Christians With Chronic Illnesses

When you’re convinced God gave you a specific assignment, it can become your whole identity. And when chronic illness shows up and takes your capacity, it can feel like you didn’t just lose a dream, you lost your direction, your faith confidence, and maybe even your sense of worth. I’m L. A. Sprague, and I’m naming that grief out loud.  I talk through the Pentecostal idea of confirmation, especial...

Pain can make you question everything you thought you knew about God and it can also make you feel painfully unseen by the people around you. I sit down with Shakira “Kira” O'Garro, a licensed mental health counselor who serves Christians navigating medical trauma, chronic pain, and the kind of faith crisis that often stays unspoken in church. Kira shares her own story of coming to Jesus afte...

Some church teachings feel like oxygen when you’re suffering and others quietly teach you to blame yourself for pain you never chose. We’re sharing a deeply personal story from my upbringing in Pentecostal and charismatic spaces, where the Holy Spirit felt close, worship was expressive, and healing was treated as something you could reach for with enough faith. That kind of Christianity can be ful...

A seizure in airport security, a college freshman year shaped by fear, and a long road through brain fog, pain flares, and panic attacks! We talk with Lexi about what it’s like to live as a Christian with chronic illness when your body feels unpredictable and your mind is exhausted from staying on alert. Her story holds the tension so many of us feel: trusting God while still needing real medical...

Chronic illness doesn’t just change your body, it rewrites your calendar, your energy, and the way you measure a “good day.” We sit down as a newlywed Christian couple and talk honestly about marriage with POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome) and chronic depression, including what it’s like to name those realities early in dating and why a supportive response matters more than perfect...

Pain that starts in childhood is hard enough. Being dismissed by doctors while you’re still trying to figure out who you are can shape your entire life. We sit down with Lindsay, a Chicago-based teacher and leader with Perspectives USA, to talk about what it’s like to follow Jesus while living with multiple chronic illnesses, including Hashimoto’s, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, Crohn’s disea...

PCOS isn’t gone, but the name is changing for a reason. We’re talking about PMOS, polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome, and why this new label finally points to what so many people have felt for years: the problem is bigger than ovarian cysts. If you’ve ever tried to explain your symptoms and got blank stares, this deep dive is meant to give you language that makes sense. We walk through what...

She broke her nose from a seizure a week before a major show and still performed. That single detail captures the tension we explore with Becca Sugg: the call to create, lead, and serve while living with chronic illness that can interrupt your life without warning. Becca is a Christian rock musician, lead vocalist of Reclaim the Day, studio owner, mentor to young artists, and she brings a rare mix...

You can love Jesus and still be worn down to the bone. Today we're doing something simple but surprisingly powerful: reading your messages and responding in real time, with the deep breaths, low energy, and imperfect moments that come with life as a Christian with chronic illness. If you’ve ever wished someone would ask “How are you doing?” and actually mean it, this one is for you. We talk a...

A “bad stomach bug” nearly took Jordan’s life and it became the moment she stopped trying to muscle through and started reaching for God again. Jordan joins us as a homesteader, artist, and future certified herbalist to share what it’s like living with IBS, PCOS, psoriasis, and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, and how chronic illness can expose both the cracks in our support systems and the places where r...

Chronic illness doesn’t only change your body. It changes the way plans get made, the way texts get read, and the way silence can start to feel personal. We’ve both seen how quickly a flare-up can turn into guilt, defensiveness, or that awful question underneath it all: “Do you still want me in your life if I can’t show up like I used to?” We talk through the relationship skills that make friendsh...

Pain can make you feel like your whole life has been reduced to symptoms, setbacks, and survival. Ben Buckland’s (Tried by Fire Podcast) story refuses that ending. After a workplace injury, Ben develops CRPS (Complex Regional Pain Syndrome), one of the most severe chronic pain conditions, and he describes what it’s like to live with a nervous system stuck in fight-or-flight, unpredictable flare-up...

Skepticism about chronic illness is more common than people admit and it can quietly damage friendships, workplaces, and church community. So we tackle it head-on. Our host, L. A. Sprague, is answering listener questions while managing a rough POTS day, and she walks through why fluctuating symptoms can look like “flakiness” from the outside even when someone has real integrity and a strong work e...

She’s a family pastor in Alaska, a lifelong Nazarene, and someone who goes home after church and crashes on the couch in pain. Kylie joins us to talk about what it’s like to lead in ministry while living with PCOS and suspected endometriosis, including chronic fatigue, inflammation, brain fog, and the quiet grief of realizing you can’t do what you used to do. If you’ve ever wondered how faith hold...

A chronic illness diagnosis felt, to L. A. Sprague, like both a punch in the gut and a deep exhale at the same time. Having lived with unexplained symptoms, she understood that the real torment was often the unknown and the fear that nobody believed her. She explains why receiving a name for what was happening brought relief—not because she was glad to be sick, but because validation changed every...

Your health can collapse in a way that looks invisible from the outside, yet changes everything on the inside. Seth Noorzad, a Santa Barbara attorney, joins us to tell the story of a sudden crash into chronic illness, a Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis diagnosis, and what he strongly suspects is ME/CFS. He puts words to the hardest part: the body becomes a different reality, your energy system shrinks, and...

We sit down for a Halftime Show Q&A that gets real about chronic illness communication, especially the moment you realize your closest friends or family may not understand how much you’re struggling. We talk through a simple approach: ask if they have space, be straightforward about what’s happening physically and emotionally, and clearly name your limits around plans, outings, and expectation...

The day started with a lisp and a stubborn “I’m fine,” then crashed into choking on saliva and legs that wouldn’t rise. From that freefall, Miles met a rare diagnosis—Guillain-Barré syndrome—an ICU room, and a neurologist who moved fast. IVIG and faith proved to help his health improve. And what looked like an ending became a mission with pedals, scripture, and a mountain that dares you to quit. W...

Join L. A. Sprague as she reviews some of TikTok and Reddit's most interesting, weird, and twisted ways of managing chronic illness symptoms including McDonald's burgers, fries, and coke, laying on bathroom floors for hour spurts at a time before returning to bed, and even (trigger warning) domestic battery?! Don't worry, there's some helpful tips here for you too, like adjusta...

A cancer diagnosis at 28 weeks pregnant should shatter certainty—Emily chose to build something stronger. We sit down with her for a candid, heart-level conversation about B‑cell ALL, the shock of symptoms that didn’t add up, and the long road through treatment and maintenance. She explains the differences between IV, oral, and intrathecal chemo in clear, human terms and shares what sepsis, transf...

What makes a day “good” when your body won’t cooperate? We open the door to your most honest questions and share the messy, hope-filled reality of living with chronic illness and active faith. From naming a POTS flare while recording to savoring a chef-made coffee treat and trading Marvel favorites, we explore how small joys, honest limits, and steady love can reshape expectations without denying...

What if the path through chronic pain isn’t about pretending it’s gone, but learning to live boldly because Jesus is with you? That’s the heartbeat of our conversation with David Heflin, former pastor and founder of Broken and Mended, a support-group ministry serving people with chronic illness and chronic pain around the world. David opens up about ankylosing spondylitis and Crohn’s—how inflammat...

Everyone experiences vulnerability; being a faith-filled, chronically ill person increases that experience. Yet this is a chronically ill Christian’s secret power, not his/her weakness. Join L. A. Sprague as she expounds on Brené Brown's transformational research findings on vulnerability. If you are a chronically ill and/or faith-filled person, you may come to realize that you are more vulne...

What if healing doesn’t look like a cure, but like fewer seizures, gentler days, and a church that moves chairs so you can stay? Karlie joins us to share an unflinching story of misdiagnosis, an unexpected hysterectomy at 25, daily anaphylaxis risk, and the hard-won faith that carried her from Alberta to Texas and now Tennessee in search of care—and community that truly sees her. We trace the turn...

What if you aren't defined by what you can do, but by who you are? For listeners of faith, L. A. addresses the pressure to “believe it away.” She shares gentler ways to pray, scriptures that allow lament, and how to love without implying blame for unhealed bodies. Then she names both sides of the ledger—lost autonomy and career momentum, yes, but also surprising gains: a patient, joyful marri...