Into the Harvest — Encore (Listener Q&A)

Transcript source: Whisper (large-v3, cleaned).

All right, friends. So we are back for a little bonus time with our good friend, Karis. If you have not listened to my interview with her last week, you need to go check that out. We talk about suffering and her new book that just came out and Suffering Redeemed. You need to check this book out. So go check out that episode and then come on back because we have a little bonus chat. I took some listener questions and then my own personal questions and Karis and I are just going to chat about those today in a little bit more chill time frame. So thanks for joining us. So Karis, I sat down with some friends, one in particular I was just talking to today and we were talking about physical suffering and she also deals with just incredibly difficult chronic illnesses. And she was asking me, how do you balance as a believer, being an advocate for yourself in the medical fields and like, you know, going to doctors, taking care of yourself holistically, all the things, all the answers that might be out there in science and balancing that search and that like trying to take care of yourself responsibly and also trusting and just hoping in God, how do we balance that? And what does that even look like? I know like a super easy question. Answer that. First of all, I don’t think there’s one answer. Um, I, it is something that has been one of the hardest things for me, honestly, um, because, because everyone has a different opinion. Um, and, uh, so, you know, I, I think for me, um, something that I had to learn pretty early on is that God is the ultimate physician, you know, the capital P like he’s the healer. Um, so obviously we need to be going to him first. Um, and so, yeah, because there’s, there’s so many different you know when you’re when you’re presented with something and different options it is so and when you’re when you’re suffering you just I will speak I just personally am so desperate to get out of it yeah that I’m just like willing to try anything you know I think there’s been seasons where like and people will offer you so many different things you know like try this it worked with me try this it worked for me try this go to go to this doctor go this doctor go this doctor and you know and so I you know which is so wonderful because people just love love us so much and they want you know they want they want to see you better and so which is a loving loving way to do something but it can get be very um very confusing and it can be very all-consuming too because you start thinking um you know well should I try that or should I try this and it can be expensive. And so, um, I, I several years ago, I mean, I would probably say this is like six years into my chronic illnesses. I went, I started getting quite, um, like I was researching a lot, like trying to figure out, you know, what else can I do? Where else can I go? What, what other doctor, you know, looking up. And at that point, God really convicted my heart, like, Harris, you’re getting into this too much. And so I had to step back and I started praying more specifically about everything, you know, like bringing it to the Lord first. And I went for a time period for me personally was like several months where I felt like the Lord was saying for this period of time, don’t do any research, you know, don’t, don’t even ask any questions. Don’t, don’t pursue anything. Um, and then there was another period of time where I took a break from seeing doctors, you know, it was, and it was wonderful, but that was, that was, I was really following what the Lord was doing. And there was a lot of times where he didn’t say anything and except like, trust me more, you know? And so I think first and foremost, it’s like, we need to be bringing things to the Lord and listening. Um, and you know, I think of the verse, um, trying to remember is, uh, and Psalms where it says, you know, commit your way to the Lord, trust in him and he will act in the psalm 37 you know so just so trust you know we commit we trust and then he’ll do it you know and not like the flip-flopping back and forth like oh you know so that’s that’s one thing um did you have something to say about that no that’s really really good and i think the one thing there is just one of the encouragements and answers i think is that it, it, there isn’t a, it is gray. Like this is one of the areas where we have a personal interaction with Jesus here where, you know, what’s good for you may not be good for me. Like if you’re in a season where you can, you know, research and do great. And I’m over here, you know, having severe anxiety and doing it, you know, then, you know, so it’s, I think that’s, it’s really important to recognize and to see that this isn’t, there is not an instruction manual where it says, this is how much you should do and how, you know. Yeah. And, and, and to, I think too, to, to record, like, just like you were saying, cause I think there’s, there’s times, you know, where I, you know, heard people like testimonies of people while God, you know, I stopped taking the medication and then I was healed, you know? And, and, and so for that person, God spoke to them and that’s how God worked, but it doesn’t mean he’s going going to work the same way with you, you know, and some people are healed through doctors and surgeries, like God uses that. So, yeah, I think it’s so it’s, you know, there’s temptation to, to take like the all or nothing route or to, to feel condemnation or guilt because, you know, like, oh, my faith isn’t enough, you know, and I, I struggled for that so long, like, and a lot of people told me that, you know, you don’t have enough faith and, and I’m like, yeah, I don’t probably, but I can heal. I really, um, so, you know, it’s just, yes. I mean, we don’t need a lot of faith. Jesus makes that very clear. Um, so it’s, it’s, I don’t think it’s a matter of that, but God, God just to, so after our hearts, you know, it’s not that something else is just, he, he’s more concerned about our hearts and our bodies. i mean he loves our bodies and he made our bodies but what’s going on in our hearts and our minds and relationship with him is more important than um because our bodies are going to pass away and we’re going to get new ones so yeah but you’re right absolutely we’ll always go back to this is just a temporary vessel that’s right it’s true yeah well that’s i think that’s really encouraging um I hope that that helps our friends um so the other thing that I wanted to cover is super no one wants to talk about it is um the way that prosperity doctrine has just like trickled in and like sunk in even into me where I was like I will never believe such crazy wackadoodle stuff and yet it just like it gets in us it’s like the lie that seeps in where we think, um, I, I must be doing something wrong for me to be suffering like this, because obviously God wants me to just be, have it all together and have everything I could ever want and be perfectly healthy all the time. So I felt like you probably had some good stuff to say about Yeah, it’s definitely something. Oh, man. Oh, I think about how many hours I say wasted, but I know God will redeem it. But yeah, I think I’ve struggled a lot with just feeling just a lot of guilt, you know, and again, you know, well meaning people, you know, offering the suggestion that I may have unconfessed sin in my life. Um, which I will say, I don’t resent because it, you know, I think when we’re going through hardship or struggle, it really is a catalyst for us to, um, look quite deeply in ourselves, you know, and yeah, which is probably do have exactly, exactly. And so maybe that’s not the reason. I mean, yeah, there are, there are consequences to our sin and, um, but there’s never punishment, right? Jesus took all the punishment on the cross. God never punishes us. So, um, but the, the, the catalyst to be able to look really deep into, um, and say, God, yes, what is in me? You know, what, and, and just the humility that suffering brings that sickness for me, like I, it, it really humbles you and causes, um, a deep repentance and just a vulnerability that really is beautiful. Like that’s another part I wrote in my book is about repentance. Cause it is such like a, it’s such a horrible thing that it’s become like a bad word, you know, like, Oh, you need to repent, you know? But it’s like, we’re turning towards God and it’s restoring our relationship with him. and um so I just I love I love repentance I think it’s such a gift um yeah and so yeah I’m sorry no go ahead I didn’t mean I was not interrupting you I was just I was amening you from so I think yeah I think it is a lie that you know that good you know we do good we get good we do bad we get bad I mean ultimately the justice will be will be had by God but I mean just look at the Bible characters, you know, I often look, it’s so funny because most of the Bible characters who had, you know, who were like God’s favorite people, you know, I mean, I don’t know, God doesn’t play favorite people, but who he used the most or who, you know, who seemed to be, they had really horrible lives like David, you know, he had a horrible life, but God loved him. He was a man after God owns God’s own heart. And, um, you know, Moses, Jeremiah, Paul, really all the disciples. Um, so if we, if we look at the Bible, um, it completely contradicts all of that other, whatever fluff that says, you know, whatever that you’re, that you’re doing something wrong, um, if you’re suffering or if something bad happened to you. Um, so I think there’s a lot of, you know, truth biblically that we need to stand on, um, instead of like the circumstantial and the world’s um you know truth that whatever that or their whatever the whatever they call is truth is not really true so that’s um you know I just kind of to tie on to that um I’ve really enjoyed and I also share this in my book but I love reading like um bibliographies or autobiographies of saints you know especially I mean there’s some modern but like, you know, the last 200 years, because I feel like that our, our view of suffering has really changed a lot. Um, you know, people used to like Christians used to take suffering quite a bit better, I would say, because now it’s, it’s, it’s like, we’re trying to do everything we can to, to get out of it and, and think we don’t deserve it. You know, whereas, um, there’s a lot of, a lot of people, you know, a lot of books that I’ve read from people who, who’ve gone through really horrible things. And yet it, the focus is really on God and, and, you know, like kind of like, they’re just surrendering their lives, you know, like, you know, like Elizabeth Elliot, for an example, you know, just, she’s like, you know, so I just, there’s so much we can learn in the in history too I think yes oh I’m so glad you brought that up man by the way she have you ever listened to her talks like yes oh my goodness she’s so harsh she’s like always she’s always like get it together like stop being a baby and like I love it so much like I’m always like laugh out loud but no one talks like that anymore like she’s she has no sympathy for whatever or suffering you’re going through in life like but we need that and I as you were talking I was thinking about like the Moravians I think that’s right the Moravians would literally go off to the mission field and pack all their stuff in their coffin because they would take their coffin with them because they were like yeah we’re gonna like die out there we do not have that attitude no more um so yeah there’s uh it’s embarrassing and it makes me just we’re gonna have to face all these people one day these saints um and so we gotta get our acts together it’s gonna be real embarrassing without we all get there because i have definitely complained about a lot of very pointless things um yeah so i’m glad you brought that up friends if you were not out there listening to or not listening to but you can listen to elizabeth elliott she has an amazing there’s a podcast that has all of her talks i should link that as well i’m gonna have tons of links this episode but um definitely go listen to some Elizabeth Elliot and get get your bottom whacked a few times because she definitely comes after all of us and um and thank you again Karis for just sharing just your insights and wisdom and biblical truth we really really appreciate it’s been a real blessing for me and I’m glad we got to chat again even so thanks again yeah it’s been great all right bye bye we’ll see you next time friends