Chris Grainger 0:02

Welcome to the Lion Within Us, a podcast serving Christian men who are hungry to be the leaders, God intends you to be. I'm your host, Chris Granger. Let's jump in. All right, guys, meet episode time. Let's get into it, okay? Scripture the week this week is Psalm 40. We're gonna do three verses. I know, yeah, I know. We normally just do like one or two, but we got three verses this week, okay? It says, I waited patiently for the Lord. He inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction out of the Maori bog and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and will put their trust in the Lord. Guys, that scripture right there, if that doesn't get you fired up, I don't know what it does. Check your pulse. Something may be going on, okay? But look, this is what it's all

Psalm 40 And A New Song

Chris Grainger 0:57

about at the line within us. We want to simplify and apply God's word and help you in your walk to be the leader that he intends you to be. So look, go back and listen to that last podcast at SKO. We do a daily SKO, spiritual kickoff is what that stands for at the line within us. This is a free way we try to serve you. The cool part is it happens Monday through Friday. The videos are there. The second cool part is we give you a free gift. If you're in the continental U.S., get your free gift. And the best cool part, I guess the third cool part, I don't know the best way to say that. The best part, look, you got access to our prayer request space. Look, fellas, we know you need prayer. We all do. And we know it can be hard, very hard, to do this thing called Life Alone, and it's not recommended. So you have access to that prayer request space. We pray over those items every day, and every Monday, we have a prayer huddle. It's a Google Meet. We give you the link, you hop on, and we will pray for you, bro. This is what we do, this is how we do it, and it's a big, big deal. Okay. All that stuff can be found at thelionwithin.us. Now, this episode is gonna be a little bit different, fellas. It's gonna be straight up. We brought in Pastor Chad Roberts, okay? He's the founder and lead pastor of Preaching Christ Preaching Christ Church, okay? He's an author, he's a Bible teacher uh for Awaken for Grace. And he has uh quite a story. Quite a story. And in 2018, he had something happen to him that uh for most people would just it'd be an end. You wouldn't hear him anymore. He was struggled with blindness, and he shares his in this episode his testimony of of what you know how it happened, but now how he's reframed that and how God is using him. I mean, this has just been it's an incredible story, it's an incredible

Daily Spiritual Kickoff And Prayer

Chris Grainger 2:52

uh account rather of a man who you know what, I'm just gonna take the steps that God's called me to take. And even though this has happened to me, you know, I'm not gonna wallow in in self-pity. I'm gonna move forward. So he and his wife Sadie have four children Piper, Amy Hudson, and John Mark. They live in Kingsport, Tennessee. He is on fire for the Lord. So I think you're gonna have a lot of fun with it. I know I did. I had a ton of fun just hearing Pastor Chad, how he understands God's word, how he loves God's word, how he loves people, and his sense of humor. It's just it's is a fun time. So I think you're gonna enjoy this one, fellas. Sit back, have a lot of fun listening to my friend, Pastor Chad Roberts. Well, Pastor Chad, welcome to Align Within Us. How are you doing today, sir?

Chad Roberts 3:42

Oh, I'm great. I appreciate the opportunity to to to uh for you to have me on.

Chris Grainger 3:48

Man, this is this is great. So excited. Looking forward to hearing your story and your testimony. Yeah. Before we get into it, though, I always like to start every interview with just a fun fact about our guest that maybe not many people know about. It could be completely random, but anything fun about about you or or your life that you'd like to share before we dive into your story?

Chad Roberts 4:10

Well, you know, my wife, she is a social butterfly, and she calls me a social moth. So, but I would say the most fun fact about me, which she would disagree with, is I am an avid black coffee drinker. I don't like to ruin my coffee with other things.

Chris Grainger 4:31

Well, that's gonna lead me

Meet Pastor Chad Roberts

Chris Grainger 4:33

to a natural follow-up. So, what's your brand? What's what do you like? What do you enjoy? Do you have a go to?

Chad Roberts 4:38

Oh, I do have a brand, and I'm not proud of it. I like I like a blonde roast, and my favorite is Starbucks Veranda. You know, so you know, I call it five bucks, but you know, whatever. Five bucks. That's right. I'm like people, it's just black coffee. That's all it is, but it's good black coffee.

Chris Grainger 4:58

There you go. I actually just got connected recently with a new coffee brand I hadn't heard of. It's called Seven Weeks Coffee. Oh, no, I haven't heard of that. They're all they're pro-life, you know, a big part of what they do goes to the pro-life movement. Uh uh pretty cool. So yeah. I'll check them out. There you go. There you go. Awesome, awesome. Well, looking forward to this for sure. And and and thank you again. Copy of your book, which by the way, guys, Blind Faith, Seeing God Through Darkness by Chad Roberts. Go get a copy of it right now. We'll have links out there for you guys. But take us back, you know, to that moment, if you don't mind, just share for that testimony, share a little bit of your testimony where your life changed.

Chad Roberts 5:38

Well, you know, when I pictured my future, I never imagined blindness. Never. It seemingly came out of nowhere. I was um 36 years old and uh, you know, growing church, growing family, and I went to Central America to train pastors. And we decided to hike this very large mountain to go to the top where a Christian radio tower was, and they wanted us to visit the work there. And when I got to the top of that tower, we were so high up, blood vessels burst behind my left eye. It was like looking through a spider web of blood. Of course, you know, I panicked internally. I didn't say anything to anyone, but

The Trip That Changed Everything

Chad Roberts 6:24

I was panicking internally, and I excused myself. I came down off the mountain as quick as I could and praying as fervently as I could because I knew something significant had happened. And, you know, the blood dissipated very quickly. It dissipated by later that night. But I knew something had happened. And when I got home, you know, eye doctor visits led to retina specialists. And then they say, you know, Chad, you have no choice. You have to have surgery. And what followed were two failed surgeries, where in the last one, the retina surgeon accidentally tore my left retina, leaving me immediately permanently blind in my left eye. Over the next many months, I went completely blind in my right eye. So by the fall of 2018, my fourth child was born. He was born the first weekend of November, and I stopped driving the last weekend of October. That's when my vision got to a point. I could no longer see to drive. I couldn't, you know, really make out a television screen or use my phone any longer. And that's uh that's sort of the time frame of how all of this happened. Wow. So that quick on that trip. Yes, yes, quickly. And you know, people ask me today if I am visually impaired, and I'm actually not, I'm 100% blind. So, you know, I can look directly into the sun, I can feel its heat, feel the warmth, but see no light whatsoever. And one of the things, you know, I found so interesting. Um, you know, before I went completely blind, you know, I had never had a real conversation with someone who was 100% blind. Uh-huh. And so, you know, I'm trying to prepare myself in every way possible. But one thing that people never explained to me that I didn't know is when you go from being fully sighted to completely blind, you know, I still dream in vivid color. Really? I can see everything in my dreams. And in those early days of blindness, you know, I would wake up from an extremely vivid dream to just pitch blackness. Uh-huh. And days like that, you know, I say in the book, I mean, days like that, uh, my emotions wanted to keep me in bed. But I would, you know, I would sit up on the edge of my bed and I would say to myself, this is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice. I will be glad in it. And I would get up, I'd go on with my day. And, you know, by the time I had my first cup of black coffee, well, you know, me and the Lord's having a good day. And it's a good, you know, so that's that that's how I got started in those early days, just choosing joy, choosing to go forward. Right.

Chris Grainger 9:17

Yeah. I mean, on a trip like that, so I mean, when you came back, maybe walk through the emotions for you and your marriage as well. Because we we got a lot of guys that come to us, they're fighting for their marriage, they're trying to build it. You get hit with something like this, and it not only impacts you, it impacts her, the whole family. But you know, I'm just curious how what did that look like for you guys?

Chad Roberts 9:40

It was heavy and it was weighty. People ask me sometimes, they say, What would you do different if you could go back and what would you change? And I tell you what I would do different. First thing I would do, I would put us in Christian counseling. I didn't know, I didn't realize the trauma that we were walking through. What I was doing is trying to put my head down and go Sunday to Sunday. I mean, I was learning how to preach without being able to read

Marriage Strain And The Need For Counsel

Chad Roberts 10:12

a Bible. I was learning how to speak and communicate without any notes. I was learning how to navigate, you know, the staff and you know, our church was just growing and growing. So while I'm trying to really not only relearn how to live life, but how to effectively minister, I I was just putting my head down and grinding through it. And I couldn't see the damage that it was uh maybe more of a better word than damage, the toll that it was taking. Our uh my girls at that time were only eight years old and six years old, and my boys at that time were two years old, and John Mark was just born. I'm talking, you know, baby. Right. So the weight and the pressure that Sadie was under, the emotional pressure she was under, and what I found again, I wasn't prepared for this, but when I became disabled, I also became very reclusive. Um, I would come and I would preach, and I and you know, I'm you know, I would minister to people, but I didn't want to go anywhere else. If I went and walked through a restaurant, I could feel all eyes on me. I would spill a drink or something, you know, I'd bump into, you know, a chair and just feel horrified. And, you know, I talk about that in the book. I wrote a chapter called Embarrassed by Jesus. And I talked about the man with the withered hand and how, you know, it I just being somebody with a disability, I think it horrified him when Jesus called him forward. And then not only that, you know, you don't want all eyes on you. But then Jesus said, Stretch out your hand, that withered hand, that deformed hand. I believe with all my heart that he had it tucked away in his robe. I think he kept it hidden. And I talk in the book about how we all, whether it's physical or, you know, for so many, it may be emotional, it may be trauma, it may be an insecurity, a vulnerability. No matter what it is, we all have a withered hand. And uh, so I had to learn how to navigate all that. And, you know, so I as far as the marriage goes, I became very inward and I'm processing all of this. And I we needed a counselor to walk through it with us. And eventually we did go to counseling, and it helped us. Oh, I'll never be able to express how grateful I am and just how much it helped us.

Chris Grainger 13:02

Yeah, I mean, just the dynamics you guys had with a with four under, I think you said eight was your oldest at the time.

Chad Roberts 13:09

Right, yes.

Chris Grainger 13:09

Four under eight. And that's a stressful environment without anything else. I mean, that's just that's a lot, right? I mean, I have I have four kids too, so I can totally connect with where you're with what you guys are facing there just from a parenting standpoint, and you add that on top of it. And it's uh so I'm just thank you for for sharing that and for just hats off to obviously you married a very godly woman who was standing with you and and and walking with you through this. Absolutely.

Chad Roberts 13:39

And you know, I I'm thankful, you know, believe it or not, there are great blessings that come with blindness. There's been, Sadie and I say so often, there's been more gain than what there has been loss. And I look back at who I was and what I did as a sighted person. Uh, I often tell people I was so busy, uh, truthfully, I was sinfully busy. I really was. And the blindness has made me, when my life came to a grinding halt, it's made me more present with my family. It's made me more engaged than I think what I would have been. You know, I was used to just uh zipping through town and meeting after meeting and jumping on a plane, going to another country. I did it all the time. And when all that was taken away, what I learned, you know, Psalm 23, verse 2, it says, He makes me to lie down in green pastures. I would have never known the lush green pastures that God had for me and my family, for me and my marriage, my kids. I would have never known them had blindness not came into the picture.

Chris Grainger 14:54

What a powerful, powerful testimony. Well, guys, we're gonna take our first break with Pastor Chan. We'll be right back. If there is one habit that can change a home, it's this when a husband prays with his wife, not because it's a magic formula, but because it recenters your marriage under God's authority and care. And let's be honest, a lot of guys want to do it, but most don't know how to start without it feeling awkward. Maybe you tried it before and it felt forced, or maybe you've never tried it because you don't even know what to say. Or maybe you're thinking, man, I'm not a pastor, I'm just a guy. And that's why we created this guide. It's our how to pray with your wife. Simple guide. It's biblical, it's practical, and it's designed to help you start praying with your wife in a way that actually feels natural. So it's a five-section guide and it gives you a simple framework to get started. Okay, it makes sure everything is grounded in scripture, and it also has a powerful PDF that you can pull up whenever you need, especially when things get off, because they're gonna get off. That's normal. So this is all about reclaiming your marriage and reclaiming the spiritual leadership reigns of your home. Because praying with your wife is one of the strongest ways to fight for unity, to build trust, and to write the ship when life starts to pull you off a course. So if you're ready, get access today at the lionwithin.us slash guides. That's the lionwithin.us slash guides. And start unleashing the lion within at home by leading your marriage through prayer. Pastor Chad, you know, you've had this impact your family and and your wife is walking with you through this, obviously, you have all these things going. But you're doing a role that does, to your point, requires a lot of time in the word, a lot of time studying, a lot of notes. And then I mean, just notes, just prep preparing for a sermon. Like how tactically, how did you start, what adjustments did you have to start making to be to be able to fulfill the job that you know God called you to do?

Chad Roberts 17:06

You know, interestingly enough, one of the ways that I know that I'm walking not only in the will of God, but in the grace of God. 2017, excuse me, 2017, I started a sermon series out of the book of Acts. And I could feel the Holy Spirit prepping me. I could feel him at the end of 2016. I felt him telling me, you know, um uh

Preaching Blind With New Tools

Chad Roberts 17:32

take your time, feel rushed. Don't just go chapter by chapter, go verse by verse, phrase for phrase. And so I set no time boundaries on it. We were just gonna go as, you know, we felt the Lord directing us. We ended up spending two years in the book of Acts. We would take breaks, you know, here or there, but essentially we spent two years in the book. Well, about six weeks into that series, I felt the Holy Spirit very clearly tell me, uh, study like you always study, prepare like you always prepare, but no more notes. I had no idea that blindness was in my future. You know, I had had the issue in Nicaragua, but everything had dissipated, everything had calmed down. I had no idea that I would be completely blind in a matter of about 15 months. And so I obeyed the Lord and I began preaching with no notes. I studied like always did, I prepared like always did, but I took no notes with me. And it was just a time of preparation. And um, so then when blindness did come, you know, I couldn't see a Bible anymore. That's when I had to really lean heavy on AI devices. You know, I use obviously uh I use uh an Alexa device. And what I do is they have to-do lists within there that I can create sermon series, I can create Sunday lists, and everything that I learn, I listen to a lot of audible commentaries and I listen to a ton of podcasts like yours. And when I hear something that I want to capture, I put it in that list. Almost it's like a it's like a digital filing cabinet. Then I organize all my thoughts, and then I listen to the Bible on you version, and that's how I memorize the scripture that I teach. I typically teach, you know, in an expositional way. So usually I just walk however many verses it is, we walk through the verse, phrase for phrase, sometimes word for word, and that's how I teach. Wow. Now, I mean go ahead. I was just gonna say real quick, the first Sunday that I preached without a Bible, I mean, you could just feel the awkwardness in the in the church. And I could hear the whispers, you know, people saying, Do you think Pastor Chad will have to resign? Do you think he'll just go on disability? Will he have to step down? All these questions. And uh, so I decided that next Sunday, you know, I have to have a safety person walk me up the steps to the platform and to the podium, and I could just feel the tension in the room. And knowing full well what I was doing, I had my back to the audience and I said, I'm so happy you're all here today. And I heard a collective gasp across the church, and I turned around and I said, People, we are we are just fine and we're gonna be fine and we're gonna go forward in Jesus' name. And it's like it just broke the ice that day, and we've never looked. Oh my Christ, that's incredible.

Chris Grainger 20:47

What an incredible story. Wow, and and it's amazing. So while you still had your vision, God was already preparing you for what was ahead with the no notes. I mean, that I'm just I'm all the pastors I know. If you tell them they could preach and they couldn't have notes, I think they would quit. Just a lot of them that you know that well, I mean, even me when I when I deliver sermons and messages, I I I fully rely on that. And you have leaned into this skill set. I mean, what an what an incredible gift. Sound like God has just really shaped some other gifts in your path that have been incre that you're using and stewarding so well. Love it, love it. So you're a big U version fan as well. We love the Bible app, so those guys are awesome. So the audible pieces of that really help.

Chad Roberts 21:38

It helps. And you know, I I yeah, you know, I'll when when when I'm preaching to a section of scripture, I mean it it allows me to listen to so many translations, you know. I'll do new living and I preach out of the ESV, but I'll listen to KJV and NIV, and I can just go through them all, get a great amplified, just get a great perspective of the Scriptures and you know, with AI the way it is now, I can say, tell me what that Hebrew word is, tell me what that Greek word is, how does it link to this verse? I'm able to study um, you know, very thoroughly, just as I did with eyesight.

Chris Grainger 22:14

Amen. That is so cool. Well, you you you've got a lot that that obviously has hit you and and as you walk through. How did you, maybe how has your understanding of suffering changed prior to when you had vision versus where you have where you don't have vision now? When you think about suffering and long suffering, and in the Bible it talks about that over and over. What has shifted with your personal you know feel of what that you know what that looks like?

Chad Roberts 22:44

That's such a great question. I think, I think beforehand I was an average person in the sense of my thinking was if some if someone suffered, um, yeah, you know, God, God has some purpose to it, but in reality, I mean, what did you do wrong? You know, that goes back to the scriptures, right? The the blind man, the disciple says, Who's in? Yeah, you know, it's just our natural, it's just the way we think.

Rethinking Suffering And Weakness

Chad Roberts 23:18

And I went through that too when I come home from Central America. I mean, I'm saying, God, what, you know, have I upset you? Have I offended you? Have I why? I I I think all of us understand that we're going to have our fair share of suffering in life. I think we all get that. I think what we don't get is unexplained suffering. That's when it gets really difficult. That's when when when we go through unexplained suffering, that's where it leaves us with more questions than answers. And I was there. And I feel like God has helped me so much. Uh Job helped me in chapter 23, when Job said, Where is God? You know, I I don't I don't feel him. He's not in front of me, he's not behind me, he's not to my right, to my left. But then Job said, the next verse, verse 10, he said, But the Lord knows the path that I take. And I had to come to that place where I had to say, I may not be able to make sense of it, I may not understand it, but God knows what he's doing. And I'm gonna choose to trust God. I'm gonna go forward. I'm not gonna get stuck in my suffering. And God taught me that as a Christian, we are to suffer well because we are called to it. We are appointed to it. And that began to change my perspective on how to suffer well.

Chris Grainger 24:41

So, what do you think? That's a, I mean, paint that for the guy listening now first. That's to suffer well, how how do you define that?

Chad Roberts 24:49

Yeah. You know, Paul, this really helped me when Paul had his thorn in the flesh in 2 Corinthians. You know, he he used a word that I would have never used prior to blindness. He used the word given. I have been given a thorn in the flesh. You know, uh, as blindness was setting in, I mean, I would have used the word struck by. I've had calamity, you know, I've had the most awful thing happen. I've had a storm. I would have used any other word than the word given. And I think what we have to do as Christ followers, I think we have to understand God has an eternity prepared for us, an eternity of no suffering, to the degree that He Himself is going to wipe away every tear out of our eyes. And when we understand what Paul said, that what we go through, these afflictions, they're light and they are momentary compared to what awaits us in eternity. When we understand that, I think it shapes the view that I've got a short window of time in this lifetime that I can uniquely glorify God. Why does suffering uniquely glorify God? Because we'll never experience it again for all of eternity. So that means right now, this season, this stage of life, whatever I'm facing, this is a unique opportunity to glorify God, and it will glorify him forever and ever. This past week, my wife was in Buffalo for a work trip. And so I've got my four kids. I'm trying to figure out how to get everybody here to there. I'm trying to figure out how to get to work myself. I've got everybody picking everybody up, different rides, all this craziness going on. And I had all the ball games. And I remember the Lord, he just asked me Monday morning. The Lord said, Is the blindness worth it? The Lord said, You've you've you've had some success here. You've published the book, you're doing these interviews, you're getting some publicity. The Lord said, Is it worth it? And I said, No, it's not worth it. It's not worth publishing a book, it's not worth publicity, it's not worth any of that. But I said, Lord, to glorify you, it is worth it. It's worth every moment of it.

Chris Grainger 27:25

Amen. Well, I mean, where do you think guys, Pastor Craig, I mean, Pastor Chad in particular men, where do we think we have a misconception around pain and hardship that you've gone through a lot? And where do you think guys frame it wrong?

Chad Roberts 27:44

Yep. Well, by and large, you know, we don't like weakness. But Paul said something contrary to that. He said, It's in my weakness that God has made strong. You know, it's that the power of Christ might rest upon me. You know, I mean, just to be uh, you know, completely transparent with you. Uh, you know, my wife was gone all week, and you know, uh I had to have people help me more than even what I'm used to. But it's been a very difficult week in that sense. I have felt very often like a burden to other people, uh, but especially this week, I've had to ask more, go extra. And, you know, just that feeling of you need help. You know, as a man, I don't like that at all. When when uh when our safety team at church said, you know, Chad, we're gonna have to walk with you uh on Sundays. We're gonna have to take you up to your pulpit. Oh, it was the worst feeling in all the I felt like I was being, you know, having a babysitter, you know, somebody stay with me all day through the, you know, all the services. I have to have somebody assigned to me. Oh, I hated it. I mean, just immediately hate it. But, you know, it's become one of the sweetest parts of my Sundays. Really? I'm getting to know those guys in a way I never would have. And it's just, you know, it's just changing our perspective.

Chris Grainger 29:19

Hmm. That's a great, great, great way to frame that. Absolutely. And and maybe for the guy out there listening, when obviously it's so it's so hard to have that faith and to to trust God when we don't understand his plan and and his path for us. What's your advice? How how do you encourage and and and and equip men to take the steps that God's calling us calling to do when we clearly don't see the next, you know, the path is not 100% in front of us? It's such a great question.

Chad Roberts 29:54

When we set out to publish this book, uh, LifeWay really love they love my story. And they kept, you know, I have the best partnership you could ever dream with Lifeway. And, you know, they kept wanting to take it back to the story. And I would tell them, I would say, as we are editing, um, my story does not teach anyone how to suffer well. It's the scriptures that teach us how to suffer well. And we just constantly, and LifeWay was so wonderful, they're such a biblical company. We just constantly kept taking it back to the scriptures. We would sprinkle some of my experiences and sprinkle some of my story throughout it, but by and large, it's the scriptures. And it's because that's what teaches us, every one of us. So I would say to anyone who is wanting to learn how to trust God, stick in, just ground yourself, get rooted in the scriptures, because that's what's going to teach us how. Monday I was reflecting on Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. You know, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not upon your own understanding, and all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your path. And what stood out to me because, you know, there's just um, you know, we go through seasons, don't we? We go through stages of life. And you know that scripture doesn't say trust God until you reach a certain age. It doesn't say trust in the Lord with all your heart until you reach a certain place in your marriage, or until your kids are grown, or until you've retired, or until you reach that job you're aiming for. There's no stopping point in this. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. That will carry us for the rest of our lives.

Chris Grainger 31:49

Amen. It absolutely will. It absolutely will. Hey guys, we're gonna take our next break and we'll come back. If you've ever opened the Bible and had the thought, where do I even start? Brother, you're not alone. I've had those moments all too often. And I found that having a guide was helpful. And that's why we created the I'm just a guy series on the Bible app. They're short, they're honest, and they help you read scripture and walk it out. And these plans speak to the real stuff that we're wrestling with as men, like marriage, anxiety, loneliness, shame, pornography, and so much more. You know, do this all without pretending or piling on a bunch of self-help nonsense. And lots of guys are using them in their small groups, and they're helping to spark honest conversations and take simple next steps in

Trusting God Beyond Outcomes

Chris Grainger 32:46

their discipleship journey. So if that sounds helpful, check them out at thelionwithin.us slash u versions. That's Y-O-U-D-E-R-S-I-O-N. Or just open up your Bible app and search for the Lion Within Us. And it's my hope that these reflections will encourage you in just a few minutes and help you walk with him all day long. Well, as we we keep diving into this, I'm I'm just I love your advice and your counsel. I can definitely see why you're so successful as a pastor as well. You have a heart for people. And what about the guy who's listening, Pastor Chad, who um he wants to make a shift from asking God to change his circumstances to asking God to change him. And that's hard. Like so where do you even start with trying to do that course correction in that scenario?

Chad Roberts 33:48

Well, you know, Romans 12, 1 and 2, you know, it tells us we are to submit ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is our spiritual worship. I love that. You know, real worship is how you live. Real worship is how yielded you are, how submitted you are to God. But then it says, don't be conformed to the image of this world, but be renewed, transformed by the renewing of your mind. I would say to that, brother in the Lord, there's no shortcuts. It is scripture that shapes us. It's scripture that refines us, it's scripture that chisels away off of us those things that ought not be there, whether it's an attitude or, you know, whether it's a response or whether it's, you know, some feeling that ought not be there. Scripture is going to chisel those things away. So I would say that as you yield yourself to the Holy Spirit, stay in the word. And it's the word that's going to help you be, as scripture says, you will experience what is the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God for your life. That's how Romans 12, 2 ends.

Chris Grainger 35:17

Absolutely. And as you went through this, Chad, what did you trying to think the best way to frame this, what did you discover or learn about God's character that you hadn't considered before, you know, when you had your sight? Yeah.

Chad Roberts 35:35

I think the goodness of God, that it's his very nature, that it's his very character. Because, you know, what my family had to wrestle through, there was all kinds of new pressures put upon my wife, Sadie. There was all kinds of questions here at the church on how do we navigate, how do we go forward. But the biggest question that we had to wrestle with is how is God good when life isn't? That's what we wrestled with. And to find the goodness of God every day. You remember what Psalm 23 also says? Surely, oh, I love that. Surely goodness and mercy are pursuing me all the days of my life. Oh, I love that. And you know, the Lord said, Chad, nothing changes that. If if my goodness and mercy pursued you with eyesight, it's pursuing you with blindness. Nothing changes it. I love that.

Chris Grainger 36:38

Love that. And I know we've been connected with so many guys that are hurting, and quite a few. There's been a recent thread within our platform where guys are um questioning their faith and just questioning, you know, they're questioning God. And and and many of them come to this thought of they feel like God's abandoned them. Okay. What's your counsel there? I mean, how do you how do you what do you say to that guy who he's like, man, I I don't I don't even think if God is real, no, I don't think He He's forgotten me.

Chad Roberts 37:12

Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, I can share how I felt as I was going blind. You can imagine, not only am I praying, God prevent this. I mean, I have hundreds upon hundreds of people who are praying for me. God, don't make Chad go through this. I mean, the level of prayer was just, yeah. But yet it happened. I had a woman that I don't even know all that well. I've been in some prayer services with her, and she is uh a leader in my community, but I don't know her. I'd never sat down and had a conversation with her. And she came to me as my eyesight was diminishing quickly, and she said, Chad, the Lord spoke to me about you. And the Lord told me he is going to allow you to go blind. He is going to allow it. And it's so that he'll give you a spiritual vision like you would have never dreamed. I mean, there was just, there were all these things converging, but when I would pray and I would say, God, prevent this. Don't make me walk down this path. The Lord did. And He made me walk down this path. And the way I had to reconcile that, the way I had to understand it, the Lord took me to Mark 11, 22. The Bible says, Jesus said, I have faith in God. And you know what the Lord taught me in that verse? The Lord graciously taught me, Chad, your faith is in the outcome of your prayers. Your faith is in the outcome you're hoping for. Really, Chad, your faith is in your faith. And that's not what Scripture says. It says, have faith in God. And when I readjusted to that and I was able to say, God, I trust you, and I'm going to set my hope in you. Not hope on things are going to work out the way I want them to, not hope that the prayers are going to be answered in the way I think that they should. I'm going to trust in you. Then it took me to a place where my faith really transcended the outcome. And it gave me an unshakable faith, which I treasure.

Chris Grainger 39:33

Amen. And that unshakable faith and that confidence that you have in Christ. Maybe for that guy who's like wanting to start taking some small steps day to day, practically, what advice would you give him? Like the day-to-day habits, routines that can build up that that level of faith that you're talking about.

Chad Roberts 39:55

Absolutely. One of the things that I really dived into as I was going blind are spiritual disciplines that helped me so much. Spiritual disciplines. And it uh it helped me cultivate, you know, the soil of my life to where God could produce in me the things that He wanted to produce, but I can't do on my own. I can remember so

God’s Goodness In Dark Seasons

Chad Roberts 40:23

vividly in those early days. I would uh, you know, my wife would take all the kids to school and I would have a different meeting, another, you know, part of town or something. And I would, I would put my backpack on because as a blind man, you want everything at your fingertips. So I've got this backpack I take with me, and I'm standing in my driveway and I'm waiting for somebody to come pick me up. I'll never be able to fully express what that feels like. I felt like a kid waiting for the bus. It was humiliating. It was, but you know what the Lord told me in that moment? I'll never forget it. The Lord said, Chad, I want you to picture right now the most luscious fruit you can picture. Hold it in your hand. And I pictured it. And the and as odd as it sounds, the Lord said, Now take a bite. And in my mind's eye, I took a bite of that wonderful fruit. And the Lord said, That's the fruit of patience. And it's what I want to teach you. I want to help you. And I'll never forget it. And every say and now when I get frustrated or, you know, I get impatient, I go back to that fruit. And and and and I remind myself, God's not wasting any of this. He's producing. And so it is with all of your listeners. You know, God's God wants to produce those things in our lives, and He'll do it. He will complete the work which He has begun.

Chris Grainger 41:59

Man, the fruit of patience. I don't like that fruit.

Chad Roberts 42:10

I'm with you though. Yeah. Well, you know, I I just want to throw this in there too, because again, as men, you know, we we we carry uh so often the mentality, I have to do, you know, I have to accomplish, I have to get it done. Right, right. The scripture says that we are a branch, and a branch, apart from the vine, can do nothing, nothing. Well, when we're connected to the vine, which is Christ, we know that from John 15, verse 5, when we're connected to the vine, everything that is in God flows right into us. So it's not a matter, I think where our work comes is not choking out the seeds of what God wants to do, that fruit. You know, James chapter one, it says, don't have excessive, rampant sin in your life. You know, the word picture there in the Greek is a garden that's overgrown with weeds. As everybody knows it doesn't take any work to grow weeds, they grow on their own. It takes work to rip them out, and that's our responsibility. But the fruit is God's responsibility, and He'll grow it.

Chris Grainger 43:24

Mm-hmm. Amen of that. What about your prayer life? You mentioned spiritual disciplines. I'm sure your prayer life has made a shift of some sort. What does that look like for you now?

Chad Roberts 43:37

Yeah. Well, you know, again, just a great blessing of blindness is it puts you in a place of dependence. Jeremiah 2 13, God says, My people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the the source, the fountain of living water, and they've hewed out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, which can hold no water. And I look back at how I was doing not just uh life but ministry. A lot of it I was doing in my own strength, my own, you know, all of that. Well, now God's put me in a position where I'm so dependent. I'm dependent on people to help me.

Spiritual Disciplines And Patience Fruit

Chad Roberts 44:18

I'm dependent on, you know, my family in ways I never was. And most above all, I'm dependent on God in ways that I just wasn't before, at least that I recognized or that I responded to. And uh so yeah, it's it's uh it's made my prayer life far, far stronger. Not because, you know, any uh you know measurements as far as oh, I prayed this long or anything like that. It's made it greater in the area of dependence, it's made me come to that realization that all I am is a branch, I'm not divine, I'm just a branch.

Chris Grainger 45:01

When it comes to a project like your book. That's that's no small undertaking. What what what what was the spirit convicting you to do to take a step of faith to put a project like this together and walk us through how that how that came to be.

Chad Roberts 45:19

Oh gosh. Well, uh, you know, I've always known that God wants me to write. I've known that, but you know, making the challenge for a blind guy is to make your thoughts visible, right? And uh, but God has given me just a tremendous staff at at my church, and I've got just in what is in my opinion, the greatest ministry assistant ever in the world. And so, you know, I would I would collect my thoughts. I would uh, you know, it's interesting. The Lord gave

Prayer As Dependence Not Performance

Chad Roberts 45:55

me my formula for writing. I thought I needed to go to this, you know, find like a big writer's conference and try to figure out how to do it. And again, just like, you know, in preaching without notes, the Lord said, No, I'm gonna teach you. My my Holy Spirit will teach you. And I just felt like the Lord gave me this little formula of how I'm to identify the purpose of the chapter. He even he just walked me through it all and I would gather my thoughts and I had a certain process that I used. And then by the time my assistant would come into the office, well, we would just we would begin to write. I would tell her, you know, I would I would dictate it and she would capture it and then reread it to me, and we'd make our edits, and that was sort of how we did it. And it took many months. Yeah, oh I can't remember fully now, but I mean, by the time by the time that I got the publishing deal with Lifeway, uh until it released was at least 18 months. And I would say ten of that was writing and editing. Yeah.

Chris Grainger 47:09

Wow. Well, hats off to you. I mean, you you you definitely you have something to be proud of here. But when you went through the process, what surprised you the most? Anything jumped out to you as you went back through and kind of unpacking the story?

Chad Roberts 47:27

Yeah, no, that's a great question. I think uh I think what surprised me the most was again feeling the guidance of the Holy Spirit, not feeling like God was pushing me out into the unknown and just saying, figure it out, you know, but really knowing, okay, you know, this chapter is about this. Okay, these are the subheaders, this is the content, this is who I'm speaking to. You know, I would so often visualize somebody that I had prayed with or counseled or ministered to, and I would be able to say, that's who I'm writing to. It's people who have these questions, it's people who struggle in these areas, and I would visualize someone that I had actually personally shepherded or personally ministered to, and I would just write it like I'm having a conversation with them.

Chris Grainger 48:28

I'm definitely interested in in something here because just by talking with you, and we've only you know we've just had this interview, we had a little bit of time before the interview, so it's not like we've had a ton of conversation to get to know each other, but the the way the word just comes out of you so effortlessly is is it's pretty incredible. And I'm curious from your congregation standpoint, when it comes down to a spiritual discipline of scripture memorization, is is it's often overlooked. It's just neglected, it's put to the side. And this is where I've struggled more with personally, as is a conviction that God's laid on me. I'm trying to to memorize more scripture and get it in me. How has you know the path that God has you on? You're you're blind, you know, you you've had this now, but you're obviously you have so much of the word that's in your heart. How has that convicted and maybe challenged?

Writing Blind Faith Without Sight

Chris Grainger 49:22

Let's just keep it on the men, the men in your congregation to get the more of the word in them.

Chad Roberts 49:29

Well, I think it's I think it's uh a bit of a process, and this is how I encourage my church because I do have a ton of people ask me, how in the world do you retain this much scripture? And uh I have a lot of people come up to me because they feel tremendous condemnation because they can't remember scripture. And this is what I encourage everyone. Number one, if you pay close attention, nearly every verse of the Bible, it's only one to three phrases. That's all it is. Just a few phrases. Uh, example, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Now, anyone can commit that to memory, right? It may take a little bit, but that's just a phrase. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And so I think we make scripture memorization tremendously challenging uh because, you know, we have in our head it's got to be a certain amount or it's got to be a certain number of scriptures or a certain chapter, whatever. I I don't put any kind of pressure like that on me. I let scripture feed me. And for our brothers who feel guilty, I had someone tell me just a few months ago, they said, Chad, I just, you know, I can't remember scripture like I want to, and I feel so guilty. Uh, you know, the the Lord just prompted me to ask them this question, and and I would ask your listeners this uh what did you eat for dinner nine nights ago? I've not had a person yet be able to tell me. No, but that's not the point. The point is you ate. The point is that you sustained yourself. You you took in those nutrients into your body. And I and that's what I tell people about scripture. You you know, don't don't get so called up on what you've memorized. Make sure first that it's getting into your soul, feed your soul, and then, you know, as as time goes, you know, you'll you'll learn that that discipline. You'll learn that, you know, that's uh where when the scripture says training ourselves, you know, that's where we get our English word from the Greek word gymnasium, gym, you know, it's it's a process.

Chris Grainger 51:53

Love it. Absolutely love it. Well, I mean, this has been just a phenomenal conversation. So thankful for you. We do like to have a little fun towards the end of our podcast episodes where we have a we call it a lightning round, but it's just uh feeding time, whatever you want to call it. But it's just some quick hit questions. So if you're willing to have a little bit of fun, we'll jump right into it. I love it. Absolutely. Okay, awesome, awesome. Well, what about hobbies? What do you enjoy doing outside of obviously preaching God's word and leading your family? What any hobbies you think do for fun?

Chad Roberts 52:24

Oh, hobbies, oh gosh. Uh probably visiting coffee shops. You're serious about that coffee. I'm a one-trick pony. I tell you, it don't take much to make me happy.

Chris Grainger 52:38

Love it, love it. What about your favorite food?

Chad Roberts 52:41

What's your go-to? Oh, probably, you know, honestly, probably seafood. I love

Scripture Memory Without Condemnation

Chad Roberts 52:48

seafood. Okay.

Chris Grainger 52:49

Yeah. In Tennessee and loving seafood. That's interesting. Okay, there you go. Love it, love it. What uh what about music? All-time band or or group? Who do you love listening to?

Chad Roberts 53:03

You know, it's so funny. I I so I grew up in the type of church where everything was hymns and southern gospel, you know what I mean? But but then, you know, as time goes, you know, I I love modern worship and things like that. That's what we do at our church, is all the modern worship. I think I love I love uh elevation so much. I love things like that. But what is so funny is when I was a teenager, CDs had just started coming out. And I went to the local Christian bookstore and I bought my first CD. And do you know who I bought? Who's that? Carmen. Oh, come on. And my mom says, No, no, no, no. You're gonna take that back and you're gonna get gospel. So I have to take it back, and you know, I get some southern gospel, whatever. And I work with a ton of Southern gospel people today. I still love it. But what's so funny is fast forward all these years later, my mom gets this new car a few years ago, and I said, What do you want for Christmas? And she said, Oh, you know, I don't have any new CDs, I'd like to have some Chris Tomlin, some Carrie Job, you know, some uh Bethel. And I said, No, ma'am, you'll either get Southern gospel or nothing. The tables have turned.

Chris Grainger 54:19

That's it. That's it. I love it. I love it. Well, if you can have a superpower, I love asking this question. You know, we we love these superhero movies and all the stories and things like that. If you could have a superpower, which one would you pick? Mine's easy. X-ray vision.

Chad Roberts 54:40

I would take any kind of vision, but no, yeah, I'd do X-ray.

Chris Grainger 54:44

There you go. There you go. I love it, love it. Well, when you think uh look just I love asking this question as well. When you think about God, and and obviously you spend a lot of time thinking about him, talking with him. What's your favorite thing about him? Oh, that he's good. Through and through. It's it's his essence. He's good. He's good. Let's flip it 180. What's your least favorite thing about the evil one? Deception.

Chad Roberts 55:14

Everything that comes out of his mouth, John 8 44, everything 8 45, it's a lie. He's the father of lies, and everything he says is a lie.

Chris Grainger 55:26

100%. Well, the final question for you, Pastor Chad, is what do you hope the listeners remember the most from our conversation today?

Chad Roberts 55:37

I hope that uh your listeners will take away that they are able to suffer well. And the reason why is because God appoints us to it and he's not punishing us, he's not angry at us. He is God doesn't waste anything. And for those who feel like God is uh upset with them, I want to remind them that God's for you, He's not against you. And suffering is not bad, there's good in it. And and first Peter 4 19 says, Let those of us and that's many of your listeners, that's me. Let those of us who suffer according to the will of God entrust our soul to a faithful creator and continue

Lightning Round And Final Charge

Chad Roberts 56:23

to do good. I would say don't stop in your sufferings, keep going forward.

Chris Grainger 56:29

Amen to that. Well, Pastor Chad, where do you want to send the listeners to connect with you, to get a copy of your book? Anywhere. Oh, yeah, all those places.

Chad Roberts 56:39

Thank you so much for that. Yeah, the best is uh just simply my website. It's chadroberts.org. Okay. Uh the official book website is blindfaith.life. But yeah, they can go to chadroberts.org and get connected to anything.

Chris Grainger 56:57

Okay. Wonderful. And and if they want to see any of your sermons, is are is any of that online as well?

Chad Roberts 57:03

It is. It is, yes, sir. Everything. And it's also on YouTube and social, all that stuff. It's all under Awakened to Grace with Chad Roberts. Love it.

Chris Grainger 57:14

Easy to find. Easy to find. All right. Well, this has been just a pure pleasure for our end to hear your testimony.

Chad Roberts 57:21

Anything else you'd like to share today, sir? No, just thank you for the opportunity. Thank you for the ministry that you're doing, and thank you for giving us an opportunity to share with your audience. Amen. Amen. Well, hope you have a wonderful day.

Chris Grainger 57:34

Bless you. Guys, I told you it was gonna be an awesome one. He did not disappoint. Thank you again for Pastor Chad for coming on. So, guys, go check out all those resources. Get a copy of the book. Phenomenal. Just support what he's doing. Our question of the week this week is where are you struggling to trust God's timing right now? Look, you just you just listen to a story that was very impactful, kind of trusting God's timing, how this is impacting him and his walk. Okay. So look, it's okay. It's okay to struggle. It's okay, it's okay to question that, right? We just don't want to turn our back on God. We want to keep leaning in, keep taking those steps of obedience, whatever he's calling you to do. Okay. And if you need support, if you need encouragement, if you need help, the lion within us, guys, come check us out. We'd love to walk with you. Join the Lion's Den. Just hop into the Lion's Den and let us just be a small part of your discipleship journey. Maybe you need to get into a mastermind and actually start digging deeper in your walk. We'd love to be just be a part of that with you. Okay. So thelionwithin.us is where you find all those resources, guys. Connect with us there. Uh so just go check that out. And we'd love to see you at some point hopping into the line within us. Uh, other than that, fellas, ratings review help. Share this one out. This is a great episode to share out with other with other people. His story is just phenomenal. So hopefully you guys do that. Connect with us on a social media platform. I don't hardly ever talk about this, but we're on Facebook, Instagram, where else? Uh YouTube. We I think we have a we have a LinkedIn page. Uh, but you know, YouTube, Facebook, those Instagram, they're kind of the big ones that we're trying to put put more effort into. So connect with us there. We'd love to see you. And give us a rating and review wherever you're listening to the podcast right now. If you don't mind giving us a rating and review, that would be huge. That would be a big time help. And if you want to support the show, the linewithin.us slash donate is a way you where you can connect with us and just be a partner with us as we continue to push out more and more of this content on a regular basis. And the final place, fellas, is probably the biggest one for us outside the podcast is open up the Bible app. Open up the Bible app from you version, search for the line within us. Tons and tons and tons of reading plans out there on a consistent basis. Hopefully, you'll be encouraged along the way. Okay. All right, guys. We'll see you on Friday. You know what? We have on Friday, we do our member spotlights. So looking forward to sharing another wonderful member with you guys. And if you ever want to be, how can I be on a member spotlight? Thelionwithin.us. Hop into the lion, and we'd love to share to have an opportunity to share your testimony. All right, guys, get after it. Have a great day. Thanks for hanging out and just keep unleashing The Lion Within. It's time to stop battling pornography, lust, and temptation alone. We're done sitting on the sidelines, seeing shame win, and hearing from guys that are fighting private wars with no backup. So we decided it's time to fight back. We have our sexual integrity support group, which is a confidential space inside the lion's den for men who are ready to step into the light and pursue real freedom. This isn't just for guys in crisis, by the way. It's for any man who's tired of the cycle, who's tired of living in secret, who's tired of saying this is gonna be the last time. Look, most guys don't need another app or some rules. They need some brothers to come alongside them to say you're not the only one. This doesn't define you. And freedom is possible. So look, inside our

Question Of The Week And Next Steps

Chris Grainger 1:01:03

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Sexual Integrity Support Group Invite

Chris Grainger 1:01:09

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