I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

I have always had a "what's wrong with that?" take on things certain women in my life have said.  I wasn't involved in their "groups" and so I shrugged off what they said, but always with a nagging, "what's wrong with that?". 

My fault.  I was in my own little safe and happy world, and they were in a "strange one".   I now know that these women were deceived into a wrong way of Biblical thinking.  It fed on itself among them and they were all heavily caught up into it.  I was too niave to understand or even be able at that time to have conversations of God's truth with them.  

It was not surprising that many of their conversations were about health issues.  We live in a fallen world and illnesses of every degree abound.  It is now years later, and I now realize how trapped they were into their wrong thinking, and I grieve for them.  My prayer for them is that they have escaped this way of wrong Biblical thinking into the freedom of God's grace as the man, Brian D., I referrence below, has escaped.

When our family tragedy enveloped us over a decade ago, some of those same people from our past have made inquiries about our health through the years.  Not "how is God carrying you?, or how can you continue in your pain?"  But always, "how is your health"

I knew something was strange with their questions ("what's wrong with that?") because it didn't seem like they really cared about us or our health.  It was more like a curiosity to them, a shaking of the head, and an acknowlegment to our situation as if we had caused it.

Lately this has raised anger in my inner person against these "friends?" because at the time I took them as caring Christians, but it seems they were just curosity seekers.   Now I must take my anger to the LORD and lay it at His feet...His feet of GRACE. 

Can you see how people can be caught up in Biblically wrong thinking?  They try to solve their own illnesses in their wrong thinking, and then go around diagnosing everyone else's  illnesses (unrighteously judging others).   One wrong choice leads to another and sin abounds. 

These women I have spoken of were deceived into the teachings of Bill Gothard.  Their wrong thinking spread like a disease ~~~ a spiritual disease ~~~ to even those of us who were not involved, even to this day.  They were so concerned about other peoples' sin when they were causing more sin in spreading their false teachings through their own families and the communities in which they lived.

LORD, have mercy on we sinners!

There is a place to go for information and God's grace if you have been invovled in Gothard teachings or have been hurt on the outskirts of it.  The blog, Recovering Grace on December 7, 2011, has The Disease Catalogue by Brian D.  It is quite eye opening to the way some Gothard-educated people think.  It is more than eye opening~~~it is a travesty!  

Brian D. ends his entry so encouraging, and so I will end with his words:

Those of us who are struggling with disease need not try to trace it back to a specific sin problem.  Are you dealing with sin?  Of course you are.  All of us are struggling with the problem of sin on one level or another.  How do you find growing victory over a sin to which you are enslaved?  Freedom from sin and peace with God can be found as you experience His grace by faith–and faith alone–in His finished work on the cross.  The more we grow in faith and the more we understand grace, the more we experience the peace of God.

“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” Romans 5:1-2

So how should a Christian who is struggling with disease respond?  Ask for prayer, seek out medical attention, and then remember the words of Paul, as he also struggled with physical ailment:

And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Corinthians 12:9

Gentle women...may you be encouraged that God has not forgotten you in your pain.  He is there for you full of His grace and compassion.  Cry out to Him and He will incline to you and hear your cries.