Have you been encouraged by this series on Divine Health and Divine Healing? We sure hope so, dear friend. In today's episode, the Smiths complete their answer to why God allows those He's called into full-time ministry to often suffer deeply while serving Him. There's not only a call to serve, but a call to suffer placed on the lives of many servants of Christ. And why should we not expect to suffer, Craig states, because the One who calls us to serve has suffered so deeply and painfully for us when He suffered on the way to and while He was on the Cross dying for our sins! That realization was one of the more powerful ways God spoke to Craig during some of his deepest days of pain and suffering. If Christ could suffer for me, why can't I suffer for Him, Craig opines. But also, there's a great cloud of witnesses who also have suffered, such as the Apostles and early church leaders, many of whom were tortured, beaten, and even martyred for their faith! If they could suffer for Christ, again, why can't I? And in one of the most encouraging revelations of how to live in Divine Health that the Smith's have learned, they've been encouraged by the realization that there are rewards to come for all those who follow Christ and even some are marked for special honor in what Craig refers to as Heaven's Hall of Fame! You won't want to miss this insightful journey with the Smiths into God's Word in today's episode of Indigenous Faith. May these truths support you in your own seasons of pain and suffering, dear friend!

In today's continuation of this important series on Christ My Healer, Christ My Health, LaDonna shares some of the unique ways God used her to bring hope to other hurting families in the UNM Hospital's Trauma ICU Unit while Craig lay in an almost two month coma. Up and down the corridor of this major trauma unit were family after family who's lives were turned upside down as their loved ones were gravely injured and near death in their own seasons of suffering. LaDonna took her unique opportunity seriously to be a light with the gospel to these hurting families, as well as the medical staff tasked with Craig's ongoing intensive care. Even after release from that ICU unit, and even to this day, the Smiths have been given many wonderful opportunities to share the hope of the gospel to many they never would have had opportunity to meet if it wasn't for their own trauma experience. Truly the gospel has rung out over the years to those who were living in the shadow of death with their own family members and the medical experts serving them in their hour of need. The Smiths also address how their embracing of the authority of the Scriptures helped settle difficult questions and battles in the mind as they simply believed and acted on the truths of God's Word. Challenges such as the fear that the injuries would one day cut Craig's life short were answered by the timeless truths of the Bible and the Smiths also began to address the issue of why does God allow suffering in those He's called to serve? To the secular mind, it can easily reject God when faced with unanswerable questions like, "If the Smiths were out doing God's work, why did God allow the accident to happen to them? They were just trying to be faithful to their calling and they almost lost their lives doing so!" But you'll have to wait until next week's episode to get the full answer to that crucial question. That means we'll see you next week for the next episode of Christ My Healer, Christ My Health!

In today's episode, Craig and LaDonna Smith continue to share about the Divine Health that was being manifested in Craig's very broken body in the accident that neither he nor LaDonna should have survived. Craig shares from Exodus 14:14 the truth that God will fight our battles for us when we are physically, emotionally, and mentally unable to do so. He also shares how the issue of his identity and significance was deeply impacted by the inward working of the Spirit of God as Craig soon realized he would be unable to do the things he did for the Lord in his over forty years of ministry, which amounted in a significant way to his identity and significance before the accident. What now? For some, when you lose your ability to do the things that amounted to your identity and significance before, it can be debilitating and devastating. But Craig found that the Divine Health he embrace brought a much deeper work of God that allowed him to find his identity and significance to be placed in Christ alone, instead of what he did for Christ. And that provided him the ability to let go of his past efforts, and revel in the joy and sufficiency of knowing Christ Jesus his Lord, as Paul found out and reported it to the Philippians in chapter 3 of this powerful epistle. And in one of the most consequential things God did for the Smiths was to help them understand that while He allowed their circumstances to change, their orders to serve did not. Instead of reaching out to the Cree tribe in Canada, they began serving among the Medical Tribe in the various hospitals, rehab centers, and medical facilities they have visited over the past fifteen plus years since the accident. The call of God to be spiritual rescuers continues to guide the Smiths even to this day!