It took me a bit by surprise! Sitting down with David Ross in the Riverside online studio, I gazed at my laptop screen with nostalgic amazement as he greeted me from his office in Alberta Bible College. Within a few seconds I recognized his setting as the office of my old professor, John Wilson, from 20 years ago! It brought a flood of memories as we warmed up to one another for what would be a truly inspiring conversation.
In this powerful episode, David shares a truly inspiring story how OCD and the diagnosis of Scrupulocity had imprisoned him in his basement in 2014 until his family and a loving community of faith came around him to bring help that would free him from the entrapments of his mind.
One powerful truth that I learned from my conversation with David is that the liberation of the gospel for disabled people is never realized or fully possible through an individual’s efforts alone. It can only be fully embraced by the whole Body of Christ coming around the oppressed person or people, journeying with them through their darkest moments of life, and raising them out with gradual mercy and grace.
Disability is never an easy walk or path to roll through in life. But when we surround ourselves with a community that transcends what the world calls imperfect, we can discover a freedom filled with perfect blessings and gifts that strengthen our character. In the words of Marcel Proust, we can then truly see the world with new eyes!
“We are Jesus’ hands and feet to our world. There is something that happens in our hearts when we put action to our faith, whether that’s just taking the next step we feel God nudging us to take or when we step into the lives of the vulnerable and lend a helping hand.”
— Christine Caine in ‘Resilient Hope: 100 Devotions for Building Endurance in an Unpredictable World’
“Not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope.”
— ROMANS 5:3–4
Resources:
David’s Blog ‘Renewal/Renewing’: https://www.renewingrenewal.com/
‘The Disabled God Revisited’ By Lisa Powell: https://www.amazon.ca/Disabled-God-Revisited-Christology-Liberation-ebook/dp/B0BSPTSFP8
‘The Disabled God: Toward a Liberatory Theology of Disability’ By Nancy L. Eiesland: https://www.amazon.ca/Disabled-God-Liberatory-Theology-Disability-ebook/dp/B09YJYCXVJ/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0
‘A Disabled Apostle: Impairment and Disability in the Letters of Paul’ By Isaac T Soon: https://www.amazon.ca/Disabled-Apostle-Impairment-Disability-Letters/dp/0192885243
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