April 18, 2025 • 15 mins
We explore how God uses our brokenness to display His grace, challenging cultural narratives that equate value with ability. The gospel flips worldly expectations upside down, revealing that weakness is precisely where God's strength becomes most evident.
• Over 65 million Americans have disabilities (25% of population), yet 80% aren't in church
• The world measures worth through ability and self-sufficiency, while God defines success differently
• "The opposite of faith is not doubt but self-reliance"
• Personal reflection on questioning my own value after COVID limitations
• Accepting our creator and embracing our brokenness allows God's purpose to manifest
• Viktor Frankl said "despair is suffering without meaning"
• Our value comes from being created in God's image, not from what we can produce
For deeper dives into these topics and more, check out indispensable-people.com and visit Amazon to purchase the books "The Indispensable Kid" and "Gospel Accessibility" and the "Indispensable People."
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hi, my name is Tracy Correll and welcome to
Indispensable People.
I'm a wife, mom, teacher,pastor and missionary and I
believe that every person shouldhave the opportunity to know
Christ, grow in Him and serveHim with the gifts that he has
given, no matter their ability.
Over 65 million Americans havea disability.
That's 25% of the population.
(00:26):
However, over 80% of them arenot inside the walls of our
church.
Let's dive into those hardtopics, biblical foundations,
perceptions and to this episodeof Indispensable People.
(00:57):
Today we're going to be talkingabout brokenness, and that might
seem like a pretty obviousstatement when we're considering
ministering to people withdisabilities, but in all
truthfulness, it is literallythe truth of all of us.
We live in a broken, marredworld, which is why we have
(01:18):
sickness and ailments andphysical disabilities and
intellectual disabilities andall of those kinds of things.
And although the world wouldbeg to tell us that, because of
the brokenness, because of theweakness, because of the
disability, the cannots are thebiggest, however, the gospel
(01:38):
flips it on its head and says inyour weakness is where God is
strong.
So how do we take what theworld tells us and, honestly,
how we have built lives based onour strengths right?
I think of.
I am a transition coordinatorat a high school and what I do
(02:03):
there is I speak to the students, I do assessments with them to
help them identify what aretheir weaknesses, what are their
strengths, and how do wecapitalize on those strengths so
that they can do the job thatthey are hoping to do?
And so we've really built ourlives on a strength as our
(02:28):
assets, our strengths as ourcatalysts to complete or to do
anything.
But the gospel flips it, itchanges it, and that is so very
important when we considerpeople with disabilities in the
body of Christ, knowing thatscripture tells us that those
(02:50):
that seem the weaker areactually indispensable.
And this fits that model as welook further into scripture.
And so I am looking at I'vebeen reading a book called
Disability in the Gospel.
I jumped into it a few years ago.
I have jumped back into it andthe kind of tagline says how God
(03:14):
uses our brokenness to displayhis grace.
And the author is Michael SBeetz, if I'm saying that
correctly, b-e-a-t-e-s.
And I'm going to read you someof this book and we're going to
kind of stop in some places.
And this is in chapter four ofthis book and the chapter is
(03:35):
called Biblical Conclusions andReflections and it's kind of
where it takes all of thescripture and the parts and the
pieces that it had put togetherto explain this to kind of a
conclusion.
And it says someone has saidthat the opposite of faith is
not doubt but self-reliance.
Very interesting there.
(03:57):
Right, the opposite of faith isnot doubt but self-reliance.
We try to convince ourselvesthat we can do it and we can
take care of it and that we areenough.
But the gospel says thecomplete opposite, which is what
is required of faith to believethat God can do it, that God
provides, that God takes care ofthings.
(04:18):
And it goes on to say when wedetermine, despite massive and
overwhelming evidence to thecontrary, that we are sufficient
and able on our own, we beginto live as if we no longer need
God or faith.
The true sign of culturalunbelief is the perception that
we are doing okay, that thingsare all right.
(04:39):
Recognizing our essentialweakness and brokenness is not a
pleasant prospect and ourculture works hard to deny that
reality and proclaim itsself-sufficiency, which is what
I said from the beginning theworld was built on.
Let's see what your strengthsare, let's prove what you can do
(05:00):
.
Get out there with your workethic, how are you gonna make
this happen?
Kind of a perspective.
And the more self-sufficientyou are, then that must mean the
more successful you are.
But the gospel asks us to dothe complete opposite.
It asks us to rely on Christ sothat we can be successful in
(05:20):
the body of Christ.
And I think the big change upthere is the world's definition
of success and God's definitionof success are not the same.
And it goes on to say thatanother person named Sharon
(05:41):
Fetcher says what seems to thecultural eye, the physical
obstinacy of disability suggestsrather a religious,
philosophical or culturalrejection, namely an undigested
or inadmissible awareness tolive will involve us at some
time, at some level, in physicalor some kind of suffering.
(06:06):
And so, again, looking at theperspective of the world and the
perspective of scripture andwhat God had intended and here
is a this the book highlights amovie that I watched a long,
(06:26):
long time ago, a long long timeago, which was in 1999, guys,
1999 feels like it wasn't thatlong ago, but 26 years ago.
The film the Matrix came outokay, and the book says the
character Neo is rescued andawakened and he opens his eyes
(06:48):
to a world that is terribly ugly, broken and dark.
And he learns his eyes to aworld that is terribly ugly,
broken and dark.
And he learns that humanity forthe most part continues to live
as slaves in a computergenerated dream world of sorts,
never grasping the true natureof the desperate and lost
situation.
And at one point, early in hisrehabilitation, neo asks he asks
, why do my eyes hurt?
(07:09):
And his companion Morpheusresponds simply you've never
used them before.
So for us, sometimes, after Godsaves us to himself and our
eyes are open for the first time, spiritually, we begin to see
our brokenness and the uglinessof the world and the ugliness of
the world.
But this is a necessary firststep to embracing the hope of
(07:32):
the gospel, renewal andreformation into the image of
Christ and final restorationwith God.
And that is why, right there,that ministering specifically to
people with disabilities is soincredibly important, because
the way that the world showsthem their brokenness and
(07:53):
equates it to an unsuccessfullife, to something that can't
live up to or that's notvaluable, that lacks, all of
those kinds of things are goingto sit hard and strong.
And I have told this storybefore.
(08:16):
I've talked about my COVIDexperience and afterwards,
coming home from the hospitaland spending most of the time in
a recliner because my bodydidn't want to work, my brain
didn't want to work, my languagedidn't want to work, all of
those kinds of things.
And, honestly, as a credentialedminister knowing the scriptures
(08:42):
, I sat in that recliner andquestioned my value to this
world as a minister to peoplewith disabilities and I
questioned myself, saying whatdo I have to offer?
What worth do I have now if Ican't do what I did before?
And that bugs me so very much,because the message that we tell
(09:10):
all of the people that weminister to on a regular basis,
those with disabilities of allkinds the message always is your
value is not in what you can door what you have to offer.
It is in the creator, who madeyou, and scripture tells us in
Genesis 127 that each of us aremade in the image of God.
(09:33):
Okay, we know that we werecreated for the works of his
glory.
We know that he has a plan anda purpose for our lives and it
is not based on what I can do,it is based on who he is.
And if I can sit here as acredentialed minister, as a
(09:56):
minister to people withdisabilities, and question my
value and worth after a majorhealth incident, then what are
those who don't have Christdoing?
What are they thinking?
Where are they seeing theirvalue?
And we live in a world that isever-changing and ever-evolving,
(10:21):
and I would say that a goodportion of the thought processes
from 40, 50, 60 years ago arechanging as it comes to people
with disabilities, but they'renot necessarily changing in
saying fully the value and worththat exists.
What they're doing is sayingyou can live this life however
(10:45):
you want and do whatever youwant and engage in whatever
activities that you want, andyour disability doesn't stop you
from that.
So we're opening up doors intothings that still do not
communicate the value and worthof someone.
We're just telling them you canhave access to all things.
(11:09):
So I want to read this nextpart, and it is.
Adam Nelson wrote this and hesaid brokenness seems to be a
(11:33):
prerequisite that God demandsbefore doing lasting work
through a person, but the termbroken is almost always
perceived as negative.
Viktor Frankl said despair issuffering without meaning.
Brokenness helps us to avoiddespair when our dreams do not
come true and when we suffer,because it gives us meaning when
we need it most, only after weare broken in the right place
can we be truly healed andexperience wholeness?
(11:54):
One of the things that I usedto say all the time is that we
cannot fully be who God intendedus to be until we accept how we
were created.
We have this cultural tensionbetween the experience and of
(12:23):
who we are in our weakness andthe disability and the model
that scripture tells us thatbrokenness is what is required.
Now there's brokenness in allkinds of ways, right, there's
brokenness in our intellectualabilities.
There can be brokenness in ourphysical abilities, there can be
brokenness in our emotional.
(12:44):
But we, our culture, says avoidthe broken and the disabled,
hide your weaknesses andblemishes, act as if they simply
aren't there.
But scripture gives us a storyafter story.
This is what the author saysand is positioning us to say.
(13:09):
Instead, understand that you,all of you, in some sense or
another, are broken.
Stopped avoiding the truth andembrace it, for in that embrace
we begin to grasp the power ofGod through his grace may
manifest in human weakness.
So what do we need to do?
(13:30):
Accept our creator, accept hiscreation, which is ourselves,
embrace the brokenness and thenlook to God and say and what do
you want to do?
Let's do it.
Our value and our worth doesnot come in what we can do, does
not come in what we offer thisworld, but it comes in the
(13:50):
creator, who made us with a planand a purpose for the works of
his glory, with much more to do,because we were created in his
image.
Every person, every situationmade with a purpose, made with a
plan.
If you have breath in yourlungs, you have purpose on this
(14:12):
planet.
Do I know everything aboutdisability ministry?
Do I have all the answers?
Have I done everythingperfectly?
I've absolutely not, but we aregoing to continue this
conversation so that people ofall abilities can have the
opportunity to know Christ, growin Him and serve Him with the
(14:32):
gifts that he has given them.
For deeper dives into thesetopics and more, check out
indispensablepeoplecom and visitAmazon to purchase the books
the Indispensable Kid and GospelAccessibility and the
Indispensable People.
Hi, my name is Tracy Correll and welcome to
Indispensable People.
I'm a wife, mom, teacher,pastor and missionary and I
believe that every person shouldhave the opportunity to know
Christ, grow in Him and serveHim with the gifts that he has
given, no matter their ability.
Over 65 million Americans havea disability.
That's 25% of the population.
(00:26):
However, over 80% of them arenot inside the walls of our
church.
Let's dive into those hardtopics, biblical foundations,
perceptions and to this episodeof Indispensable People.
(00:57):
Today we're going to be talkingabout brokenness, and that might
seem like a pretty obviousstatement when we're considering
ministering to people withdisabilities, but in all
truthfulness, it is literallythe truth of all of us.
We live in a broken, marredworld, which is why we have
(01:18):
sickness and ailments andphysical disabilities and
intellectual disabilities andall of those kinds of things.
And although the world wouldbeg to tell us that, because of
the brokenness, because of theweakness, because of the
disability, the cannots are thebiggest, however, the gospel
(01:38):
flips it on its head and says inyour weakness is where God is
strong.
So how do we take what theworld tells us and, honestly,
how we have built lives based onour strengths right?
I think of.
I am a transition coordinatorat a high school and what I do
(02:03):
there is I speak to the students, I do assessments with them to
help them identify what aretheir weaknesses, what are their
strengths, and how do wecapitalize on those strengths so
that they can do the job thatthey are hoping to do?
And so we've really built ourlives on a strength as our
(02:28):
assets, our strengths as ourcatalysts to complete or to do
anything.
But the gospel flips it, itchanges it, and that is so very
important when we considerpeople with disabilities in the
body of Christ, knowing thatscripture tells us that those
(02:50):
that seem the weaker areactually indispensable.
And this fits that model as welook further into scripture.
And so I am looking at I'vebeen reading a book called
Disability in the Gospel.
I jumped into it a few years ago.
I have jumped back into it andthe kind of tagline says how God
(03:14):
uses our brokenness to displayhis grace.
And the author is Michael SBeetz, if I'm saying that
correctly, b-e-a-t-e-s.
And I'm going to read you someof this book and we're going to
kind of stop in some places.
And this is in chapter four ofthis book and the chapter is
(03:35):
called Biblical Conclusions andReflections and it's kind of
where it takes all of thescripture and the parts and the
pieces that it had put togetherto explain this to kind of a
conclusion.
And it says someone has saidthat the opposite of faith is
not doubt but self-reliance.
Very interesting there.
(03:57):
Right, the opposite of faith isnot doubt but self-reliance.
We try to convince ourselvesthat we can do it and we can
take care of it and that we areenough.
But the gospel says thecomplete opposite, which is what
is required of faith to believethat God can do it, that God
provides, that God takes care ofthings.
(04:18):
And it goes on to say when wedetermine, despite massive and
overwhelming evidence to thecontrary, that we are sufficient
and able on our own, we beginto live as if we no longer need
God or faith.
The true sign of culturalunbelief is the perception that
we are doing okay, that thingsare all right.
(04:39):
Recognizing our essentialweakness and brokenness is not a
pleasant prospect and ourculture works hard to deny that
reality and proclaim itsself-sufficiency, which is what
I said from the beginning theworld was built on.
Let's see what your strengthsare, let's prove what you can do
(05:00):
.
Get out there with your workethic, how are you gonna make
this happen?
Kind of a perspective.
And the more self-sufficientyou are, then that must mean the
more successful you are.
But the gospel asks us to dothe complete opposite.
It asks us to rely on Christ sothat we can be successful in
(05:20):
the body of Christ.
And I think the big change upthere is the world's definition
of success and God's definitionof success are not the same.
And it goes on to say thatanother person named Sharon
(05:41):
Fetcher says what seems to thecultural eye, the physical
obstinacy of disability suggestsrather a religious,
philosophical or culturalrejection, namely an undigested
or inadmissible awareness tolive will involve us at some
time, at some level, in physicalor some kind of suffering.
(06:06):
And so, again, looking at theperspective of the world and the
perspective of scripture andwhat God had intended and here
is a this the book highlights amovie that I watched a long,
(06:26):
long time ago, a long long timeago, which was in 1999, guys,
1999 feels like it wasn't thatlong ago, but 26 years ago.
The film the Matrix came outokay, and the book says the
character Neo is rescued andawakened and he opens his eyes
(06:48):
to a world that is terribly ugly, broken and dark.
And he learns his eyes to aworld that is terribly ugly,
broken and dark.
And he learns that humanity forthe most part continues to live
as slaves in a computergenerated dream world of sorts,
never grasping the true natureof the desperate and lost
situation.
And at one point, early in hisrehabilitation, neo asks he asks
, why do my eyes hurt?
(07:09):
And his companion Morpheusresponds simply you've never
used them before.
So for us, sometimes, after Godsaves us to himself and our
eyes are open for the first time, spiritually, we begin to see
our brokenness and the uglinessof the world and the ugliness of
the world.
But this is a necessary firststep to embracing the hope of
(07:32):
the gospel, renewal andreformation into the image of
Christ and final restorationwith God.
And that is why, right there,that ministering specifically to
people with disabilities is soincredibly important, because
the way that the world showsthem their brokenness and
(07:53):
equates it to an unsuccessfullife, to something that can't
live up to or that's notvaluable, that lacks, all of
those kinds of things are goingto sit hard and strong.
And I have told this storybefore.
(08:16):
I've talked about my COVIDexperience and afterwards,
coming home from the hospitaland spending most of the time in
a recliner because my bodydidn't want to work, my brain
didn't want to work, my languagedidn't want to work, all of
those kinds of things.
And, honestly, as a credentialedminister knowing the scriptures
(08:42):
, I sat in that recliner andquestioned my value to this
world as a minister to peoplewith disabilities and I
questioned myself, saying whatdo I have to offer?
What worth do I have now if Ican't do what I did before?
And that bugs me so very much,because the message that we tell
(09:10):
all of the people that weminister to on a regular basis,
those with disabilities of allkinds the message always is your
value is not in what you can door what you have to offer.
It is in the creator, who madeyou, and scripture tells us in
Genesis 127 that each of us aremade in the image of God.
(09:33):
Okay, we know that we werecreated for the works of his
glory.
We know that he has a plan anda purpose for our lives and it
is not based on what I can do,it is based on who he is.
And if I can sit here as acredentialed minister, as a
(09:56):
minister to people withdisabilities, and question my
value and worth after a majorhealth incident, then what are
those who don't have Christdoing?
What are they thinking?
Where are they seeing theirvalue?
And we live in a world that isever-changing and ever-evolving,
(10:21):
and I would say that a goodportion of the thought processes
from 40, 50, 60 years ago arechanging as it comes to people
with disabilities, but they'renot necessarily changing in
saying fully the value and worththat exists.
What they're doing is sayingyou can live this life however
(10:45):
you want and do whatever youwant and engage in whatever
activities that you want, andyour disability doesn't stop you
from that.
So we're opening up doors intothings that still do not
communicate the value and worthof someone.
We're just telling them you canhave access to all things.
(11:09):
So I want to read this nextpart, and it is.
Adam Nelson wrote this and hesaid brokenness seems to be a
(11:33):
prerequisite that God demandsbefore doing lasting work
through a person, but the termbroken is almost always
perceived as negative.
Viktor Frankl said despair issuffering without meaning.
Brokenness helps us to avoiddespair when our dreams do not
come true and when we suffer,because it gives us meaning when
we need it most, only after weare broken in the right place
can we be truly healed andexperience wholeness?
(11:54):
One of the things that I usedto say all the time is that we
cannot fully be who God intendedus to be until we accept how we
were created.
We have this cultural tensionbetween the experience and of
(12:23):
who we are in our weakness andthe disability and the model
that scripture tells us thatbrokenness is what is required.
Now there's brokenness in allkinds of ways, right, there's
brokenness in our intellectualabilities.
There can be brokenness in ourphysical abilities, there can be
brokenness in our emotional.
(12:44):
But we, our culture, says avoidthe broken and the disabled,
hide your weaknesses andblemishes, act as if they simply
aren't there.
But scripture gives us a storyafter story.
This is what the author saysand is positioning us to say.
(13:09):
Instead, understand that you,all of you, in some sense or
another, are broken.
Stopped avoiding the truth andembrace it, for in that embrace
we begin to grasp the power ofGod through his grace may
manifest in human weakness.
So what do we need to do?
(13:30):
Accept our creator, accept hiscreation, which is ourselves,
embrace the brokenness and thenlook to God and say and what do
you want to do?
Let's do it.
Our value and our worth doesnot come in what we can do, does
not come in what we offer thisworld, but it comes in the
(13:50):
creator, who made us with a planand a purpose for the works of
his glory, with much more to do,because we were created in his
image.
Every person, every situationmade with a purpose, made with a
plan.
If you have breath in yourlungs, you have purpose on this
(14:12):
planet.
Do I know everything aboutdisability ministry?
Do I have all the answers?
Have I done everythingperfectly?
I've absolutely not, but we aregoing to continue this
conversation so that people ofall abilities can have the
opportunity to know Christ, growin Him and serve Him with the
(14:32):
gifts that he has given them.
For deeper dives into thesetopics and more, check out
indispensablepeoplecom and visitAmazon to purchase the books
the Indispensable Kid and GospelAccessibility and the
Indispensable People.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!