Still Standing: Hope Beyond Disability

Is the Lord seriously good? Even despite seemingly ongoing and unrelenting loss? Why have I experienced troubles of great magnitude without relief? Why have I not been healed?

Author Debbie Oelke has struggled with questions such as these for most of her adult life. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at twenty-five, Debbie and her family were painfully aware of the possible outcomes, as her grandmother had also lived her short life dealing with the symptoms of this mysterious disease. Yet Debbie was granted almost two decades of "normal" living-marrying and having children, working, and building a life. Then seemingly out of nowhere, the disease robbed her of her ability to walk, placing her in a wheelchair.

Refined (not defined) by her disability, Debbie recounts many sudden lifestyle losses while celebrating the Lord's provision. She chronicles her physical decline and the daily struggle between contentment and hope for full recovery. She shares how God fortified her character with patient endurance through infertility and a difficult adoption process years before her symptoms began occurring. She lays out plainly for the able-bodied how those who are not mobile are often ignored or inconvenienced through ignorance or sheer selfishness. She draws on Scripture for inspiration and offers encouragement as God's promises resonate in her heart in new ways with each fresh obstacle.

Punctuated with short essays from Debbie's friends and family, Still Standing deals honestly-albeit sometimes painfully-with the impact chronic disease has on entire families and communities:

- Her parents share their heartbreak and ongoing hope for healing.

- Her twin sister transparently recounts her original survivor guilt.

- Her friends detail Debbie's physical decline and her spiritual regeneration.

- Her husband confesses his initial hesitancy to become engaged after her diagnosis.

Discover how this vivacious young mom has determined not to let an upended life get the best of her. Come along on Debbie's journey as she asks the hard questions about faith, healing, and how to thrive when things are not as you expected them to be.