This is the Truth Network. What happens if you're a pastor in a thriving ministry of a growing church and suddenly you lose your sight? No, I'm not saying you get a little bit of a stymied vision for your ministry. You literally go physically blind. I've got that pastor in front of me right now.
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Thank you, buildinggodsway.com. Pastor Chad Roberts. The book is Blind Faith, Seeing God Through Darkness. We've got a lot of folks talking about vision, how important that is, but Pastor, you have a lot of spiritual vision, a lot more than just about anybody I know, but a lot of stuff has happened in your life to get this book published and to have you here today. Where do we even start?
well it's a joy to be here today and i appreciate the ministry that you do and just to come alongside and be part of it today means a great deal to us and who is this sweet young lady to your right oh this is my wife of 17 years this is sadie and he did say young so how about that okay so she okay there we go so sadie has been with you through this whole journey and what a journey it is and what a journey it's been you just thought you were going on a missions trip. Yeah, that's right. Seven years ago, I was in Central America helping to train pastors, a passion that I have. And we hiked this incredibly large mountain and to go to the top, oddly enough, of a Christian radio tower. And when I got to the top of that tower, blood vessels burst behind my eyes.
It's like looking through a spider web of blood. It led to two failed surgeries over the next many months, and I eventually went completely blind at the age of 38. Wow. And you're pastoring, you're in ministry. Yeah.
And Sadie, what was going on with you at this time, and how did you handle and process all of this going on with him? Yeah, we had just had our third baby when he started going blind, and had our fourth baby shortly after he went completely blind. And had it not been for just community and people surrounding us and supporting us, and, you know, that's what true fellowship in the Acts Church looks like, is people doing life together. Wow. What's it like to be on this earth for over three decades, and then one day you have no sight?
How do you even explain that to people? You know, one of the things that I tell people, if I could go back and I could do things different, I would have recognized the trauma that it really was. You know, I was just putting my head down, trying to get from Sunday to Sunday. I'm trying to learn how to communicate and how to preach without even reading, you know, being able to read a Bible. I'm memorizing all of the text.
And all the while, you know, my family, even though we're very close and even though we're doing the best we can, it was still traumatic. and it gave me such, you know, I look back now and it gives me such an appreciation for people that walk through traumas and just the way that we need the help of Christ. We can't do it without it. And you were over there meeting with pastors, encouraging them.
Now, Sadie, were you on this trip with him? No, I wasn't. I was at home.
So you're hearing about this from... 1,700 miles away. International. And so I'm just thinking about what a lot of pastors go through. We have a mutual friend, Andy Bowersox, Energize Ministries, and he's been a real impact to you.
Talk about that whole area, because a lot of pastors listening, that may be a primary person to hear what you're about to say, but everyone listening that loves the Lord, knows the Lord, that's part of a local church, which they should be, what do you say to them about what their pastor could be going through? And they may have no idea that that guy that's up there preaching every week, he's got stuff going on in his life. No, that's exactly right. And what surprised me the most as I was going blind is the temptation to become reclusive.
So I would tell people if you notice your pastor seems off, if you just notice that perhaps they seem a little withdrawn, really lean into prayer for them. And that's what happened to me. I just, you know, I found it oddly and strangely, I found it embarrassing when people would walk up to me and I didn't recognize their voice. I didn't know who they were. And what it made me want to do is go straight to my office.
And God had to really help me grasp, no, you can't trade the safety, the security of a closed office for the access of a lobby. You're still a shepherd. People still need you. And sometimes I have to force myself to just say, no, I'm going to be accessible to people, even though it's embarrassing to say, no, who am I talking to again?
Well, let's talk about what you would probably identify as something like akin to the great tribulation in your life, somewhere between this terrible accident over in the middle of nowhere in Central America to a book, and you're speaking all over the country. I mean, people are resonating with this book because this book isn't just about your testimony in the accident and before the accident. This book is about those dark days. And Sadie you were right there with him in the valley in the slaw of despair Talk about that will you Yeah I think going back to the pastor thing and just I think allowing your people to show up exactly how they are And I think a lot of times as Americans, well, just as human beings, really, we make people suppress their feelings. And if you're anything other than I'm doing fine or I'm okay, it's awkward.
And just really letting those people lament and taking, let them have space to take up, you know, showing up and being fully present and having all of the emotions. Wow. I'm Stu Everson. Our special guests are Chad and Sadie Roberts. The book is Blind Faith, Seeing God Through Darkness.
I love the way this book is laid out. It's been a blessing to me already. The chapters are Seeing God in Deep Shadows, The King's Prison When Life Isn't Fair, Where Is God in Times of Uncertainty, Holy Ground, Chapter 4, Hold the Line that Battles the Lord's, Delays or Not Denials, How to Wait on God, Risky Faith, But If Not, Embarrassed by Jesus, What a chapter that's got to be. A holy heist, answered prayers we don't believe, shipwrecked, the storm of your life, drinking from the cup of suffering, suffering with the eternal perspective. Obviously, we can't unpack all of this, but let me ask you this pointed question.
Pastor Chad, is it okay to not be okay? Oh, absolutely. You know, I tell people all the time, our lives, what Sadie and I have went through, it does not teach people how to suffer well. The Bible is what teaches us to suffer well. And I think we can take great comfort in the fact God has called us to suffering.
We are appointed to it. And the reason I take comfort in that is because God isn't haphazard. God isn't coincidental. God is not looking at what we're going through and going, oh my, what are we going to do? No, he has purpose in all of it.
And I think as we come to that biblical understanding that God doesn't waste anything, that's when our faith can truly be in God and not in outcomes that we want or the prayers that we want answered in the way we think they should be. No, our faith is then in God and God alone. What was the toughest part of this whole trial and trauma for you as you look back? Waiting, learning how to wait on God, learning to let God develop that spiritual fruit of patience, of joy, realizing that joy is not a feeling, joy is not an emotion. Joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, not sitting and just waiting to feel a certain feeling like joy, but choosing it and saying, no, God, I'm going to allow your Holy Spirit to produce in me what you deem good, what you deem necessary.
Sadie, you were married to this man before and after this accident. And some might have said to you, hey, give up on this guy. How are you going to be holding this guy's arm, guiding him through? You did that with the kids. What's going on here?
But what's the difference between him before this accident, married to him then and married to him after? The emotional maturity that's happened, just growing and being fully present with his family and with the people that he loves. And just really, truly seeing how he is at home is the exact same how he is on Sunday mornings. Wow. So there's a transparency there.
And did you think the adjustment would be hard or even impossible when you met him at the airport? When he came home, he left seeing with both eyes. He came home blind. Same man, same soul, same follower of Jesus, same pastor, but a very serious visual issue. What was that like when you saw him there, and what was going through your heart?
Honestly, I was probably dealing with postpartum depression, so I had no point of reference of what the future was going to hold or what it was going to look like. I really just took it step by step and day by day. It was honestly, I'm not going to sugarcoat it, honestly. It was touch and go there for a bit. I mean, just dealing with depression and fighting off darkness and feeling what we're going to do.
Are we going to do this together? And just allowing the Lord and being patient and just growing together. And that's what was so difficult, too, is as I was going through this, I was becoming reclusive. I didn't want to go anywhere. If we went out to eat, I could feel all eyes on me because the blind guys walking through the restaurant.
I would spill things in the early days. I'd knock over drinks and things like that. And so I just became more and more reclusive while Sadie was carrying the weight of our young children and all of that. And so we've had to grow through that, and we've had to have a lot of help from the body of Christ. And now we're able to look back, and now we say all the time, there's more gain than what there's been lost.
And as she said, just growing the emotional maturity, the spiritual maturity, the being present. I look back now, and like so many of my brothers and sisters in ministry, I was sinfully, sinfully busy. And when our life came to a grinding halt, the Lord helped change that perspective. Wow. So before this book came out and before you started going on radio shows and podcasts and people want to talk to you and you started doing pastor's events like you're about to do, you know, Lord willing, soon in October, we just did a whole whiteboard with you earlier.
And you contributed more than anyone. And here we all have full vision and you have a spiritual vision. But before all this, there is that moment of struggle, of doubt, of depression, of reclusiveness. this. Speak to that real quick, and then we'll get to more of it on the other side of the break.
Well I think what the difference was is I would go days of just withdrawn and reclusive and what the Lord taught me this was so wonderful Well we can dive into it after the break but what I learned is I learned how to find my center And those days turned into hours. Those hours then turned into moments.
Okay, we'll talk about some of those moments. On the other side, what God has done through him and through Sadie since this thing, how God's turned an awful mess and struggle into a great message and to strengthen many people. And we'll get to the heart of your struggles when we come back. Don't touch that dial more on Truth Talk Live. Download the podcast, all that's at truthnetwork.com.
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So what do you do when life falls apart? What do you do in the heart of the struggle? What do you do when you're Job and you're getting all kinds of advice from all kinds of voices and all kinds of noise? What do you listen to? How do you find your true center?
We're going to get to that with our special guest, Chad Roberts. Pastor Chad, his wife, Sadie's with us. He's written this great book, Blind Faith, Seeing God Through Darkness. And you literally went blind. That's part of your testimony.
for those who just joined us or just tuned on to the podcast, you lost all of your vision. And you came home. You went on this missions trip. All you're doing is serving the Lord. All you're doing is helping people find Christ.
You're pouring into pastors. You're trying to be a godly husband to this godly wife and raise a godly seed, these kids and children and shepherd and mentor. And you lose your eyesight. Was there a moment where you were mad at God? You're saying, God, I've got a lot going on here.
we know why this it created more questions than what i had answers that's for sure and you know i think you know all of us that's our that's our humanity you remember the blind man in the gospels where the disciples said who sinned his parents or this guy and i even went through that where i'm going god did i did i upset you did i anger you in any way why i think we all I mean, that's just where our humanity goes. But the Lord was so kind. The Lord was so gracious. And he was so faithful. And it's just remarkable.
I knew in my mind that God's grace would be sufficient. I knew that. But I just didn't know it. And until you walk through it, I just didn't know to what level. And I have found God nothing but reliable, nothing but steadfast.
I want to come back to that with you. But I want to ask Sadie, is there grace for the pastor's wife? What was it like for you in those dark moments? I really needed people to make our life normal when we went from, you know, four eyes with four kids down to two eyes with four kids. I needed people in my life to make it normal.
So, you know, all of our kids could get to sporting events and all of our kids could go on field trips. And God really supplied the people in our life.
So I would encourage you, just be there, be supportive. Don't ask, you know, how can I help you? Just show up and be there, be the support. What's maybe the biggest challenge or change for you practically speaking? You mentioned in the first segment there about spilling things, kind of knocking things over, just not seeing, You know, just some of those functional things.
Sadie, what for you have been some things, maybe with the children? Or, you know, to give a context, I first met you at NRB. I'd heard about you from Bower Sox. I walk in the room. I had 80 meetings that morning, and I had 80 more that evening.
And I'm speaking here, and I'm going there, and I'm praying there, and I'm, you know, shaking hands, and I'm doing the podcast from the exhibit floor.
So I wasn't even sure who I was meeting with. But it took me about 10 minutes into the meeting to figure out that you were blind. I mean, you were so gracious and shaking my hand and we, you know, connected. And I think I offered some cookies to you guys. And we had some La Blue bottle water and we had some Vine-tastic, that, you know, that drink that's the healthy drink that our friends provided for NRB.
But then I started to process and maybe glance, you know, take a sneak peek at my notes for who I was meeting with. I kind of looked at the cover of the book, Blind Faith, and I started thinking, this is that guy. This is that blind pastor.
So it took me a while to realize, I mean, the cognizance, the awareness of the room. I would say you were reading the room better than the rest of us who could see Pastor Chad. But Sadie, from your perspective, what were some of the functionally difficult things as you're now dealing with a pastor who went from two sets of eyes to one set of eyes in the family? I had joined a Facebook group, actually. It was a support group.
It was for spouses whose husbands or wives are blind and they were super helpful. They had all kinds of like occupational therapy tricks. And and like you don't think about like how much toothpaste you're going to squeeze on a toothbrush without eyes. And so they just had lots of like tips and tricks and not, you know, not doing everything for him, leaving enough frustration in his life that he has some motivation to keep on going.
So those were some good occupational therapy things that they had up their sleeves, and just even more a layer of more community. Wow. That is something. As you're hearing her talk, aren't you glad this woman of God stuck with you, brother? No.
Where would you be without God putting her by your side? That's right. He'd be with his mama.
Well, I'll tell you this. The way that she rearranges furniture in our house, I could go on America Ninja and be just fine. That's the level of frustration I'm talking about. Oh, my soul. See, now we're getting real.
See, the gloves are off.
Okay, now I'm not going to be y'all's marriage counselor. But see, that's what I was trying to get to because people, they just hear the great story and, you know, this and that. You know most of the stories in the Bible are about blind people are connected to blind people getting healed getting their sight back you know from the story of you know Jesus you know spitting in the mud on that one field. I mean, you have all these memorized. You've probably preached on them all over the place.
But talk about that because no doubt you've had folks put the oil on you and pray for you, put hands on you and pray for you to see again. And how do you interact with that, you know, with, you know, verses like in everything, give thanks? It's very hard to reconcile because people ask me all the time, who do you think caused your blindness, God or Satan? And, you know, my answer biblically is both. Both are at work.
Both are at play. That's what we talked about in the chapter of Job. Where is God in times of uncertainty? God had an agenda in Job's life. Satan had an agenda in Job's life.
And what mattered was Job's response. And so, you know, the way I reconcile it is James 4, 7. It says that we are to submit ourselves to God. Then it says we are to resist the devil and he will flee from us.
So, you know, I reconcile it in the way of God is sovereign. He's not wasting this, so I'm not going to waste it. And God has purpose in it, and I'm going to walk in that purpose. Wow. I remember Johnny Erickson Tata telling me that when she was first, you know, had this horrible accident, and here she's a quadriplegic, and she came back to Christ.
I mean, a remarkable story. But she told me that there were people that had the audacity to say, you just don't have the faith to get out of that wheelchair.
Now, if you had the folks that, I mean, here you're blind, to say, hey, you know, you have spiritual blindness. If you only had the faith to believe, you know, I mean, How would you respond to that?
Well, I ain't going to say nothing. I'm going to let you be in the fantasy theory. Those people who tell me that, I remind them, Jesus said, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, it's enough to move mountains.
So the whole notion of you don't have enough, no, that's not biblical. And I think people get it twisted. Faith is not, you know, you're allowed to wrestle with God on hard questions. You're allowed to, I would say, even doubt God. You're allowed to ask big things that are hard.
Losing sight is hard, and we would not be humans if we did not wrestle with God on that. But unfaithfulness is when we try to control God. We believe that Chad is already healed. Even though he's not physically sighted yet, we know that it's coming. And if I were to say he should have already been healed, that would be me controlling God, and that's where faith ends.
And that's where the Lord taught me in Mark 11, 22, Jesus said, have faith in what? In God, not in prayer, not in outcomes, not even in faith itself.
So many believers, we put our faith in faith itself, but the Bible says, have faith in God. And as God's taught me that process, what I have found is the outcome really doesn't matter. When your faith is in God, you'll trust the outcome to God. Yeah, think about, you said, you know, the mustard seed, the faith that moves mountains. I think about the mountains of souls that will be in heaven because of the prayers of John E.
Erickson Tada, you know, through her ministry, through God using her. She can't even get on her knees. And yet so many have come to Christ through her and through that what we would see as the most horrible thing in the world. God's used it for his glory. And I think about all the people that have read this book, Blind Faith.
I mean, this thing keeps going. and it keeps hitting the list of books that people are reading because God's using this message, and he's using your story. How does gratitude play a part in this? Can you talk about that real quick? You know, that verse 518, In everything give thanks, this is God's will in Christ Jesus concerning you.
Is there a role of gratitude in all this? How does that hit your heart? I think it's everything. I mean, it's what changes our perspective.
So many of us Christians, we want God to change the circumstance. God wants to change our attitude. He wants to change our perspective. And gratitude is the way to do that. And it's just part, it's part, you know, the greatest blessing of blindness is that it taught me I really am just a branch.
That's all I am. But when I'm connected to the vine, all that is in God is flowing through me. And even without eyes, I can love. I can be filled with joy. I can have peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
All these things can grow and abound and increase in my life. Why? Because I'm connected to the vine, which is Christ. Wow. Sadie, gratitude.
Speak to that. Is it even possible with all the what seems like horrible stuff that's happened to y'all? Yeah, when I think about our kids, especially, there are things that we could not have cultivated in their life. We could not have taught them this level of compassion. We could not have taught them this level of servanthood.
We could not have taught them this level of faithfulness, you know. But we're thankful that the Lord has given us this season of our lives, this season of blindness. It's just grown our family together. We just change the way that we look at life and the way that we see how God is working and we see how good he is. The song, All My Life You Have Been Faithful.
All My Life You Have Been Good. And I believe that. Wow. Chad, what would you say to someone who's in a darkness right now of depression, of despair, giving up? At the end of the rope, what would you say?
I would say focus on God's glory. when you focus on God's glory you'll be amazed at what you can face what you can go through what you can endure what you can overcome the book is Blind Faith Seeing God Through Darkness Pastor Chad Roberts and his better half Sadie's in the house too God bless you both get this podcast TruthNetwork.com what's the best way to get Blind Faith? just Amazon everywhere books are sold that's right or go to ChadRoberts.org ChadRoberts.org you hear his teachings there too yep
