019m getting the raw end of the deal here. Not everybody has to suffer like I do\u201d?\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> Two different  one way in the hospital\/in the ward, there was a TV. I remember watching TV, thinking, \u201cThis is not my life.\u201d I would watch TV and see kids\n\ndoing things and thinking, \u201cI\u2019ll never do that.\u201d It almost felt sort of surreal, like I was a kid in a candy store, sort of pressing my face against a window to see things that I would never have; that was one picture.\n\nAs well, as when I was home, I was really bullied. When I was seven\u2014I learned to walk at seven\u2014and I remember one day walking a little bit home from school by myself\u2014my parents rented an apartment <em>exactly<\/em> opposite my school\u2014so I was going to surprise my mom. These kids\/boys came up from behind a rock. They started throwing stones at me, and they called me a cripple.\n\nI didn\u2019t know how to <em>process that<\/em>. I didn\u2019t even know what that exactly <em>meant<\/em>. I had <em>just<\/em> been out of the hospital, and I had been in for a year. That was my first memory of: \u201cThe world is not safe; I\u2019m not going to be protected.\u201d That is when I remember just feeling angry when my parents would talk to me about God.\n\nI feel like before that\u2014that just sort of made sense to me\u2014\u201cOkay, there\u2019s a God.\u201d But when I saw that I was really discriminated against\/made fun of, and everybody else\u2019s life seemed to be really good, <em>that\u2019s<\/em> when I started getting angry.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Were you on crutches throughout your childhood\/in a wheelchair?\u2014what was it?\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong>  that, I had braces. I never had crutches, because my arms are <em>much<\/em> weaker than my legs. I would walk with braces and sort of hold onto the walls or people would help me. My parents would carry me around a lot when I was little. They had this thing that they didn\u2019t want me to be in a wheelchair, because their goal was always for me to walk; so I did not use a wheelchair. Then after I was seven, I didn\u2019t need braces or anything; I could walk. But the time between then was a lot of being carried around; scooting around, really on my bottom, when I went through our house; and not going that many places; and lots of surgeries.\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> How many surgeries did you have?\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> I\u2019ve had 21 operations before I was 13; and since, I\u2019ve had a few as well.\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> Wow! I can see how you would have this anger and angst toward God.\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> I just thought, \u201cGod doesn\u2019t care about me.\u201d When people would say that\u2014that \u201c<em>God really cares about you<\/em>,\u201d\u2014I  thought, \u201cYou have <em>no<\/em> idea what I\u2019ve been through. If you <em>did<\/em>, you wouldn\u2019t say that.\u201d\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> Did you have hope for your future?\n\n<strong>Vaneetha<\/strong>: No; I really didn\u2019t have any vision of what the future could look like for me. I wouldn\u2019t say I ever thought about going to college or living a normal life, because I thought I felt like I was probably going to be at home with my parents.\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> I can\u2019t  your daughter, who spent a year in a cast, gets out and is walking home from school, and gets bullied\u2014as a parent\u2014\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Yes.\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> \u2014I don\u2019t care how great my faith is\u2014[Laughter]\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> What would you do?\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> \u2014there\u2019s part of me thinking, \u201cThose kids are going to\/they\u2019re going to hear from me. I am <em>so<\/em> angry. They do not  little precious daughter is starting a whole new life, and she gets picked on, on the way home.\u201d I mean, how did they respond?\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> I did not tell them.\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> Oh.\n\n<strong>Vaneetha<\/strong>: I didn\u2019t want them to know, because I was <em>embarrassed<\/em>; I thought I had done something wrong. I\u2019ve read that\u2019s what happens when people are bullied; they feel like it\u2019s their fault. I would try to walk straighter, because of my limp. I tried to do everything to blend in more and assumed it was something that I had done; so didn\u2019t tell my parents about <em>any <\/em>of the  All through grade school, I was bullied; and I didn\u2019t tell anyone.\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> Well, you got a little older.\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> Yes.\n\n<strong>Ann: <\/strong>Did life start looking a little more normal in terms of comparing it to other kids?\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> It did. When I got to high school, I started to kind of reframe. I made some friends; and I thought, \u201cOkay, this might be okay. I might be able to have a normal life.\u201d Got involved in FCA\/Fellowship of Christian Athletes, not because I was an athlete <em>or<\/em> a Christian; but all the cute guys in my high school went to FCA, so I was all about that. [Laughter]\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> I like that. You said you sat in the back row with your friend.\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> Yes!\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> What did you talk about?\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> We talked about all the cute guys; that\u2019s <em>all<\/em> we talked  [Laughter] I <em>don\u2019t<\/em> really remember  they said anything else in FCA, besides looking around. Then one day, though, she came back\u2014she went on a retreat\u2014and she said to me, \u201cGod is real.\u201d I remember she just kept talking to me about it.\n\nOne night, I went home; and I just said, \u201cGod, if You <em>are<\/em> real, show me.\u201d I really didn\u2019t expect an answer; I didn\u2019t think that God was listening. I went to bed and didn\u2019t really think much about it. But the next day, I remember getting up and thinking, \u201cYou know what? If God is real, then maybe I should see what the Bible says. I opened the Bible; and I just was asking God, \u201cWhy\/why did this happen? If you really love me, and if You\u2019re real, then show me why this happened,\u201d\u2014and flipped open the Bible to Leviticus\u2014\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> Oh, no! [Laughter]\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> \u2014and just thought, \u201cOkay, wow! This is exactly what I thought the Bible was about.\u201d [Laughter] Then I moved on to some other passages. Then I just asked one more time, \u201cGod show me.\u201d I flipped open to John 9, and the passage where the disciples are talking to Jesus. They see a man blind from birth; and they ask, \u201cWho sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?\u201d\n\nJesus says, \u201cIt is not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the work of God could be displayed in his life.\u201d That was the defining moment for me. It felt that God was answering my question\u2014not \u201c<em>What<\/em> had I done?\u201d\u2014but \u201cW<em>hy?\u201d<\/em> of \u201cIs there a purpose?\u201d Those are very different questions. It wasn\u2019t the question I had asked, but it was the answer I needed. \u201cThere is a purpose\u201d; it felt like God was talking to me.\n\nThat\u2019s what I <em>love<\/em> about the Bible\u2014is God can actually <em>talk<\/em> to us\u2014I don\u2019t think I had ever seen that or even heard that concept before. I remember just saying, \u201cOkay; God, You know me. You heard my question. You gave me the answer for the purpose of my life: That I could glorify You.\u201d I committed my life to Christ <em>then<\/em> and really had a very different outlook than I had before, where I had no hope; because it felt like: \u201cWhat had I done?\u201d \u201cWhy did this happen?\u201d \u201cWhat was the meaning?\u201d\n\n God to say, \u201cThere is meaning and there\u2019s purpose, even though you may not know it,\u201d\u2014knowing there is purpose changes everything.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> I remember being a young dad. I think our daughter was about three years old; Mary Ann was pregnant with number two. We were out, walking around the neighborhood, with Amy in the stroller.\n\nMary Ann and I had this conversation\u2014this almost sounds terrible to say\u2014but we kind of agreed with one another that, if we had the choice between one of the two of us going through suffering or our child going through suffering\u2014I mean, I would feel terrible if Mary Ann had to go through an experience of suffering\u2014but it\u2019s almost like, \u201cYou\u2019re a big girl; you can handle this.\u201d But a three-year-old\u2014if your three-year-old is going through this\/your two-year-old\u2014if you\u2019re my seven-year-old, in, a year, in a body cast\u2014I\u2019d be crying out to God and saying, \u201cLord how can this be Your good purpose for her\/for us?\u201d Did your parents\u2014was their faith, at all, shaken by what their daughter was having to go through?\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> I think my mom\u2014and this is, actually, a really kind of amazing story\u2014when I got polio, my mom cried out to God, like, \u201cWhat did I do? Show me if I\u2019ve been sinning and this is sort of what You\u2019ve brought into my life.\u201d God assured her, \u201cNo, it wasn\u2019t,\u201d\u2014but He used the exact same passage from John 9\u2014that is the verse that my mom really clung to, like: \u201cGod is going to use her life\u201d; but I didn\u2019t know that. The other thing is\u2014my mom said she prayed, and prayed, and prayed when I got polio\u2014and she had this strange sense that God said, \u201cI\u2019m going to make her whole at 16\u201d; I came to Christ at 16.\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> And you were healed in a way.\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> Yes, I gave my testimony\u2014my mom was teaching a Sunday school class, and I gave my testimony\u2014she asked me to. I had <em>never<\/em> given it to her; she started <em>sobbing<\/em> in the back. I went over to her afterwards, and I said, \u201cWhy are you crying so much?\u201d She said two things: \u201cOne,\u00a0 that was the verse that God gave me,\u201d and \u201cTwo, I had always thought you would be whole at 16; and that is <em>exactly<\/em> what you are.\u201d\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> If God had given you a son or a daughter with polio\/with an infirmity\u2014or if you were talking to parents today, who have got a child like this\u2014what would you tell them? What\u2019s the best thing they can do as they raise a child, who\u2019s wrestling with: \u201cIs God good?\u201d \u201cWhat about my body? What about my limitations?\u201d What\u2019s your counsel to them?\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> I think I would tell them to trust God, because it\u2019s a long game; and that they don\u2019t need to see their child commit their life to Jesus, or to trust that this is good, right then. Because I feel, when people try to push that on someone, when they\u2019re not ready, it turns them away from faith. But saying, \u201cI don\u2019t know why this happened; but I know God is going to use it, and God loves you. But this is <em>hard<\/em>. I want to sit with you, and I want to cry with you, and I want to be there for you through every second of it.\u201d\n\nI think parents, who try to over-spiritualize it, for me\/to kids, could turn them against God more than help them. I think just saying: \u201cI do know God is in this,\u201d and \u201cGod is with you,\u201d is very helpful.\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> I do know\u2014and I would agree with all of you\u2014that to watch our kids go through pain is one of the <em>greatest sufferings<\/em> that a parent goes through.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Yes.\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> We just mourn and we ache for them, sometimes more than they ache for themselves. I\u2019ve shared this before, but our oldest son has ADD. As he was going through school, I mean, it was a <em>struggle<\/em>. I just would watch him, and this is <em>nothing<\/em> compared to polio or being\u2014having all these surgeries\u2014this is <em>nothing<\/em>; and yet, I watched him struggle; I watched him change a little bit.\n\nI was <em>mad<\/em> at God. I asked those same questions: \u201cI don\u2019t get it, God. What would be the <em>purpose<\/em> to this?\u201d Sometimes I  say that flippantly. But then I started praying it fervently, saying, \u201cGod <em>show<\/em> me the purpose. I need Your wisdom; I need Your answer.\u201d\n\nI\u2019d get pretty strong; I\u2019m like, \u201cI\u2019m going to fast until I hear from you.\u201d Well, I didn\u2019t know it would go for days. [Laughter] It\u2019s day <em>seven<\/em>, and I said, \u201cI\u2019m not going to eat until I hear from you,\u201d thinking I would hear from Him right away. On day seven, I was praying again, like, \u201cLord, I just don\u2019t see the sense. I <em>need<\/em> to hear from you. I <em>need<\/em> Your wisdom through people, or through Your Word, or something to give me hope for him.\u201d\n\nI was reading in Exodus. It\u2019s when God had given the instructions to Moses. Moses was battling with God, saying, \u201cI can\u2019t speak; I can\u2019t free these people, [paraphrased]\u201d and God\u2019s response to Moses was\u2014and this is the first\u2014I\u2019d read this <em>tons<\/em> of times\u2014but God said to Moses, \u201cDid I not make the blind? Did I not make the mute?\u201d [Paraphrased] It stopped me; I was thinking like, \u201cWhat? Wait! What does that mean?\u201d I felt like, in my spirit, God was saying, \u201cDo you think I\u2019m surprised by what has happened and what your son is going through? Do you not think My hand is in it?\u201d\n\nIt was the <em>first<\/em> time I felt like, \u201cOkay; if You are in this, then I can walk through it; and I will trust You with him, and I will trust Your future for him.\u201d I had a freedom and a sense of: \u201cOkay, Lord.\u201d Sometimes, I think we give up too early in hearing from God. We need to be on our knees and fasting; we need to be in the Word; we need to be with people that are counselling us with wise counselling, because <em>God wants to speak to us<\/em>.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong>  if this was all you\u2019d ever had to walk through, that\u2019s\u2014\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> \u2014hard enough.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> \u2014that\u2019s a lot. But this was really a foundation for what was ahead for you. In fact, you share about, in your book, the various trials you\u2019ve found yourself walking through in your life. It\u2019s really a remarkable story. It\u2019s called <em>Walking Through  A Memoir of Loss and Redemption <\/em>.\n\nWe\u2019re  Vaneetha\u2019s book available this week to any of our listeners, who would like to hear the rest of the story, and who can help support the ministry of FamilyLife with a donation. Your donations are the lifeblood of this ministry. Your financial support makes everything we do, here, at FamilyLife possible.\n\nWhen you donate, you are responsible for hundreds of thousands of people every day receiving practical biblical help and hope, encouragement, support for their marriage\/for their family. You make all of that possible through your donations. If you can help with a donation today, we\u2019d love to send you a copy of Vaneetha\u2019s book, <em>Walking Through Fire: A Memoir of Loss and Redemption.<\/em>\n\nYou can request the book when you make a donation, online, at FamilyLifeToday.com; or you can call 1-800-FL-TODAY to make your donation by phone. Be sure to ask for your copy of Vaneetha\u2019s book, <em>Walking Through Fire<\/em>, when you get in touch with us. Again, donate, online, at FamilyLifeToday.com; or call to donate: 1-800-358-6329; that\u2019s 1-800-\u201cF\u201d as in family, \u201cL\u201d as in life, and then the word, \u201cTODAY.\u201d On behalf of the hundreds of thousands of folks you\u2019ll be touching when you make your donation, thank you for your support of the ministry of <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em>. We  it.\n\nNow, tomorrow, we\u2019re going to hear about another one of the challenging chapters in your life, Vaneetha, when your son, Paul, who was seven weeks old, had to be rushed to the hospital. We\u2019ll get details about that tomorrow. Vaneetha will be with us again. I hope you can be here as well.\n\nI want to thank our engineer today, Keith Lynch, with some help today from Bruce Goff, and our entire broadcast production team. On behalf of our hosts, Dave and Ann Wilson, I\u2019m Bob Lepine. We will see you back tomorrow for another edition of <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em>.\n\n<em>FamilyLife Today<\/em> is a production of FamilyLife of Little Rock, Arkansas; a Cru<sup>\u00ae <\/sup>Ministry. Help for today. Hope for tomorrow.\n\n<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>\n\nWe are so happy to provide these transcripts to you. However, there is a cost to produce them for our website. If you\u2019ve benefited from the broadcast transcripts, would you consider <a href=\"http:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/donate\">donating today<\/a> to help defray the costs?\n\nCopyright <sup>\u00a9<\/sup> 2021 FamilyLife. 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Risner tells her story of how God has a purpose for her pain. Hear how she developed polio at 3 months of age and faced overwhelming adversity in her life.","meta_box":{"show_notes":"","transcript_url":"","transcript_content":"<strong>Bob: <\/strong>As a child, Vaneetha Risner was diagnosed with polio, a disease that would affect every aspect of her life for the rest of her life. That\u2019s something she began to recognize very early.\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> I had just been out of the hospital, and I had been in for a year. One day, walking a little bit home from school by myself\u2014my parents rented an apartment <em>exactly<\/em> opposite my school\u2014so I was going to surprise my mom. These boys came up from behind a rock. They started throwing stones at me, and they called me a cripple. That was my first memory of: \u201cThe world is not safe. I\u2019m <em>not<\/em> going to be protected.\u201d\n\n<strong>Bob: <\/strong>This is <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em> for Monday, March 1<sup>st<\/sup>. Our hosts are Dave and Ann Wilson; I'm Bob Lepine. You can find us online at FamilyLifeToday.com. Growing up with a disability can bring more than just physical challenges. That\u2019s something that Vaneetha Risner learned as a child. We\u2019ll hear from her today about how God met her in the midst of that challenge. Stay with us.\n\n<strong>Bob: <\/strong>And welcome to <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em>. Thanks for joining us. I did an interview many years ago, before I came to FamilyLife<sup>\u00ae<\/sup>, with and author, who\u2014\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> I got to say, \u201cYou\u2019ve done <em>a lot<\/em> of interviews.\u201d\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> I\u2019ve done a lot of interviews. [Laughter] This was with an author who had been through significant adversity in his life. I remember asking him the question: \u201cIf we could go back to the beginning, and I could say, \u2018You can have that adversity removed from your life and live a trouble-free\u2019\u2014or your know, not trouble-free, but\u2014\u2018a less-troubling life?\u2019\u201d He said, \u201cNo; what I\u2019ve learned about God, I would not trade for less trouble.\u201d\n\nI did not believe him and am still not sure; you know?\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> Yes.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> I mean, you meet somebody, who\u2019s going through real pain and adversity, and you think, \u201cWho would choose that?\u201d\u2014nobody would choose that.\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> Yes, you would opt out of that struggle. It\u2019s a hard question too: \u201cWhy does God allow that?\u201d\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Yes.\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> I tell you  as you ask that question, Bob, I\u2019m thinking, \u201cOkay, the pain I\u2019ve gone through in my life\u2014with divorced parents\/my little brother dying\u2014I initially think, I wouldn\u2019t trade it.\u201d\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Really?\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> As horrible as it was, it\u2019s who I am. It\u2019s shaped\u2014\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> It\u2019s shaped you.\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> It\u2019s shaped me into the man that I am today.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> We have a guest joining us this week who has been through adversity. Vaneetha Risner is joining us. Vaneetha, welcome to <em>FamilyLife Today.<\/em>\n\n<em>\u00a0<\/em>\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong>  you. It\u2019s great to be here.\n\n<strong>Bob: <\/strong>Just that smile and joy in your voice\u2014\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> That\u2019s what I was going to say, Bob. [Laughter] What would you expect her to be like?\u2014[monotone voice] \u201cHi, I\u2019m here\u201d?\u00a0 [Laughter]\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> It almost betrays  you\u2019ve lived through in your life because, as you\u2019ve shared in your new book, which is called <em>Walking Through Fire<\/em>, you have had a life  has been marked by adversity.\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> It has; but I  say\u2014also to your point, Bob\u2014I feel like my life has been marked by joy because everything that God has taken away, He\u2019s given me <em>so much<\/em> back in Himself.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> So you understand why those of us, who have not gone through what you\u2019ve gone through, hear you say that and go, \u201cYou\u2019re just putting a spin on this to try to live with the adversity you have dealt with.\u201d Do you understand how we would feel that way?\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> Yes, I do. I think, before I had gone through all of this, I would look at people\u2019s lives that were really hard and think, \u201cI couldn\u2019t go through this\/that; and if I had to, I would be angry at God, and I would hate life.\u201d I feel like the harder life has gotten, the more joy God has given me, which sounds\u2014\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> \u2014miraculous.\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> \u2014crazy.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Yes.\n\n<strong>Ann: <\/strong>Yes!\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> But I am actually  than most people I know.\n\n<strong>Dave: <\/strong> got to be honest\u2014and we\u2019re going to get into your story because the listener, yet, doesn\u2019t know the suffering you went through\u2014but even when I hear you now, I\u2019m like, \u201cIt can\u2019t be true.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Yes.\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> \u201cIt can\u2019t be <em>that real<\/em> in terms of your joy.\u201d When I <em>read<\/em> it\u2014and we\u2019re going to get there\u2014I was like, \u201cOkay, I can\u2019t wait to meet her; because I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s <em>possible<\/em> what she\u2019s saying.\u201d I\u2019m looking at you with this smile, going, \u201cIt\u2019s real!\u201d\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> I think we were all curious because we\u2019ve all read your book; and we were all like, \u201cWow! She <em>exudes<\/em> the love of Jesus and joy in her life.\u201d\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Your adversity wasn\u2019t something that came after you\u2019d had 30 years of trouble-free existence. You developed polio in your childhood; right?\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> Yes, I did.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> I didn\u2019t even know there were still people who were contracting polio. We all think that polio is one of those things that\u2019s gone; that we\u2019ve eradicated it. But share how that diagnosis came about and what you remember from all of that.\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> I was actually three months old, so I don\u2019t remember when it happened. I was in India. In India, they give the polio vaccine at six months. I was three months old; I had 105 degree fever, so my mom took me to the doctor. They thought I had typhoid; so they gave me cortisone, which lowers your fever, but it also lowers your immune system.\n\nWithin 24 hours, they think, I was probably paralyzed then. Then went back to the doctor. The doctor said, \u201cOh, I think she has polio.\u201d They said basically, at that point, there\u2019s nothing they could do for me. I was a quadriplegic; I could not move my arms or my legs.\n\nThe  told my parents they needed to leave India; because in India, several things: one, their medicine wasn\u2019t as advanced as the Western world. But secondly, in India, with a disability, you have a <em>huge <\/em>disadvantage. People think you\u2019ve done something wrong; your family is cursed, so there are <em>no<\/em> services for people  disability; there\u2019s no accessibility. They basically said to my parents: \u201cIf you want anything for her, you\u2019re going to have to leave.\u201d\n\nMy parents did. My dad was a professor, in India, in electrical engineering. They left immediately and went to London. My dad took a job installing telephones.\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> Your family went from sort of a plush, aristocratic lifestyle to what?\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> \u2014to close to poverty. I mean, my mom said, at the time, you couldn\u2019t take any money out of India; so they went with almost nothing. She said they couldn\u2019t afford hot water, so they just used the cold water and slept on a mattress on the floor.\n\n<strong>Bob: <\/strong>Wow!\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> Vaneetha, what did your life, as a little girl, turn out to be? What happened?\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> I had my first surgery in England when I was two. Then my dad got a job in Canada, so we moved to Canada. I went to a free hospital called the Shriners Hospital. At the time, it was the Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children; and kids would live there, basically. I lived in the Shriners Hospital for years\u2014not\u2014one time, I lived there for a year continuously. I was in a body cast, so I was flat on my back in a ward with about 14 other girls.\n\nI spent\/I would say, every year, I would spend, at least, three months in the hospital. Life for me was this mix of: being at home\/being with my family, going to \u201cnormal school,\u201d and being in the hospital.\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> Do you remember how your parents dealt with this?\u2014because, as we hear your story, this fact goes back to <em>human error<\/em>.\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> Yes.\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> It\u2019s one thing when it\u2019s out of your control. But when you can put a name on a person that is somewhat responsible, that\u2019s extremely hard to deal with. Do you remember how your parents, or even you, dealt with it?\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> I think my parents dealt with it by their faith in God. I didn\u2019t have faith in God at that point; I was actually very angry at God. But I think my mom and dad both saw: \u201cGod has done this, and God is going to use it\u201d; and they didn\u2019t know how.\n\n<strong>Bob: <\/strong>Tell us how they came to faith; because India is not known for people, who have faith in God.\n\n<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> That is an <em>amazing <\/em>story on <em>both<\/em>  [of my family]. Both sides, I would say, in the 1800s, had people that were converted. On my dad\u2019s side, my great, great, great grandfather was part of a Hindu Brahman family. His father was a priest, but they had him educated in a Christian school so they could learn English; and he came to Christ then. It\u2019s pretty incredible; like his dad was so angry about it. When he came home from school one day, he had all the family jewels on one side of this huge scale\/all their money, and the Bible on the other. He said, \u201cYou need to choose.\u201d He picked up the Bible and <em>never<\/em> saw his family \n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Wow!\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> Wow!\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> \u2014that\u2019s one side.\n\nThen the other side was a similar story. Actually, my great, great grandfather was a merchant and was in a bazaar, looking at things; and somebody gave him the Gospel of John in a tract. He read it and said, \u201cThis is truth,\u201d and came to Christ, and had to leave his family; because there was so much persecution for becoming a Christian.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> So they [Vaneetha\u2019s parents] were believers from childhood.\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> Yes.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> They had grown up in the faith. That foundation gave them something to hang onto when their daughter was misdiagnosed and mis-treated in the hospital.\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> Yes.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> For you though\u2014I was thinking about it\u2014you said you were angry with God. This was really all you\u2019d ever known. This was your normal.\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> Right.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> When did you start to process: \u201cWait, this is <em>my<\/em> normal; but I\u2019m getting the raw end of the deal here. Not everybody has to suffer like I do\u201d?\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> Two different  one way in the hospital\/in the ward, there was a TV. I remember watching TV, thinking, \u201cThis is not my life.\u201d I would watch TV and see kids\n\ndoing things and thinking, \u201cI\u2019ll never do that.\u201d It almost felt sort of surreal, like I was a kid in a candy store, sort of pressing my face against a window to see things that I would never have; that was one picture.\n\nAs well, as when I was home, I was really bullied. When I was seven\u2014I learned to walk at seven\u2014and I remember one day walking a little bit home from school by myself\u2014my parents rented an apartment <em>exactly<\/em> opposite my school\u2014so I was going to surprise my mom. These kids\/boys came up from behind a rock. They started throwing stones at me, and they called me a cripple.\n\nI didn\u2019t know how to <em>process that<\/em>. I didn\u2019t even know what that exactly <em>meant<\/em>. I had <em>just<\/em> been out of the hospital, and I had been in for a year. That was my first memory of: \u201cThe world is not safe; I\u2019m not going to be protected.\u201d That is when I remember just feeling angry when my parents would talk to me about God.\n\nI feel like before that\u2014that just sort of made sense to me\u2014\u201cOkay, there\u2019s a God.\u201d But when I saw that I was really discriminated against\/made fun of, and everybody else\u2019s life seemed to be really good, <em>that\u2019s<\/em> when I started getting angry.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Were you on crutches throughout your childhood\/in a wheelchair?\u2014what was it?\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong>  that, I had braces. I never had crutches, because my arms are <em>much<\/em> weaker than my legs. I would walk with braces and sort of hold onto the walls or people would help me. My parents would carry me around a lot when I was little. They had this thing that they didn\u2019t want me to be in a wheelchair, because their goal was always for me to walk; so I did not use a wheelchair. Then after I was seven, I didn\u2019t need braces or anything; I could walk. But the time between then was a lot of being carried around; scooting around, really on my bottom, when I went through our house; and not going that many places; and lots of surgeries.\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> How many surgeries did you have?\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> I\u2019ve had 21 operations before I was 13; and since, I\u2019ve had a few as well.\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> Wow! I can see how you would have this anger and angst toward God.\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> I just thought, \u201cGod doesn\u2019t care about me.\u201d When people would say that\u2014that \u201c<em>God really cares about you<\/em>,\u201d\u2014I  thought, \u201cYou have <em>no<\/em> idea what I\u2019ve been through. If you <em>did<\/em>, you wouldn\u2019t say that.\u201d\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> Did you have hope for your future?\n\n<strong>Vaneetha<\/strong>: No; I really didn\u2019t have any vision of what the future could look like for me. I wouldn\u2019t say I ever thought about going to college or living a normal life, because I thought I felt like I was probably going to be at home with my parents.\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> I can\u2019t  your daughter, who spent a year in a cast, gets out and is walking home from school, and gets bullied\u2014as a parent\u2014\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Yes.\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> \u2014I don\u2019t care how great my faith is\u2014[Laughter]\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> What would you do?\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> \u2014there\u2019s part of me thinking, \u201cThose kids are going to\/they\u2019re going to hear from me. I am <em>so<\/em> angry. They do not  little precious daughter is starting a whole new life, and she gets picked on, on the way home.\u201d I mean, how did they respond?\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> I did not tell them.\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> Oh.\n\n<strong>Vaneetha<\/strong>: I didn\u2019t want them to know, because I was <em>embarrassed<\/em>; I thought I had done something wrong. I\u2019ve read that\u2019s what happens when people are bullied; they feel like it\u2019s their fault. I would try to walk straighter, because of my limp. I tried to do everything to blend in more and assumed it was something that I had done; so didn\u2019t tell my parents about <em>any <\/em>of the  All through grade school, I was bullied; and I didn\u2019t tell anyone.\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> Well, you got a little older.\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> Yes.\n\n<strong>Ann: <\/strong>Did life start looking a little more normal in terms of comparing it to other kids?\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> It did. When I got to high school, I started to kind of reframe. I made some friends; and I thought, \u201cOkay, this might be okay. I might be able to have a normal life.\u201d Got involved in FCA\/Fellowship of Christian Athletes, not because I was an athlete <em>or<\/em> a Christian; but all the cute guys in my high school went to FCA, so I was all about that. [Laughter]\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> I like that. You said you sat in the back row with your friend.\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> Yes!\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> What did you talk about?\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> We talked about all the cute guys; that\u2019s <em>all<\/em> we talked  [Laughter] I <em>don\u2019t<\/em> really remember  they said anything else in FCA, besides looking around. Then one day, though, she came back\u2014she went on a retreat\u2014and she said to me, \u201cGod is real.\u201d I remember she just kept talking to me about it.\n\nOne night, I went home; and I just said, \u201cGod, if You <em>are<\/em> real, show me.\u201d I really didn\u2019t expect an answer; I didn\u2019t think that God was listening. I went to bed and didn\u2019t really think much about it. But the next day, I remember getting up and thinking, \u201cYou know what? If God is real, then maybe I should see what the Bible says. I opened the Bible; and I just was asking God, \u201cWhy\/why did this happen? If you really love me, and if You\u2019re real, then show me why this happened,\u201d\u2014and flipped open the Bible to Leviticus\u2014\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> Oh, no! [Laughter]\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> \u2014and just thought, \u201cOkay, wow! This is exactly what I thought the Bible was about.\u201d [Laughter] Then I moved on to some other passages. Then I just asked one more time, \u201cGod show me.\u201d I flipped open to John 9, and the passage where the disciples are talking to Jesus. They see a man blind from birth; and they ask, \u201cWho sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?\u201d\n\nJesus says, \u201cIt is not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the work of God could be displayed in his life.\u201d That was the defining moment for me. It felt that God was answering my question\u2014not \u201c<em>What<\/em> had I done?\u201d\u2014but \u201cW<em>hy?\u201d<\/em> of \u201cIs there a purpose?\u201d Those are very different questions. It wasn\u2019t the question I had asked, but it was the answer I needed. \u201cThere is a purpose\u201d; it felt like God was talking to me.\n\nThat\u2019s what I <em>love<\/em> about the Bible\u2014is God can actually <em>talk<\/em> to us\u2014I don\u2019t think I had ever seen that or even heard that concept before. I remember just saying, \u201cOkay; God, You know me. You heard my question. You gave me the answer for the purpose of my life: That I could glorify You.\u201d I committed my life to Christ <em>then<\/em> and really had a very different outlook than I had before, where I had no hope; because it felt like: \u201cWhat had I done?\u201d \u201cWhy did this happen?\u201d \u201cWhat was the meaning?\u201d\n\n God to say, \u201cThere is meaning and there\u2019s purpose, even though you may not know it,\u201d\u2014knowing there is purpose changes everything.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> I remember being a young dad. I think our daughter was about three years old; Mary Ann was pregnant with number two. We were out, walking around the neighborhood, with Amy in the stroller.\n\nMary Ann and I had this conversation\u2014this almost sounds terrible to say\u2014but we kind of agreed with one another that, if we had the choice between one of the two of us going through suffering or our child going through suffering\u2014I mean, I would feel terrible if Mary Ann had to go through an experience of suffering\u2014but it\u2019s almost like, \u201cYou\u2019re a big girl; you can handle this.\u201d But a three-year-old\u2014if your three-year-old is going through this\/your two-year-old\u2014if you\u2019re my seven-year-old, in, a year, in a body cast\u2014I\u2019d be crying out to God and saying, \u201cLord how can this be Your good purpose for her\/for us?\u201d Did your parents\u2014was their faith, at all, shaken by what their daughter was having to go through?\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> I think my mom\u2014and this is, actually, a really kind of amazing story\u2014when I got polio, my mom cried out to God, like, \u201cWhat did I do? Show me if I\u2019ve been sinning and this is sort of what You\u2019ve brought into my life.\u201d God assured her, \u201cNo, it wasn\u2019t,\u201d\u2014but He used the exact same passage from John 9\u2014that is the verse that my mom really clung to, like: \u201cGod is going to use her life\u201d; but I didn\u2019t know that. The other thing is\u2014my mom said she prayed, and prayed, and prayed when I got polio\u2014and she had this strange sense that God said, \u201cI\u2019m going to make her whole at 16\u201d; I came to Christ at 16.\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> And you were healed in a way.\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> Yes, I gave my testimony\u2014my mom was teaching a Sunday school class, and I gave my testimony\u2014she asked me to. I had <em>never<\/em> given it to her; she started <em>sobbing<\/em> in the back. I went over to her afterwards, and I said, \u201cWhy are you crying so much?\u201d She said two things: \u201cOne,\u00a0 that was the verse that God gave me,\u201d and \u201cTwo, I had always thought you would be whole at 16; and that is <em>exactly<\/em> what you are.\u201d\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> If God had given you a son or a daughter with polio\/with an infirmity\u2014or if you were talking to parents today, who have got a child like this\u2014what would you tell them? What\u2019s the best thing they can do as they raise a child, who\u2019s wrestling with: \u201cIs God good?\u201d \u201cWhat about my body? What about my limitations?\u201d What\u2019s your counsel to them?\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> I think I would tell them to trust God, because it\u2019s a long game; and that they don\u2019t need to see their child commit their life to Jesus, or to trust that this is good, right then. Because I feel, when people try to push that on someone, when they\u2019re not ready, it turns them away from faith. But saying, \u201cI don\u2019t know why this happened; but I know God is going to use it, and God loves you. But this is <em>hard<\/em>. I want to sit with you, and I want to cry with you, and I want to be there for you through every second of it.\u201d\n\nI think parents, who try to over-spiritualize it, for me\/to kids, could turn them against God more than help them. I think just saying: \u201cI do know God is in this,\u201d and \u201cGod is with you,\u201d is very helpful.\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> I do know\u2014and I would agree with all of you\u2014that to watch our kids go through pain is one of the <em>greatest sufferings<\/em> that a parent goes through.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Yes.\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> We just mourn and we ache for them, sometimes more than they ache for themselves. I\u2019ve shared this before, but our oldest son has ADD. As he was going through school, I mean, it was a <em>struggle<\/em>. I just would watch him, and this is <em>nothing<\/em> compared to polio or being\u2014having all these surgeries\u2014this is <em>nothing<\/em>; and yet, I watched him struggle; I watched him change a little bit.\n\nI was <em>mad<\/em> at God. I asked those same questions: \u201cI don\u2019t get it, God. What would be the <em>purpose<\/em> to this?\u201d Sometimes I  say that flippantly. But then I started praying it fervently, saying, \u201cGod <em>show<\/em> me the purpose. I need Your wisdom; I need Your answer.\u201d\n\nI\u2019d get pretty strong; I\u2019m like, \u201cI\u2019m going to fast until I hear from you.\u201d Well, I didn\u2019t know it would go for days. [Laughter] It\u2019s day <em>seven<\/em>, and I said, \u201cI\u2019m not going to eat until I hear from you,\u201d thinking I would hear from Him right away. On day seven, I was praying again, like, \u201cLord, I just don\u2019t see the sense. I <em>need<\/em> to hear from you. I <em>need<\/em> Your wisdom through people, or through Your Word, or something to give me hope for him.\u201d\n\nI was reading in Exodus. It\u2019s when God had given the instructions to Moses. Moses was battling with God, saying, \u201cI can\u2019t speak; I can\u2019t free these people, [paraphrased]\u201d and God\u2019s response to Moses was\u2014and this is the first\u2014I\u2019d read this <em>tons<\/em> of times\u2014but God said to Moses, \u201cDid I not make the blind? Did I not make the mute?\u201d [Paraphrased] It stopped me; I was thinking like, \u201cWhat? Wait! What does that mean?\u201d I felt like, in my spirit, God was saying, \u201cDo you think I\u2019m surprised by what has happened and what your son is going through? Do you not think My hand is in it?\u201d\n\nIt was the <em>first<\/em> time I felt like, \u201cOkay; if You are in this, then I can walk through it; and I will trust You with him, and I will trust Your future for him.\u201d I had a freedom and a sense of: \u201cOkay, Lord.\u201d Sometimes, I think we give up too early in hearing from God. We need to be on our knees and fasting; we need to be in the Word; we need to be with people that are counselling us with wise counselling, because <em>God wants to speak to us<\/em>.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong>  if this was all you\u2019d ever had to walk through, that\u2019s\u2014\n\n<strong>Vaneetha:<\/strong> \u2014hard enough.\n\n<strong>Bob:<\/strong> \u2014that\u2019s a lot. But this was really a foundation for what was ahead for you. In fact, you share about, in your book, the various trials you\u2019ve found yourself walking through in your life. It\u2019s really a remarkable story. It\u2019s called <em>Walking Through  A Memoir of Loss and Redemption <\/em>.\n\nWe\u2019re  Vaneetha\u2019s book available this week to any of our listeners, who would like to hear the rest of the story, and who can help support the ministry of FamilyLife with a donation. Your donations are the lifeblood of this ministry. Your financial support makes everything we do, here, at FamilyLife possible.\n\nWhen you donate, you are responsible for hundreds of thousands of people every day receiving practical biblical help and hope, encouragement, support for their marriage\/for their family. You make all of that possible through your donations. If you can help with a donation today, we\u2019d love to send you a copy of Vaneetha\u2019s book, <em>Walking Through Fire: A Memoir of Loss and Redemption.<\/em>\n\nYou can request the book when you make a donation, online, at FamilyLifeToday.com; or you can call 1-800-FL-TODAY to make your donation by phone. Be sure to ask for your copy of Vaneetha\u2019s book, <em>Walking Through Fire<\/em>, when you get in touch with us. Again, donate, online, at FamilyLifeToday.com; or call to donate: 1-800-358-6329; that\u2019s 1-800-\u201cF\u201d as in family, \u201cL\u201d as in life, and then the word, \u201cTODAY.\u201d On behalf of the hundreds of thousands of folks you\u2019ll be touching when you make your donation, thank you for your support of the ministry of <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em>. We  it.\n\nNow, tomorrow, we\u2019re going to hear about another one of the challenging chapters in your life, Vaneetha, when your son, Paul, who was seven weeks old, had to be rushed to the hospital. We\u2019ll get details about that tomorrow. Vaneetha will be with us again. I hope you can be here as well.\n\nI want to thank our engineer today, Keith Lynch, with some help today from Bruce Goff, and our entire broadcast production team. On behalf of our hosts, Dave and Ann Wilson, I\u2019m Bob Lepine. We will see you back tomorrow for another edition of <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em>.\n\n<em>FamilyLife Today<\/em> is a production of FamilyLife of Little Rock, Arkansas; a Cru<sup>\u00ae <\/sup>Ministry. Help for today. Hope for tomorrow.\n\n<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>\n\nWe are so happy to provide these transcripts to you. However, there is a cost to produce them for our website. If you\u2019ve benefited from the broadcast transcripts, would you consider <a href=\"http:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/donate\">donating today<\/a> to help defray the costs?\n\nCopyright <sup>\u00a9<\/sup> 2021 FamilyLife. 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