Hi, friend!
Snagging the #22 spot for the most-listened to episodes of the Heal Podcast is author, speaker, and coach Dena Dyer. Even though Dena may look “normal” on the outside, she faces a host of invisible illnesses and physical challenges that limit her capacity for her family, ministry, and life. Over the years, she has leaned in to God to discover how to rest, take care of her physical needs, and still pursue the dreams and giftings God has placed on her heart.
While she was in college, Dena was involved in a traffic accident that left her with chronic neck pain. A couple years later, she contracted a bad case of mononucleosis, which she never fully recovered from. After that, the downward spiral of piggybacking autoimmune diseases have saddled her with Hashimoto’s disease (a dysfunction of the thyroid) as well as fibromyalgia.
In our conversation on the podcast, Dena shares how even though it took her awhile, she eventually came to see her illnesses as a severe mercy from God. She now considers her immense journey with grief and pain to be a mercy that God has used to bring joy and growth into her life. Today she delights us by using her humor and whit to take us on the journey from weariness to worship.
Plus, Dena says we’re her favorite podcast conversation she’s had *ever* since she got to talk about marriage, parenting, and life with chronic illness. I have to agree I loved this conversation on the Heal Podcast, too! We're thrilled to get to share it with you again as part of this Top 25 series. Enjoy!
Listen to learn more about:
· Marriage, parenting, and profession with a chronic illness from a biblical perspective
· Why Dena considers horrendous pain and years of trial to be a mercy from God in her life.
· How we can relate to God in our human limitation and chronic disease because he himself was a man of sorrows, well acquainted with grief.
Listen now:
Click here to listen on iTunes.
Click here to listen on Google Podcasts.
Click here to listen on Spotify.
Click here to listen on Stitcher.
Click here to listen on Amazon Music.
Favorite Quotes from the episode:
o “I’m so grateful that God is a man of sorrows, that Jesus is a man of sorrows, he’s familiar with grief, that he does not leave us or abandon us in our grief, but he sits with us. And unlike Job’s friends, he doesn’t give bad answers; he gives us his presence and he waits patiently for us to turn to him, whether that’s one month in or three months in or 30 years in.”
o “I’m so grateful that he wept at the tomb of Lazarus, because it shows that even thought he knew what he was going to do, he was hurting for the people around him that were hurting. He hurts when we hurt.”
Links from our conversation:
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For freedom,
Tera