Yesterday’s movie-quote blog got me thinking about applicable verses from the Bible that relate to my kidney journey.
“My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.”
2 Corinthians 12:9
There were days when my body spoke softly. Days when my strength felt like something I could only remember having. Small tasks like housework seemed to ask for more than I could offer at that moment. But grace had a way of finding me. Not with scolding or pressure. But with presence and with enough strength for that moment.
God did not wait for me to stand before He came near me in the tired spaces where I felt the most empty, in the corners where I wanted to hide, His presence found me. Weakness became the doorway where His power entered and reshaped the pieces that had grown fragile.
I did not have to lift myself on my own. I did not have to pretend I was stronger than I was.
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“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
Psalm 73:26
Kidney disease humbled me as I watched my lab results rise and fall, realizing I no longer had control over the numbers that were once more predictable. Energy came and more often went. Some days were nothing but a blur, too exhausted to move. Yet this verse showed me that my identity wasn’t tied to those monthly lab results or my strength. God became the steady center when my body felt like it was unraveling thread by thread, each day tugging at a different place.
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“He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.”
Isaiah 40:29–31
Kidney dialysis had a way of draining more than the treatment solution or my strength. It drained time, money, and even hope. Recovery after the transplant asked for patience I didn’t know I had. And in that slow, stretching season, God did what He has always done: He renewed me. And when I needed something to lean on, He became enough.
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“I lift up my eyes to the hills. My help comes from the Lord.”
Psalm 121:1–2
There were seasons when I waited for a call with news of a kidney donor, but the phone didn’t ring. In those seasons, I looked to the horizon and wondered if help would come before dialysis could no longer sustain me. This verse understood that longing, inviting me to look up, not to escape what I was facing, but to remember where help comes from. It doesn’t come from the ground, but from above. It came from the One who saw a future I couldn’t. So, waiting became a sacred place when I remembered God was already moving toward me.
Even when I couldn’t see the path, He was guiding the steps. Then, there was a knock at my door… with a Living Donor Match; not one, but two possibilities. Jeff or a cross-match.
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“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
Psalm 34:18
Chronic kidney disease (CKD), on top of already being a type one diabetic, made me feel broken. CKD left me feeling broken as I watched the confidence I once had drain away, replaced by uncertainty about what my body could handle from one day to the next. This verse did not rush past that truth. I sat with it, remembering that God was never distant from the challenges I faced. He drew near to the places in me that were bruised and tired, then gathered those broken pieces I wasn’t sure how to hold.
He met me in the truth of my pain and began the slow work of healing from the inside out. Luckily, my brokenness wasn’t the end of this chapter.
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“I will restore health to you and heal your wounds.”
Jeremiah 30:17
Restoration became a miracle. but it didn’t arrive in one single moment. It came through the hands of my surgeon and healthcare team. Through the generosity of my donor, as well as Jeff. From my care team and the prayers of family and friends. In the midst of ongoing recovery and healing. And in more ways, I may never fully know. This verse reminded me that God was there, working through it all. He was restoring what this illness had attempted to take away from me. He restored the emotional wounds few knew about, the ones shaped by worry and the fading of what once felt normal, and the physical scars everyone could see, the very broken pieces I once believed were beyond healing.
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“The Lord sustains them on their sickbed and restores them from their bed of illness.”
Psalm 41:3
There were beds I didn’t have to lie in long, but each played its part. One was my bed while doing peritoneal dialysis treatments for six to nine hours a night, hooked up to a machine with tubes on one side and my insulin pump on the other. Another, the uncomfortable hospital bed. And even my parents’ guest bed in my recovery “suite”. Yet this verse reminded me that God was present in every one of them. He sat beside me during the night and lifted me in the morning.
Recovery was not fast; it was painful, but He was faithful. God restored me one slow step at a time, one day at a time. The bed that once held my weak, recovering body during each stage of my journey became the same place where strength returned.
Related Posts:
The Divine Timing of the Kidney Transplant
The Gift