August 29, 2024 • 30 mins
Facing life's toughest trials can either strengthen or shatter one's faith.
Long-term suffering often leaves us yearning for miraculous interventions, yet this doesn't happen to everyone who cries out to God.
In this episode, host Helen Todd explores an incredible journey of finding purpose in and through suffering with author Ben Locke. Ben opens up about his severe illness that abruptly halted his promising career as a collegiate athelete, overcoming the trauma of sexual abuse and how he found solace in writing, a therapeutic outlet that eventually led to his journal being published by Zondervan.
Through Ben's heartfelt narrative, this episode navigates the immense struggle of maintaining belief amidst personal crises. Ben shares the raw and often painful process of stripping away superficial identities to discover a deeper connection with God. Listen to his candid reflections on wrestling with feelings of anger, loss, and confusion, and learn how his gradual journey towards true understanding of faith offers a relatable and comforting perspective for those dealing with similar hardships.
Ben's story reveals a profound truth about enduring pain and finding divine purpose. This episode highlights the delicate balance of living with chronic pain and emotional trials, emphasizing the realization of God's sufficiency and grace.
You can purchase Ben Locke's book "In our suffering, Lord, be near" here: https://www.amazon.com/Our-Suffering-Lord-Be-Near/dp/0310465117
Visit Wordl Missions Alliance website: https://rfwma.org/
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Limitless Spirit, a weekly podcast with
host Helen Todd, where sheinterviews guests about pursuing
spiritual growth, discoveringlife's purpose through serving
others and developing a deeperfaith in Christ.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Welcome to Limitless Spirit, a podcast about living a
purposeful life in Christ.
Life is a bumpy journey andthere are seasons that can be
extremely challenging,especially when they involve
prolonged suffering and pain.
Whether it is a chronic illnessor grief over loss of a loved
(00:39):
one, the pain that does not havea quick resolution can
challenge our faith, ourrelationships, our hope.
It can either drive you closerto God or away from him.
What is the deciding factor inhow we respond to suffering?
Are there secrets to endurancethrough it?
(00:59):
These are the questions Idiscuss in today's interview
with Ben Locke.
His first and only book so farwas published by Zondervan this
year and has resonated withthousands of readers who are
dealing with the isolation andthe challenges of prolonged
suffering.
Hello, ben, welcome to theLimitless Spirit.
(01:25):
How are you today?
Speaker 3 (01:26):
I'm doing pretty well , Helen.
Thank you for having me.
I'm happy to be here.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Well, I'm very excited to talk to you about
your book, because I think youhave touched on a very important
subject no-transcript.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
I never really set out to do that.
I talk a little bit about thisin the book, I think.
But I think there's somethingbeautiful about that I was never
really setting out to write abook.
I didn't really wake up one dayand say today's the day I'm
going to start writing my storyand kind of chronicling what's
been going on in my life.
I started writing out of a placeof necessity.
I got very, very sick becauseof some things that had happened
(02:33):
to me and my body sort of justshut down, and so I ended up in
a place where, physically, I wason bedrest for about two and a
half years, and so I had gottensick enough to the point where
writing was really one of theonly ways I could express myself
.
It was one of the only things Icould do.
And so not only that, butreally the fact that I was just
(02:53):
writing sort of to expressmyself, it was sort of a means
of therapy for me more thananything.
And so that's really how theprocess of writing started and
it's now become something whichis really exciting and really
great.
But that was really not myintention in the first place.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
And in your bio you mentioned that there was some
kind of divine intervention oran unusual experience that
caused this book to even bepublished.
Let's talk about that.
I love stories like that.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Yeah.
So as, as I mentioned, I had anotebook.
Basically I was just journaling, I was, I was keeping track of
my thoughts in a journal, I wasI was writing my prayers down,
and I got through that journal,literally filled up every page,
kind of put it, put it to theside, and a couple months later
I gave it to my sister.
Me and her are very close.
I gave it to her, I was like,hey, I wrote some stuff I would
love for you to have this andjust read it.
(03:44):
And she ended up.
Shortly after that, she moved toa different city, a different
state kind of a couple of statesfrom where I live here in
Tennessee.
And about a year after that Ireached out to her and I was
like, hey, do you still havethat notebook that I gave you?
And, sure enough, she was like,yeah, it's on my bedside table,
it's on a shelf in my room.
I read it all the time and Ilove it.
And so she sent it back to meand the process of getting it
(04:08):
into the hands of the publisherthat I ended up with, which was
HarperCollins, was really justcrazy.
I explored self-publishing, Iexplored all these different
options and ultimately what ledto getting it to the publisher
was just a series of me reachingout to some folks and getting
one person sort of led to thenext person, and so I didn't
realize it at the time.
Now I do, now that I've learneda little bit more about the
(04:29):
publishing industry.
But that process is very rare,it's very unique to do that, and
so it was really.
You know, god had plans for methat I just did not.
I was not aware of at all atthe time.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Indeed, you know, for a first time, author to be
published by a very well-knownpublisher is a huge deal.
So that alone is an indicationin my mind that God was behind
it, and also that the book isvery, very good.
So your life journey startedseemingly pretty bright.
(05:06):
You were a collegiate athlete,obviously had a successful path
in sports, so tell us a littlebit about this part of your
journey.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Yeah, so I was a soccer player my whole life.
I started playing soccer prettymuch as soon as I could walk.
I was three or four years oldand, to be totally honest with
you, it picked up pretty quickly.
I was playing kind of at thehighest level of competition by
the time I was six or seven, andthat really carried me all the
way through my younger years.
And then, once I got to middleschool, high school that's sort
of the time where when you'replaying competitive sports, it's
(05:40):
like, okay, you're going to beable to play at the next level
or you're not, and usuallythat's a college scholarship and
then hopefully go playprofessional.
And so that's the trajectorythat I was on.
And actually when I was 16, Iwas going into my junior year of
high school my family decidedto move.
So we were in Northeast Ohio,decided to move to the South,
and the area we were moving tohad no, it just was not a soccer
area no-transcript started tofall off slowly but surely a
(06:36):
little bit for me, but it was aprocess of getting injured.
And then I was actuallyexperiencing sexual abuse at the
hands of my trainer because ofmy injuries.
And then one injury led to thenext and one you know, so forth
and so on, and so that's withoutgetting into too much detail
Now.
I'm sure we'll come back tothat.
That was.
That was sort of how my soccerstory played out.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
It's interesting because I think that when a
person has a natural gift orability or talent, you know,
like soccer or athletic abilityIn your case, you feel sort of
favored by God.
You know, you have to recognize.
I don't know, Were you aChristian as you were growing up
?
Did you know the Lord?
Speaker 3 (07:15):
No, yeah, well, it's interesting.
I think those are two differentquestions.
I think that I thought I did.
I believed in God is sort ofhow I talk about it a lot.
I believed in God, sort of likeI know somebody on TV who I've
never met before, and so I hadthis notion that I was walking
with God.
And it wasn't until my lifereally started to get difficult
(07:35):
and I started to lose things andI started to be stripped of
things.
That I realized very quicklyactually I don't know God at all
.
I do not know who he is.
I don't think he knows who I.
Well, he knows who I am, but Idon't know who he is.
And, as you mentioned, not onlydo I think we get this notion
that we're favored when we'rehaving success in the world, but
also that can so quickly becomeour identity.
And that's exactly whathappened to me Soccer and I
(07:57):
don't think I knew itconsciously, but subconsciously
it was everything to me.
I was a soccer player and so ifmy career was going well, I was
doing well and I was favored,as you mentioned and then, as
soon as things started to not gowell, it was like, okay, well,
who am I outside of the sport.
What am I, what do people thinkof me?
And so it's so easily becomesyour identity, and that's what
happened to me.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
And so I think it adds I mean, suffering is not
easy for anyone, but it adds toyour suffering knowing that your
life was going in this upwardtrajectory and all of a sudden
it takes a deep dive.
It had to be an additionaltrauma knowing that, all of a
(08:38):
sudden, you're not the favoredone.
If nothing else, you are reallybeing punished for something
that you're not aware of, by Godmaybe and it's interesting
because here there are two pathsthat the person can take.
You know you either it eitherbrings you closer to God and
takes you on a journey towardsGod, or it drives you away and
(09:03):
puts you on a completelydifferent and maybe even
destructive path.
So what is that deciding point?
Because I think this is achoice that each one of us makes
when we unexpectedly are throwninto a turmoil or crisis in
life.
What is the deciding pointthere?
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Yeah, it's a fantastic question and it's
interesting for me because Ifeel like I chose both.
I've had periods in my lifewhere I chose both.
So I look at the last 10 yearsI'm 27 years old, so it's been
about 10 years since I left thehouse and at first, when things
started to go wrong, I chose toturn my back on the Lord.
So my first injury and sort ofwhen things initially began to
(09:46):
fall apart, I was seekingidentity and opportunities and
meaning in the world.
I turned to worldly things, torelationships, to vices and all
the sorts, and so that was myfirst attempt at trying to
respond to sort of the traumaand the difficulty that I was
facing.
And then things just continuedto happen and continue to sort
(10:08):
of pile on to one another.
That eventually three, four,five, six really severe, to be
totally honest, personal lifesituations happened, all
culminating in a car accident,was actually sort of the last
nail in the coffin for me, andto the point where I physically
could not get out of bed, and soit was.
That was sort of the secondpoint that you mentioned, which
(10:29):
is like, okay, I have to decideif I'm going to choose something
like the Lord or I'm going tochoose the world.
It's really a matter of lifeand death for me.
Now it's gotten that extreme,and so that was the decision to
say, okay, if those are my twooptions, I'm going to pursue the
Lord, because if it's not theLord, I don't know how I'm going
to get through the day.
That's how extreme thecircumstances I got, and so
(10:51):
sometimes I think, to be totallyhonest, that's what God allows.
God allows us to go to thoseplaces in order to show up.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
That's interesting.
You said life or death.
You know, I'm in my personaldevotions, I'm on the book of
Proverbs and you know, on thepart chapter eight, about wisdom
and how, Lady Wisdom says thatthose who choose folly, they
love death over life.
And so is it.
(11:18):
I wonder, is it what you lovemore in the end, at the depth of
your being?
Do you love life more or youjust pursue death?
You know, maybe that's kind ofthe guiding point, but you must
have had an.
Was it an encounter, like onegrand moment, or was it a path,
(11:43):
a chain of events?
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Yeah, it was not a moment.
It was not a moment and, to betotally honest, I think again
now that I'm a few years intothis, I can look back on things
a little bit more and for me itwas a wrestling.
I had to wrestle and wrestleand wrestle daily.
It was a fight.
It was a fight for why is thishappening?
How can this be good?
(12:06):
I'm so sick.
I was angry Again.
I think there was years ofthings that had just been stored
up, and to be so physicallyrestrained was so challenging
for me.
I was playing a Division Icollege soccer game and then two
months later I was in bed andcouldn't get out of bed, and so
there was such an extreme that Iwould say was a couple of years
(12:28):
probably, of just wrestlingwith my faith and trying to
rectify and understand what wasgoing on, and so I didn't have
really a come to Jesus moment.
I think God was patient with meand he was intentional just in
the time that it took for me towrestle through some of those
things.
So no, it wasn't really a lightbulb moment.
It was more of a.
We're going to wrestle day andnight for weeks, months and
(12:49):
years, and eventually that sortof wrestling led to me being
very, very humbled in the end byChrist.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
I think that's what makes your story and your book
so appealing.
Because, yes, there are thoseaha moments and encounters and
they're very valuable.
They're sort of this miraculousintervention, you know, on
God's part, but for most of usit's just like that.
It's wrestling.
(13:16):
Nothing changes overnight andit takes endurance and
perseverance and willingness tostick with it.
And you know it resonates withso many people who deal with
chronic illness or maybe aprolonged sickness of a loved
one, where they have to care fora loved one.
(13:36):
You know that endurance andpain is a huge encouragement to
people.
So what would you tell a person?
What are some of the mostencouraging things that you can
tell a person who is facing aprolonged crisis or trial?
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Yeah, you touched on a big piece of it, which is that
one you're not alone.
I think people just constantlyneed to be hearing that you're
not alone.
It doesn't mean that mycircumstance is the same as
another person's circumstance.
That's not really what it'sabout.
It is about the fact, though,that you're not alone, and I
think that the other reallyimportant thing you mentioned is
that it doesn't often look theway that you expect it to look.
(14:20):
I, I.
There were so many moments whereI was like can I just have a
breakthrough, can I just have amiraculous healing?
Or?
Or, you know, the clouds formand the light come into my room
and I'm, you know, floating, orwhatever.
Um and so the truth of thematter, though, is that very
frequently, it's the opposite.
Very frequently, it is aprocess of wrestling.
(14:40):
It's a lot of doubt.
I had so much doubt for so longI was asking questions.
I was trying to figure out whyI was so angry and why I was so
bitter about things that hadhappened years ago, and so
that's one of the mostencouraging things for me, and
that I like to be really candidand honest about, is that there
were days and weeks and months,and probably even years where I
was like I'm so angry and Idon't understand, and there's
(15:04):
still, even today.
There are so many moments whereI'm like I don't get this.
Why can't it just look this way, or why can't it change quicker
, or why can't the outcome bedifferent?
And so my hope, though, is, incommunicating all these things,
is that God is still able, andGod is still good, and God is
still sovereign.
In the midst of all of that, inthe midst of the wrestling, in
(15:24):
the midst of the question asking, he's still God and he's still
looking out for you, even if itdoesn't feel that way.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Did you have a moment ?
You know, I had a briefencounter with that.
I obviously can't relate to thejourney that took several years
, but I had a piece of shinglesthat lasted a month, you know,
and it was like the most intensephysical pain I've ever
experienced.
I literally had to dig on thedeepest level of my strength
(15:57):
physical and emotional just tomake it through it, and you know
, that's when I leaned the moston the Lord.
And so, when it all was over, Ihad a moment when I looked back
and I missed those moments ofpain because of the intensity of
my closeness with the Lord.
So have you ever had thatmoment where you looked back at
(16:20):
your journey and found beauty inthat?
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Absolutely, absolutely.
You said it really well, andwhat's important for me too is
I'm still not on the other sideof what I'm going through.
My some of my symptoms are verypersistent and could be around
for the rest of my life.
I don't really know how that'sall going to look, and so I've
gotten to a point now where whatyou're talking about, in my
perspective, is God's grace.
It's a form of God's grace, and, and what's really important
(16:47):
too is is we talk about and askfor and pray for, refinement.
That's a word that people askfor God, refine me.
And we need to be careful aboutthat prayer, because the
process of refining, just likeyou said, is a painful one, and
God is a jealous God.
God is so good and loves us somuch that if there is something
(17:07):
that is intervening in our lives, if there's something that's
coming between us and him andthe intimacy that he is able to
and allowed to have with us,then sometimes a form of his
grace is stripping us of thatvery thing.
I think of Abraham and Isaac.
I mean, he can even promisethings, divine things, good
things, can become objects ofour worship.
And so, god, I've had to cometo a place where I have to
(17:29):
remind myself.
A form of God's grace and hisgoodness is to come into my life
and strip me of those things,because the result has been Ben,
I'm still enough for you.
You lost this thing that youthought you needed.
I'm still enough.
You lost this thing that youthought you needed.
I'm still enough.
And so that's a form of hisgrace.
Now, that doesn't negate thepain.
Sometimes I'll still look backand be like, well, couldn't we
(17:50):
have done it another way?
But you said it.
The intimacy is impossible toreplicate otherwise.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
It's coming to the point to where you're able to
say, even though it was worth it.
You know and sometimes I don'tknow it's really so you said
you're still facing some of thesymptoms and your journey in
this is not over.
Have you come to the point ofturning it over to God and
(18:19):
saying, okay, god, even if it'san ongoing thing, you are enough
?
Or you feel like you're stillworking on this?
Speaker 3 (18:30):
Honestly, I think that's a lifelong process.
I think that's going to be alifelong process for me.
If I'm sick for the rest of mylife, or I'm dealing with some
of these things for the rest ofmy life, then I think that'll be
the case for the rest of mylife.
There are days when I wake upand I'm like Lord, I don't want
to do this, I do not want tocontinue to bear this.
I don't want to be in painanymore.
I don't want to beuncomfortable anymore.
(18:51):
Why can't we do it a differentway?
So the beauty, though, and thepower in that, is that that's
our humanity, that is thereality of my human nature.
I am not capable enough.
I can't sustain myself.
I go back to Jesus in thegarden all the time.
There's something reallybeautiful that happens, where
(19:12):
even Jesus, who is literally Godincarnate, is saying if there's
another way, can we please gothat other way, but not my will
be done, but yours.
So there's that caveat.
That's necessary and it'scrucial, but we can't expect, I
don't think it's reasonable orfair to expect human beings
sinful, broken, weak humanbeings to live their entire
(19:33):
lives saying God, no matter whatyour will be done, you're going
to have those moments whereyou're like, please, can we do
this another way?
Can we please do this anotherway?
And so that still is the casefor me.
But there's sort of thisunderlying thing that wasn't
here before, which is Lord, yetyour will be done.
Whatever that is, your will bedone Whatever that is, your,
will be done.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
So what gives even more depth to your story is that
it's not just about physicalsuffering, which is, you know,
it happens to us and we can'tblame another person for that.
We could blame God, but youknow it's just something that
happens.
But you have another level toyour journey where you have
(20:12):
experienced sexual abuse from aperson that you trusted, that
person who was supposed to beyour mentor.
So you know, you've also gonethrough this deep emotional
suffering that probably took ajourney of healing and
forgiveness, and so let's talkabout this aspect of your story.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Yeah, it's very layered and it's very
complicated.
And you're right, I think, evenif that's not something a
person goes through, physicalpain so often leads to emotional
and kind of mental strain andstruggles.
And so there is something thathappens when you trust a person
and that trust is takenadvantage of in such an extreme
way.
And I think that the power andsort of reconcile and restore a
(20:59):
level of intimacy and how am Isupposed to be vulnerable if
someone kind of took that andpreyed on it a little bit?
And so, again, that was aprocess for me of a lot of
(21:19):
failures.
I tried to find those things inother people, I tried to find
them in relationships, I triedto find them in myself, and time
and time again they failed me.
I couldn't get myself to besecure again.
I couldn't find vulnerability,I couldn't find it, and so that
was absolutely a years-longprocess of being forced to say,
okay, the only place that I canfeel secure is in Christ.
(21:41):
If I get my security from theGod of the universe, who created
me to be this way and toexperience certain things, then
I'm secure in Him.
And if I'm secure in him, I'mokay being vulnerable to other
people, I'm okay, trusting otherpeople, because ultimately my
trust isn't in that person andin that relationship.
It's with the Lord.
So but again, that's that'sstill a challenge for me.
(22:01):
It's a really, reallycomplicated thing to experience.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
So, again, this too is a long journey.
It's not an overnight process.
Okay, lord, you know, heal meof this trauma, make me whole
again.
So both sides of your journeyare all about endurance.
So do you feel like you havediscovered some secrets or tips
(22:27):
that you can share with ourlisteners to that spiritual
endurance?
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Yeah, you know, what comes to mind is there is
something very painful butbeautiful about sort of
reckoning with the belief thatyou and I have in eternity and
in what's to come after thislife.
I think that that's the flipside of suffering.
Is, when you suffer in acertain way, all of a sudden
(22:53):
you're like do I really believethat what God says about what's
to come after this life is true,or do I not?
And so the wrestling with thathas been incredibly profound,
because I've suffered in such away where I long for that now.
I long for my body to be healed, and the reality is it might
not happen on this side ofeternity, and so I'm eagerly
(23:14):
awaiting that Paul talks about,eagerly awaiting the
resurrection and the restorationof our bodies, and so that's
really beautiful, and I wouldtell people it's beautiful to
wrestle with that question,because a lot of people don't.
A lot of people are so secureand safe and healthy that
they're not thinking about that.
In fact, they're hoping thattheir life will last as long as
it can and they're afraid ofwhat's to come on the other side
(23:36):
.
So there's this balance betweenthat perspective, but also okay
, but if God still woke me upthis morning and I still have
breath in my lungs.
There's a purpose with what I'mgoing through right now.
So it's not that we long foreternity in such a way that we
hate our present circumstancesand we say, you know, I don't
want to give myself to anythinghere and in this world.
It's actually the opposite.
(23:57):
We're longing for somethingwith eternity, and if God is
perfectly sovereign, thenthere's still a purpose with
your life carrying on today.
So there's a really interestingbalance there.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
That's very powerful.
So, for a person who iscontemplating on reading your
book, can you give maybe a fewkey points that they should
expect to receive as a benefit,aside from it being beautiful
(24:28):
poetry, because some of thepeople who read your book call
you a modern day psalmist, youknow.
So there is treasure in that.
But what do you think?
How do you think they canbenefit from reading your book?
Speaker 3 (24:43):
Yeah, so I think one of the one of the things I found
in my experiences there wasthere were moments in times
where I felt I was in so muchpain, I was so overwhelmed that
I had no words.
I would try to pray or try toverbalize what I was feeling,
and I literally could not comeup with the words.
That's actually when I startedto write, and so I want and hope
that the book functions thatway.
For a lot of people is that inthat moment when you're like I
(25:06):
don't even know what to say ordo with what I'm going through
right now, you can open the bookand the words that I've written
can sort of become your ownwords.
So that's really how I want thebook to function.
A couple other things, though.
I mean this is not the type ofbook that's like chapter one,
the story starts, and chapter 10, the story ends.
I think it's really kind of anebulous project that's always
(25:27):
evolving.
I think one day you might findyourself in part two of the book
and then the next day you mightbe in part seven or eight, and
not only is that important toknow, but that's the reality of
suffering and pain and grief andloss is that you might think
you're here today and thentomorrow you wake up and you're
like, all of a sudden I'mfeeling despair today and I was
just joyful, you know, an hourago, and that can be the way
(25:50):
things go.
So I hope people use it thatway as well, where it's like you
might be here one day and backhere the next day and you might
want to return to the sameprayer 10 different times.
And so it's just a littleunique in how the book is
structured and how, I hope,people interact with it.
You can kind of go where youwant to go and let your emotions
(26:10):
and let the sort of structureof the book define that.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Sounds to me very much like the book of Psalms in
the Bible.
It's all over the place, it is,it's a really good point.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
It's a really good point.
I mean.
You read one Psalm and it'slike praise and everything's
great.
And then the next one is likewhere are you, lord?
What's happening?
And so I think again.
I think that's an indication ofthat's.
The reality of humanity isthat's just how we are, and
sometimes there's a lot of powerin just being able to express
those things in a very nonlinearway.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
And the benefit of it is that, as long as this
emotion or experience, whetherhigh or low, connects you with
God and aligns you with Him,there is value in that and it's
beneficial to you one way or theother.
And so well, I have not readyour book yet, but I'm looking
(27:06):
forward to it, and I just wantto encourage you.
You know, it's quiteextraordinary that this
emotional outburst on paper ispublished, you know, and became
a book, and so I want toencourage you to see what's next
in your writing adventure, andso hopefully there will be many
(27:30):
more to come.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
Yeah, I appreciate that, helen, and thank you, and
that is.
I couldn't agree more.
The way God's chosen to use itis so unexpected.
But I think that's kind of thebeauty of the book as well, is
there was not a whole lot ofrestraint used, it was just.
This is truth, this is how I'mfeeling, and so there's not a
whole lot of editing and tryingto cut it and trim it and all
(27:52):
that.
It's just a very honestindication and expression of a
really deep, deeply painful timein my life.
So I hope people can connectwith that.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Well, thank you so much for this conversation, and
I'm going to post the link toyour book on Amazon or I don't
know if you would rather themcome to your website, and I have
no doubt that those of ourlisteners who will read it will
enjoy it and benefit from it atthe same time.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
I appreciate you having me on.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Ben's journey through the loss of his promising
athletic career, sexual abuseand illness that left him
bedridden for two years iscaptured in what can be
described as modern-day psalmsthat provide comfort,
encouragement and hope.
I hope you pick up his book InOur Suffering Lord Be Near.
(28:48):
You can follow the link in theshow notes, treat yourself to it
or encourage someone you knowwho needs a boost right now.
In the meantime, I could nothelp but think how our journeys,
stories, even suffering, whenshared with others, has this
creative power of pointingpeople to Christ.
(29:10):
There is redemption in knowingthat what you have gone through
can help someone else make theright choice in life.
At World Missions Alliance, webelieve that changed lives
change lives, and the GreatCommission is Christ's call to
go and tell the story.
If you want to find yourpurpose and the purpose to your
(29:32):
suffering, go to the nations andmake disciples.
You can visit our website,rfwmaorg, to find opportunities
to do so through short-termmissions.
Again, the website is rfwmaorg.
Thank you for listening.
(29:53):
Until next time.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
I'm Helen Todd.
Your life was transformed byChrist.
You are equipped to help othersexperience this transformation.
Christ called his followers tomake disciples across the world.
World Missions Alliance givesyou an opportunity to do this
through short-term missions inover 32 countries across the
globe.
(30:25):
If you want to help those whoare hurting and hopeless and
discover your greater purpose inserving, check out our website
rfwmaorg and find out how to getinvolved.
Welcome to Limitless Spirit, a weekly podcast with
host Helen Todd, where sheinterviews guests about pursuing
spiritual growth, discoveringlife's purpose through serving
others and developing a deeperfaith in Christ.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Welcome to Limitless Spirit, a podcast about living a
purposeful life in Christ.
Life is a bumpy journey andthere are seasons that can be
extremely challenging,especially when they involve
prolonged suffering and pain.
Whether it is a chronic illnessor grief over loss of a loved
(00:39):
one, the pain that does not havea quick resolution can
challenge our faith, ourrelationships, our hope.
It can either drive you closerto God or away from him.
What is the deciding factor inhow we respond to suffering?
Are there secrets to endurancethrough it?
(00:59):
These are the questions Idiscuss in today's interview
with Ben Locke.
His first and only book so farwas published by Zondervan this
year and has resonated withthousands of readers who are
dealing with the isolation andthe challenges of prolonged
suffering.
Hello, ben, welcome to theLimitless Spirit.
(01:25):
How are you today?
Speaker 3 (01:26):
I'm doing pretty well , Helen.
Thank you for having me.
I'm happy to be here.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Well, I'm very excited to talk to you about
your book, because I think youhave touched on a very important
subject no-transcript.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
I never really set out to do that.
I talk a little bit about thisin the book, I think.
But I think there's somethingbeautiful about that I was never
really setting out to write abook.
I didn't really wake up one dayand say today's the day I'm
going to start writing my storyand kind of chronicling what's
been going on in my life.
I started writing out of a placeof necessity.
I got very, very sick becauseof some things that had happened
(02:33):
to me and my body sort of justshut down, and so I ended up in
a place where, physically, I wason bedrest for about two and a
half years, and so I had gottensick enough to the point where
writing was really one of theonly ways I could express myself
.
It was one of the only things Icould do.
And so not only that, butreally the fact that I was just
(02:53):
writing sort of to expressmyself, it was sort of a means
of therapy for me more thananything.
And so that's really how theprocess of writing started and
it's now become something whichis really exciting and really
great.
But that was really not myintention in the first place.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
And in your bio you mentioned that there was some
kind of divine intervention oran unusual experience that
caused this book to even bepublished.
Let's talk about that.
I love stories like that.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Yeah.
So as, as I mentioned, I had anotebook.
Basically I was just journaling, I was, I was keeping track of
my thoughts in a journal, I wasI was writing my prayers down,
and I got through that journal,literally filled up every page,
kind of put it, put it to theside, and a couple months later
I gave it to my sister.
Me and her are very close.
I gave it to her, I was like,hey, I wrote some stuff I would
love for you to have this andjust read it.
(03:44):
And she ended up.
Shortly after that, she moved toa different city, a different
state kind of a couple of statesfrom where I live here in
Tennessee.
And about a year after that Ireached out to her and I was
like, hey, do you still havethat notebook that I gave you?
And, sure enough, she was like,yeah, it's on my bedside table,
it's on a shelf in my room.
I read it all the time and Ilove it.
And so she sent it back to meand the process of getting it
(04:08):
into the hands of the publisherthat I ended up with, which was
HarperCollins, was really justcrazy.
I explored self-publishing, Iexplored all these different
options and ultimately what ledto getting it to the publisher
was just a series of me reachingout to some folks and getting
one person sort of led to thenext person, and so I didn't
realize it at the time.
Now I do, now that I've learneda little bit more about the
(04:29):
publishing industry.
But that process is very rare,it's very unique to do that, and
so it was really.
You know, god had plans for methat I just did not.
I was not aware of at all atthe time.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Indeed, you know, for a first time, author to be
published by a very well-knownpublisher is a huge deal.
So that alone is an indicationin my mind that God was behind
it, and also that the book isvery, very good.
So your life journey startedseemingly pretty bright.
(05:06):
You were a collegiate athlete,obviously had a successful path
in sports, so tell us a littlebit about this part of your
journey.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Yeah, so I was a soccer player my whole life.
I started playing soccer prettymuch as soon as I could walk.
I was three or four years oldand, to be totally honest with
you, it picked up pretty quickly.
I was playing kind of at thehighest level of competition by
the time I was six or seven, andthat really carried me all the
way through my younger years.
And then, once I got to middleschool, high school that's sort
of the time where when you'replaying competitive sports, it's
(05:40):
like, okay, you're going to beable to play at the next level
or you're not, and usuallythat's a college scholarship and
then hopefully go playprofessional.
And so that's the trajectorythat I was on.
And actually when I was 16, Iwas going into my junior year of
high school my family decidedto move.
So we were in Northeast Ohio,decided to move to the South,
and the area we were moving tohad no, it just was not a soccer
area no-transcript started tofall off slowly but surely a
(06:36):
little bit for me, but it was aprocess of getting injured.
And then I was actuallyexperiencing sexual abuse at the
hands of my trainer because ofmy injuries.
And then one injury led to thenext and one you know, so forth
and so on, and so that's withoutgetting into too much detail
Now.
I'm sure we'll come back tothat.
That was.
That was sort of how my soccerstory played out.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
It's interesting because I think that when a
person has a natural gift orability or talent, you know,
like soccer or athletic abilityIn your case, you feel sort of
favored by God.
You know, you have to recognize.
I don't know, Were you aChristian as you were growing up
?
Did you know the Lord?
Speaker 3 (07:15):
No, yeah, well, it's interesting.
I think those are two differentquestions.
I think that I thought I did.
I believed in God is sort ofhow I talk about it a lot.
I believed in God, sort of likeI know somebody on TV who I've
never met before, and so I hadthis notion that I was walking
with God.
And it wasn't until my lifereally started to get difficult
(07:35):
and I started to lose things andI started to be stripped of
things.
That I realized very quicklyactually I don't know God at all
.
I do not know who he is.
I don't think he knows who I.
Well, he knows who I am, but Idon't know who he is.
And, as you mentioned, not onlydo I think we get this notion
that we're favored when we'rehaving success in the world, but
also that can so quickly becomeour identity.
And that's exactly whathappened to me Soccer and I
(07:57):
don't think I knew itconsciously, but subconsciously
it was everything to me.
I was a soccer player and so ifmy career was going well, I was
doing well and I was favored,as you mentioned and then, as
soon as things started to not gowell, it was like, okay, well,
who am I outside of the sport.
What am I, what do people thinkof me?
And so it's so easily becomesyour identity, and that's what
happened to me.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
And so I think it adds I mean, suffering is not
easy for anyone, but it adds toyour suffering knowing that your
life was going in this upwardtrajectory and all of a sudden
it takes a deep dive.
It had to be an additionaltrauma knowing that, all of a
(08:38):
sudden, you're not the favoredone.
If nothing else, you are reallybeing punished for something
that you're not aware of, by Godmaybe and it's interesting
because here there are two pathsthat the person can take.
You know you either it eitherbrings you closer to God and
takes you on a journey towardsGod, or it drives you away and
(09:03):
puts you on a completelydifferent and maybe even
destructive path.
So what is that deciding point?
Because I think this is achoice that each one of us makes
when we unexpectedly are throwninto a turmoil or crisis in
life.
What is the deciding pointthere?
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Yeah, it's a fantastic question and it's
interesting for me because Ifeel like I chose both.
I've had periods in my lifewhere I chose both.
So I look at the last 10 yearsI'm 27 years old, so it's been
about 10 years since I left thehouse and at first, when things
started to go wrong, I chose toturn my back on the Lord.
So my first injury and sort ofwhen things initially began to
(09:46):
fall apart, I was seekingidentity and opportunities and
meaning in the world.
I turned to worldly things, torelationships, to vices and all
the sorts, and so that was myfirst attempt at trying to
respond to sort of the traumaand the difficulty that I was
facing.
And then things just continuedto happen and continue to sort
(10:08):
of pile on to one another.
That eventually three, four,five, six really severe, to be
totally honest, personal lifesituations happened, all
culminating in a car accident,was actually sort of the last
nail in the coffin for me, andto the point where I physically
could not get out of bed, and soit was.
That was sort of the secondpoint that you mentioned, which
(10:29):
is like, okay, I have to decideif I'm going to choose something
like the Lord or I'm going tochoose the world.
It's really a matter of lifeand death for me.
Now it's gotten that extreme,and so that was the decision to
say, okay, if those are my twooptions, I'm going to pursue the
Lord, because if it's not theLord, I don't know how I'm going
to get through the day.
That's how extreme thecircumstances I got, and so
(10:51):
sometimes I think, to be totallyhonest, that's what God allows.
God allows us to go to thoseplaces in order to show up.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
That's interesting.
You said life or death.
You know, I'm in my personaldevotions, I'm on the book of
Proverbs and you know, on thepart chapter eight, about wisdom
and how, Lady Wisdom says thatthose who choose folly, they
love death over life.
And so is it.
(11:18):
I wonder, is it what you lovemore in the end, at the depth of
your being?
Do you love life more or youjust pursue death?
You know, maybe that's kind ofthe guiding point, but you must
have had an.
Was it an encounter, like onegrand moment, or was it a path,
(11:43):
a chain of events?
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Yeah, it was not a moment.
It was not a moment and, to betotally honest, I think again
now that I'm a few years intothis, I can look back on things
a little bit more and for me itwas a wrestling.
I had to wrestle and wrestleand wrestle daily.
It was a fight.
It was a fight for why is thishappening?
How can this be good?
(12:06):
I'm so sick.
I was angry Again.
I think there was years ofthings that had just been stored
up, and to be so physicallyrestrained was so challenging
for me.
I was playing a Division Icollege soccer game and then two
months later I was in bed andcouldn't get out of bed, and so
there was such an extreme that Iwould say was a couple of years
(12:28):
probably, of just wrestlingwith my faith and trying to
rectify and understand what wasgoing on, and so I didn't have
really a come to Jesus moment.
I think God was patient with meand he was intentional just in
the time that it took for me towrestle through some of those
things.
So no, it wasn't really a lightbulb moment.
It was more of a.
We're going to wrestle day andnight for weeks, months and
(12:49):
years, and eventually that sortof wrestling led to me being
very, very humbled in the end byChrist.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
I think that's what makes your story and your book
so appealing.
Because, yes, there are thoseaha moments and encounters and
they're very valuable.
They're sort of this miraculousintervention, you know, on
God's part, but for most of usit's just like that.
It's wrestling.
(13:16):
Nothing changes overnight andit takes endurance and
perseverance and willingness tostick with it.
And you know it resonates withso many people who deal with
chronic illness or maybe aprolonged sickness of a loved
one, where they have to care fora loved one.
(13:36):
You know that endurance andpain is a huge encouragement to
people.
So what would you tell a person?
What are some of the mostencouraging things that you can
tell a person who is facing aprolonged crisis or trial?
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Yeah, you touched on a big piece of it, which is that
one you're not alone.
I think people just constantlyneed to be hearing that you're
not alone.
It doesn't mean that mycircumstance is the same as
another person's circumstance.
That's not really what it'sabout.
It is about the fact, though,that you're not alone, and I
think that the other reallyimportant thing you mentioned is
that it doesn't often look theway that you expect it to look.
(14:20):
I, I.
There were so many moments whereI was like can I just have a
breakthrough, can I just have amiraculous healing?
Or?
Or, you know, the clouds formand the light come into my room
and I'm, you know, floating, orwhatever.
Um and so the truth of thematter, though, is that very
frequently, it's the opposite.
Very frequently, it is aprocess of wrestling.
(14:40):
It's a lot of doubt.
I had so much doubt for so longI was asking questions.
I was trying to figure out whyI was so angry and why I was so
bitter about things that hadhappened years ago, and so
that's one of the mostencouraging things for me, and
that I like to be really candidand honest about, is that there
were days and weeks and months,and probably even years where I
was like I'm so angry and Idon't understand, and there's
(15:04):
still, even today.
There are so many moments whereI'm like I don't get this.
Why can't it just look this way, or why can't it change quicker
, or why can't the outcome bedifferent?
And so my hope, though, is, incommunicating all these things,
is that God is still able, andGod is still good, and God is
still sovereign.
In the midst of all of that, inthe midst of the wrestling, in
(15:24):
the midst of the question asking, he's still God and he's still
looking out for you, even if itdoesn't feel that way.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Did you have a moment ?
You know, I had a briefencounter with that.
I obviously can't relate to thejourney that took several years
, but I had a piece of shinglesthat lasted a month, you know,
and it was like the most intensephysical pain I've ever
experienced.
I literally had to dig on thedeepest level of my strength
(15:57):
physical and emotional just tomake it through it, and you know
, that's when I leaned the moston the Lord.
And so, when it all was over, Ihad a moment when I looked back
and I missed those moments ofpain because of the intensity of
my closeness with the Lord.
So have you ever had thatmoment where you looked back at
(16:20):
your journey and found beauty inthat?
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Absolutely, absolutely.
You said it really well, andwhat's important for me too is
I'm still not on the other sideof what I'm going through.
My some of my symptoms are verypersistent and could be around
for the rest of my life.
I don't really know how that'sall going to look, and so I've
gotten to a point now where whatyou're talking about, in my
perspective, is God's grace.
It's a form of God's grace, and, and what's really important
(16:47):
too is is we talk about and askfor and pray for, refinement.
That's a word that people askfor God, refine me.
And we need to be careful aboutthat prayer, because the
process of refining, just likeyou said, is a painful one, and
God is a jealous God.
God is so good and loves us somuch that if there is something
(17:07):
that is intervening in our lives, if there's something that's
coming between us and him andthe intimacy that he is able to
and allowed to have with us,then sometimes a form of his
grace is stripping us of thatvery thing.
I think of Abraham and Isaac.
I mean, he can even promisethings, divine things, good
things, can become objects ofour worship.
And so, god, I've had to cometo a place where I have to
(17:29):
remind myself.
A form of God's grace and hisgoodness is to come into my life
and strip me of those things,because the result has been Ben,
I'm still enough for you.
You lost this thing that youthought you needed.
I'm still enough.
You lost this thing that youthought you needed.
I'm still enough.
And so that's a form of hisgrace.
Now, that doesn't negate thepain.
Sometimes I'll still look backand be like, well, couldn't we
(17:50):
have done it another way?
But you said it.
The intimacy is impossible toreplicate otherwise.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
It's coming to the point to where you're able to
say, even though it was worth it.
You know and sometimes I don'tknow it's really so you said
you're still facing some of thesymptoms and your journey in
this is not over.
Have you come to the point ofturning it over to God and
(18:19):
saying, okay, god, even if it'san ongoing thing, you are enough
?
Or you feel like you're stillworking on this?
Speaker 3 (18:30):
Honestly, I think that's a lifelong process.
I think that's going to be alifelong process for me.
If I'm sick for the rest of mylife, or I'm dealing with some
of these things for the rest ofmy life, then I think that'll be
the case for the rest of mylife.
There are days when I wake upand I'm like Lord, I don't want
to do this, I do not want tocontinue to bear this.
I don't want to be in painanymore.
I don't want to beuncomfortable anymore.
(18:51):
Why can't we do it a differentway?
So the beauty, though, and thepower in that, is that that's
our humanity, that is thereality of my human nature.
I am not capable enough.
I can't sustain myself.
I go back to Jesus in thegarden all the time.
There's something reallybeautiful that happens, where
(19:12):
even Jesus, who is literally Godincarnate, is saying if there's
another way, can we please gothat other way, but not my will
be done, but yours.
So there's that caveat.
That's necessary and it'scrucial, but we can't expect, I
don't think it's reasonable orfair to expect human beings
sinful, broken, weak humanbeings to live their entire
(19:33):
lives saying God, no matter whatyour will be done, you're going
to have those moments whereyou're like, please, can we do
this another way?
Can we please do this anotherway?
And so that still is the casefor me.
But there's sort of thisunderlying thing that wasn't
here before, which is Lord, yetyour will be done.
Whatever that is, your will bedone Whatever that is, your,
will be done.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
So what gives even more depth to your story is that
it's not just about physicalsuffering, which is, you know,
it happens to us and we can'tblame another person for that.
We could blame God, but youknow it's just something that
happens.
But you have another level toyour journey where you have
(20:12):
experienced sexual abuse from aperson that you trusted, that
person who was supposed to beyour mentor.
So you know, you've also gonethrough this deep emotional
suffering that probably took ajourney of healing and
forgiveness, and so let's talkabout this aspect of your story.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Yeah, it's very layered and it's very
complicated.
And you're right, I think, evenif that's not something a
person goes through, physicalpain so often leads to emotional
and kind of mental strain andstruggles.
And so there is something thathappens when you trust a person
and that trust is takenadvantage of in such an extreme
way.
And I think that the power andsort of reconcile and restore a
(20:59):
level of intimacy and how am Isupposed to be vulnerable if
someone kind of took that andpreyed on it a little bit?
And so, again, that was aprocess for me of a lot of
(21:19):
failures.
I tried to find those things inother people, I tried to find
them in relationships, I triedto find them in myself, and time
and time again they failed me.
I couldn't get myself to besecure again.
I couldn't find vulnerability,I couldn't find it, and so that
was absolutely a years-longprocess of being forced to say,
okay, the only place that I canfeel secure is in Christ.
(21:41):
If I get my security from theGod of the universe, who created
me to be this way and toexperience certain things, then
I'm secure in Him.
And if I'm secure in him, I'mokay being vulnerable to other
people, I'm okay, trusting otherpeople, because ultimately my
trust isn't in that person andin that relationship.
It's with the Lord.
So but again, that's that'sstill a challenge for me.
(22:01):
It's a really, reallycomplicated thing to experience.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
So, again, this too is a long journey.
It's not an overnight process.
Okay, lord, you know, heal meof this trauma, make me whole
again.
So both sides of your journeyare all about endurance.
So do you feel like you havediscovered some secrets or tips
(22:27):
that you can share with ourlisteners to that spiritual
endurance?
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Yeah, you know, what comes to mind is there is
something very painful butbeautiful about sort of
reckoning with the belief thatyou and I have in eternity and
in what's to come after thislife.
I think that that's the flipside of suffering.
Is, when you suffer in acertain way, all of a sudden
(22:53):
you're like do I really believethat what God says about what's
to come after this life is true,or do I not?
And so the wrestling with thathas been incredibly profound,
because I've suffered in such away where I long for that now.
I long for my body to be healed, and the reality is it might
not happen on this side ofeternity, and so I'm eagerly
(23:14):
awaiting that Paul talks about,eagerly awaiting the
resurrection and the restorationof our bodies, and so that's
really beautiful, and I wouldtell people it's beautiful to
wrestle with that question,because a lot of people don't.
A lot of people are so secureand safe and healthy that
they're not thinking about that.
In fact, they're hoping thattheir life will last as long as
it can and they're afraid ofwhat's to come on the other side
(23:36):
.
So there's this balance betweenthat perspective, but also okay
, but if God still woke me upthis morning and I still have
breath in my lungs.
There's a purpose with what I'mgoing through right now.
So it's not that we long foreternity in such a way that we
hate our present circumstancesand we say, you know, I don't
want to give myself to anythinghere and in this world.
It's actually the opposite.
(23:57):
We're longing for somethingwith eternity, and if God is
perfectly sovereign, thenthere's still a purpose with
your life carrying on today.
So there's a really interestingbalance there.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
That's very powerful.
So, for a person who iscontemplating on reading your
book, can you give maybe a fewkey points that they should
expect to receive as a benefit,aside from it being beautiful
(24:28):
poetry, because some of thepeople who read your book call
you a modern day psalmist, youknow.
So there is treasure in that.
But what do you think?
How do you think they canbenefit from reading your book?
Speaker 3 (24:43):
Yeah, so I think one of the one of the things I found
in my experiences there wasthere were moments in times
where I felt I was in so muchpain, I was so overwhelmed that
I had no words.
I would try to pray or try toverbalize what I was feeling,
and I literally could not comeup with the words.
That's actually when I startedto write, and so I want and hope
that the book functions thatway.
For a lot of people is that inthat moment when you're like I
(25:06):
don't even know what to say ordo with what I'm going through
right now, you can open the bookand the words that I've written
can sort of become your ownwords.
So that's really how I want thebook to function.
A couple other things, though.
I mean this is not the type ofbook that's like chapter one,
the story starts, and chapter 10, the story ends.
I think it's really kind of anebulous project that's always
(25:27):
evolving.
I think one day you might findyourself in part two of the book
and then the next day you mightbe in part seven or eight, and
not only is that important toknow, but that's the reality of
suffering and pain and grief andloss is that you might think
you're here today and thentomorrow you wake up and you're
like, all of a sudden I'mfeeling despair today and I was
just joyful, you know, an hourago, and that can be the way
(25:50):
things go.
So I hope people use it thatway as well, where it's like you
might be here one day and backhere the next day and you might
want to return to the sameprayer 10 different times.
And so it's just a littleunique in how the book is
structured and how, I hope,people interact with it.
You can kind of go where youwant to go and let your emotions
(26:10):
and let the sort of structureof the book define that.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Sounds to me very much like the book of Psalms in
the Bible.
It's all over the place, it is,it's a really good point.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
It's a really good point.
I mean.
You read one Psalm and it'slike praise and everything's
great.
And then the next one is likewhere are you, lord?
What's happening?
And so I think again.
I think that's an indication ofthat's.
The reality of humanity isthat's just how we are, and
sometimes there's a lot of powerin just being able to express
those things in a very nonlinearway.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
And the benefit of it is that, as long as this
emotion or experience, whetherhigh or low, connects you with
God and aligns you with Him,there is value in that and it's
beneficial to you one way or theother.
And so well, I have not readyour book yet, but I'm looking
(27:06):
forward to it, and I just wantto encourage you.
You know, it's quiteextraordinary that this
emotional outburst on paper ispublished, you know, and became
a book, and so I want toencourage you to see what's next
in your writing adventure, andso hopefully there will be many
(27:30):
more to come.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
Yeah, I appreciate that, helen, and thank you, and
that is.
I couldn't agree more.
The way God's chosen to use itis so unexpected.
But I think that's kind of thebeauty of the book as well, is
there was not a whole lot ofrestraint used, it was just.
This is truth, this is how I'mfeeling, and so there's not a
whole lot of editing and tryingto cut it and trim it and all
(27:52):
that.
It's just a very honestindication and expression of a
really deep, deeply painful timein my life.
So I hope people can connectwith that.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Well, thank you so much for this conversation, and
I'm going to post the link toyour book on Amazon or I don't
know if you would rather themcome to your website, and I have
no doubt that those of ourlisteners who will read it will
enjoy it and benefit from it atthe same time.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
I appreciate you having me on.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Ben's journey through the loss of his promising
athletic career, sexual abuseand illness that left him
bedridden for two years iscaptured in what can be
described as modern-day psalmsthat provide comfort,
encouragement and hope.
I hope you pick up his book InOur Suffering Lord Be Near.
(28:48):
You can follow the link in theshow notes, treat yourself to it
or encourage someone you knowwho needs a boost right now.
In the meantime, I could nothelp but think how our journeys,
stories, even suffering, whenshared with others, has this
creative power of pointingpeople to Christ.
(29:10):
There is redemption in knowingthat what you have gone through
can help someone else make theright choice in life.
At World Missions Alliance, webelieve that changed lives
change lives, and the GreatCommission is Christ's call to
go and tell the story.
If you want to find yourpurpose and the purpose to your
(29:32):
suffering, go to the nations andmake disciples.
You can visit our website,rfwmaorg, to find opportunities
to do so through short-termmissions.
Again, the website is rfwmaorg.
Thank you for listening.
(29:53):
Until next time.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
I'm Helen Todd.
Your life was transformed byChrist.
You are equipped to help othersexperience this transformation.
Christ called his followers tomake disciples across the world.
World Missions Alliance givesyou an opportunity to do this
through short-term missions inover 32 countries across the
globe.
(30:25):
If you want to help those whoare hurting and hopeless and
discover your greater purpose inserving, check out our website
rfwmaorg and find out how to getinvolved.
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