Ep. 512 Vaneetha Risner: The Scars That Have Shaped Me

Photo: ©VaneethaRisner.com via Canva.com

Shows Main Idea – Vaneetha Risner, author of “The Scars That Have Shaped Me” and “Walking Through Fire,” details the suffering in her life and how the Lord has sustained her through it all. The doctors misdiagnosed her with polio as an infant, which led to 21 surgeries before her 13th birthday. These events were the beginning of a life of pain and disappointment: quadriplegia, divorce, and the death of her son. Yet, through it all, she is a shining testimony to the power of God that every person needs to hear.

Show Notes

Vaneetha’s Resources:

• Vaneetha’s Website
• The Scars That Have Shaped Me
• Walking Through Fire

God’s Story

1. Born in 1964
2. At 3, she contracted polio.
3. In 24-hours, she was a quad.
4. She had her first surgery at 2 years old and had 21 surgeries by the time she was 13.
5. Regenerated at 16.
6. Career: Commercial lending, then went to Stanford for an MBA.
7. Today, she walks with a limp and no shoulder muscles—the most noticeable things.
8. Post-marriage, three miscarriages.
9. She had a son with a heart problem and had surgery right after birth.
10. At seven weeks, the “sub-doctor” said he was okay and took him off the meds, and the boy died within two days.
11. Vaneetha pulled away from God at that point as she worked through grief.
12. Six years after her son (Paul) died, she had a diagnosis of post-polio syndrome.
13. With post-polio, everything reverses: the more she does, the more she weakens.
14. Thus, she uses a wheelchair and voice-recognition software to slow the regression.
15. Her husband left and moved out of state.
16. Her teen girls rebelled.
17. She eventually divorced.
18. Six years later, she married Joel.

Interview Questions

1. Provide an overview of God’s narrative for you, and then we’ll get into some of the details.
2. How is your health today?
3. How are your girls doing today?
4. In addition to prayer, what has helped you parenting teens who “got a life they did not ask for?”
5. What would you say to someone who is afraid to say something though they want to help?
   1. What does not help?
   2. What does help?
6. Talk about anger toward God.
   1. Anger toward the medical community.
   2. What about self-imposed guilt and shame?
7. What would you say to those going through suffering?
   1. What are some of the pitfalls?
   2. What are some of the restorative things?
8. How do you wrestle with the “sovereignty question” God is in this?
9. Why did you write “The Scars that Have Shaped Me,” and why would someone want to read it, or should read it?
10. Why did you write “Walking Through Fire,” and why would someone want to read it, or should read it?

Book Quotes

• “The detour may be the road.”
• “I was lonely for years but did not want to admit that to anyone.”
• “I was operating quite well on self-sufficiency until about 15 years when post-polio, and it abruptly ended with my romance with autonomy.”
• “Self-sufficiency and independence is part of the American way. It allows us to provide for ourselves with relatively little uncertainty or inconvenience.”
• “Everything is needful that He sends, but nothing is needful that He withholds.”

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Rick Thomas

Rick launched the Life Over Coffee global training network in 2008 to bring hope and help for you and others by creating resources that spark conversations for transformation. His primary responsibilities are resource creation and leadership development, which he does through speaking, writing, podcasting, and educating.

In 1990 he earned a BA in Theology and, in 1991, a BS in Education. In 1993, he received his ordination into Christian ministry, and in 2000 he graduated with an MA in Counseling from The Master’s University. In 2006 he was recognized as a Fellow of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC).