What do St. Patrick and parents of triplets with disabilities have in common? You probably think the answer is ‘nothing!’ Read this post or listen to this podcast episode to learn why they have much more in common than you might think.
Listen now in your favorite podcast app!
Quick Links:
Love Your Story, founded by Abbi and Ryan Burle
Catherine’s session at DATC: Finding God’s Ministry Purpose for Your Life
If you enjoyed this episode, you may also like:
023: Supporting Special-Needs Families with Stephanie Hubach with Sandra Peoples
009: Disability is Beautiful with Beth Golik and Ryan Wolfe
Transcript:
“Get wisdom, get understanding; don’t forget or turn away from the words from my mouth. Don’t abandon wisdom, and she will watch over you; love her, and she will guard you. Wisdom is supreme—so get wisdom. And whatever else you get, get understanding. Cherish her, and she will exalt you; if you embrace her, she will honor you. She will place a garland of favor on your head; she will give you a crown of beauty.”
I’ve often wondered about the day-to-day mundane details of the lives of people in the Bible, as in—what was going on in their lives that we will never know, that worked in sync with what God called them to do and say and write? We know the Apostle Peter was married; in one miracle, Jesus healed Peter’s sick mother-in-law. What did that healing miracle do for Peter’s wife, the daughter of the woman who was healed? How did that change her as a result? And after Christ died and was resurrected, what did she understand about God that she could not have seen without these two resurrections that rocked her world?
This past week, the world paid attention to the annual celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. We’re all a little bit Irish on Saint Paddy’s day, whether or not our ancestors ever set foot on the Emerald Isle.
Growing up in Britain, the son of a wealthy Roman ruler in the fifth century, the man history records as St. Patrick likely never experienced deprivation. Actually, quite the opposite. Patrick stated in his autobiography that his father was a Roman Senator and tax collector.
When Patrick was 16 years old, everything in his world changed when he was abducted by pirates, and taken to Ireland as a slave. This completely unexpected event upended his life, and drove him to seek God like never before. Patrick would later regard this time of his life, the time he spent in captivity—no doubt a time of confusion, despair and pain—as “critical to his spiritual development.”
In other words, God gave him a gift in his circumstances. Even though Patrick may never have chosen those circumstances for himself, God had an important plan that could unfold as a result of Patrick’s suffering, if Patrick would let his circumstances be used in that way. Because Patrick surrendered to whatever God had in store for him, God eventually led Patrick to serve the nation of Ireland as a minister of the gospel. The impact of Patrick’s life and work was so profound that his name and legacy are forever intertwined with that nation.
Fast forward from the fifth century to the weekend of March 10 - 12, 2023. Beth, Steve and I traveled to Snellville, GA—a suburb of Atlanta—to speak at the Together Conference, sponsored by our friend Jillian Palmiotto and her team at Together We Care GA. We met many new people, enjoyed some time with old friends, and learned some new things.
In the conference hallways reserved for vendors, display tables were arranged so that two different vendors shared each long table. On the other side of Key Ministry’s vendor table was an organization called Love Your Story, founded by Abbi and Ryan Burle.
I spent some time talking with Abbi and Ryan, learning that they are parents of triplets who were born 16 weeks early. After their early birth, the triplets spent nearly six months in the NICU. Now approaching their sixth birthday, the triplets have had many subsequent surgeries, hospital stays and travel to medical centers across the US and Canada for a variety of treatments and therapies.
Personally, I wrestle mightily with God about certain aspects of ‘my story.’ I had just shared some of my recent wrestlings with Beth the day before the Together conference, the day before being placed right beside an organization that told me to not only be okay with my story, but to LOVE it. How’s that for an ‘in-your-face’ message from God?
I asked Abbi how they named their organization. Her initial response caught me off guard, when she said, “I love my kids, but loving our story? Not so much. Some of our story stinks!”
Fun fact: Abbi actually used another ’s’ word. She then went on to say that it’s been a process to learn to love their story, but now, because of their story, a ministry has come forth that is meeting significant tangible needs of others, needs that they have personally experienced.
As a kid, teen and young adult, I was drawn to Bible verses about wisdom; it was obvious that biblical writers regarded wisdom as a precious gift from God. Deeper and more impactful than just knowledge, wisdom was a quality compared to costly gemstones and precious metals. Such things have persistent value today.
Yet in my early years of pondering wisdom, I never thought whether or not there was pain in acquiring the wisdom—pain like the sickness and death of a loved one, or the challenges to my faith when I see that God has done incredible miracles for others—but such miracles haven’t happened to me, or to those I love.
There are some gifts from God that no one chooses, like the gift Patrick received from being held in captivity, and the gift Abbi and Ryan received in suffering greatly as their young children suffered greatly. Life with disabilities is one of those unsought gifts.
But suffering is also a short path to godly wisdom, if we allow suffering to do its good work.
If the wisest man who ever lived regarded wisdom as a treasure to be cherished above all else, then learning to embrace what God has allowed is an important first step towards obtaining wisdom.
Jesus is faithful in His promises to His followers. And following Him will lead to becoming more like Him, which includes suffering. Jesus didn’t naturally love all of His suffering, but He didn’t let that stop Him from His mission. He chose to let the time of His suffering accomplish God’s good purpose, and in so doing, allows His followers, through all the centuries until He returns, to replicate the experience, within their unique lives and circumstances. That was certainly true in the life of St. Patrick, and all the way to today, in the lives of Abbi and Ryan.
So as we move into springtime and towards Easter, with all the promise that new blooms and warmer temperatures bring, I encourage you to cherish and embrace that thing in your life that stinks. By the way, I will be taking my own advice. My hope is that you and I both see clearly what Patrick learned so many centuries ago, and Abbi and Ryan have learned in the past six years: that the Word becoming flesh in your life is a green, living, life-giving, soul-satisfying gift.
What will you do with your gift today?
If you’re struggling with your story, and wondering what God could possibly do with your challenges and passions, we hope you will come to DATC2023. In addition to the many presenters and topics, Catherine will be leading a session on Finding God’s Ministry Purpose for Your Life on Saturday April 29, 2023.
