The Works of God

Why do I think you should come to the November 8 conference, The Works of God: God’s Good Design in Disability? 

To hear from people who have experienced suffering on the deepest level, and found Jesus.  People like Nancy Guthrie, who wrote about what prayer was like for her after her daughter Hope was born with a fatal genetic disorder (paragraph formatting is mine):

So how were praying for Hope? I wish I could tell you that I was a great woman of prayer in those difficult days. Truth is, I wasn’t.

I was really grateful that so many people were praying for us, no matter what they were praying, because I didn’t have many words, mostly just groans and tears. I was grateful to know that the Holy Spirit was interceding for us with “groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:36).

When I was able to sputter out a prayer, it was shaped most profoundly by something a friend said to me on the phone a couple of days after Hope was born. She said that I could be confident that God would accomplish the purpose he had for Hope’s life in the number of days that he gave to her.

So in my prayers I began to welcome him to accomplish that purpose. I prayed that my own sin and selfishness and small agendas would not hinder his purpose. I prayed that that his purpose for Hope’s life would be enough for me, even a joy to me.

Nancy Guthrie, Praying Past Our Preferred Outcomes, posted April 4, 2012