Ordinary Clay Jar, Extraordinary God

Dannah Gresh: Ciara Dierking's life serves as an inspiration for many. How does she respond?

Ciara Dierking: I'm just a very ordinary person, and I would never have thought of myself as inspiring somebody else. I think of that picture in 2 Corinthians where we're the fragile clay jars, and it's God's Spirit that is shining through us.

Dannah: Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, author of Choosing Gratitude, for Monday, November 9, 2026, I'm Dannah Gresh.

Hey, if you're walking through the 2026 Bible reading plan with us, today we're starting the book of Acts. Now, if you haven't been a part of this yet, it's not too late. You can sign up for email reminders from us at this page: ReviveOurHearts.com/Bible2026.

Ordinary People, Extraordinary God

Now, as you read through Acts over the next few weeks, you'll see that the early Christians were ordinary people who made themselves radically available to be used by our extraordinary God. Today, we'll be hearing from Ciara Dierking, who also views herself as an ordinary person. If you see Ciara, you'll notice that the Lord has entrusted her with the blessing of a very different life. Well, physically speaking, she gets around in a motorized wheelchair, and that's because both her arms and both her legs had to be amputated. I'll let her explain, and she'll give us an update on new ways she's serving God.

Let me set this up by reading the passage Ciara is referring to today. It's 2 Corinthians 4:5.

For we are not proclaiming ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness" has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God's glory in the face of Jesus Christ. Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us. (vv. 5–7)

A Life-Threatening Illness Changes Everything

Ciara Dierking and her husband David have shared on Revive Our Hearts before. They've explained the details of how she got sick and almost passed away. You'll find a link to that series in the transcript of this program at ReviveOurHearts.com. But here's a quick summary: David, Ciara, and their two boys were visiting his parents for the holidays.

Ciara: While we were in Pennsylvania for Christmas, my son got sick. He was four, and I took him to the urgent care. They sent me to the emergency room, and while he was in the hospital, I also started to feel sick. I thought, This is just stress. I'd never taken my kids to the emergency room before, so I decided I'd go home and rest at my in-laws' house.

And about the day after that, I realized that I really was not doing well. It felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest.

David Dierking: That morning, my mom ended up driving her to the emergency room. 

Ciara: They admitted me. 

David: Already, the room is just completely full of doctors and nurses. A nurse came over to me immediately, and she just said, "I just want to make sure you know just how serious this is." 

Ciara: Oxygen wasn't staying in my lungs. It was actually going out through holes into my stomach, so they needed to put me to sleep. It was all just very fast and scary.

Before going to sleep, I just asked for a drink of water. I had no idea that it would be like five more months until I was able to actually have a drink of water again.

David: We had a meeting with one of the doctors who said, “The next twelve hours are going to be the most critical. She's on full life support. There's nothing more medically that we can do for her. You're gonna need to pray for a miracle.”

When the doctor left, my mom just led us in prayer, and my oldest brother started praying. He got about three words in, and he just broke down. And at that point, all my brothers started crying.

The doctor came out and said, "I need the mother and the husband to come to the room now." At that point we just thought that was definitely the end. We walked into the hall and we could hear the paddles being used. Her mom dropped to the floor, and she was just begging God to save her.

Well, we were told very early on that there was a good chance that she might lose limbs. We were so focused on saving her life that we just completely put that on the back burner.

Finding God's Goodness in the Midst of Suffering

Ciara: What did I do to deserve this? Why did God let this happen to me or choose this for me? I couldn't see how I would ever be the wife or mom that I had been in this condition. I just couldn't understand how a loving God would do something like that to one of His children.

But I needed to be reminded that God is good, and gratitude is a life preserver. There was a lot to be grateful for.

Dannah: We caught up with Ciara and David at a recent True Woman conference. She says she never would have imagined she'd be on the platform in front of thousands of women.

Ciara: Before I got sick, I had a lot of fear about speaking up in front of people. I didn’t even speak up in Sunday school because I was so nervous. I had written to the Sunday school teacher's wife and said, "I'm so sorry I never speak up. I do the lessons, but when I go to raise my hand, I just get too nervous to say my answer. So I am participating, but I just can't speak up."

Dannah: Ciara says her fear of public speaking has taken a back seat now.

Ciara: I think that I've gotten over myself in some ways. My stay in the hospital was a pretty low point in my life, and that took a lot of pride out of me. And also, I think I have a renewed sense of how small we are and how big God is. It's really not about me on the platform at all, as long as I'm giving Him the glory that He deserves.

Dannah (at the conference): Oh, Ciara, I think every woman in here right now wants to hold you. (applause)

Ciara: Honestly, I was just praying a lot. I am not someone who enjoys getting up in front of a group of people, and so I was just praying that the Holy Spirit would keep me calm and help me to keep my focus on bringing God glory.

Dannah (at the conferenc): How has the Lord walked you through this?

Ciara (at the conference): There have been moments in this journey where I truly doubted my salvation. In the hospital, that was the lowest point in my whole life. I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe on my own. I couldn't talk. I couldn't eat or drink, and I selfishly wondered why God had kept me alive. Why?

I really was struggling, wishing that things were different, and questioning God. He was so gracious to bring back Scripture to my mind from Psalm 23: "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want" (v. 1).

I had to pray through that. I said, "God, it feels like I'm in want. It feels like you've taken too much from me."

And I will admit that it took me really a full year of questioning and studying. Why is the Bible true? Like, am I sure of what I believe in? Did Jesus Christ really raise from the dead? Do I have hope after this life?

And God, again, was so gracious. I feel like just recently He convicted me that I was relying on my feelings and not on His true Word, not on the words that He's written about Himself. He says over and over again that He is good. He's merciful. He's patient, and He's our loving Father.

And so, yes, I questioned many times how a good God could do this. But today I'm so thankful for the work He's done in my heart that I can truly say God is good.

Dannah (at the conference): Wow! Wow! You say the word thankful. I heard your mother-in-law found something that was cultivating that thankfulness in you for this moment. What was that?

Ciara (at the conference): Nancy's book, Choosing Gratitude. I had been an ungrateful person before this, and I knew it. It was something I struggled with. So I was reading through that book for the second or third time on our way to Pennsylvania. She found it in my bag after I'd gone to the hospital. And then I read through it again when I came home from the hospital. 

Dannah (at the conference): All your underlines are there on the screen because the Lord . . . 

Ciara (at the conference): How embarrassing that everyone's looking at all the things I wrote.

The Superpower of Gratitude and Compassion

Dannah: We're listening to Ciara Dierking, who shared from the main platform at a recent True Woman conference. She says she would have preferred a quiet, more normal life with her husband and boys, but God has a way of stretching us, moving us out of our comfort zones.

Ciara: So I have two boys. We like to talk about what kind of superpowers we would have if we could be a superhero. I have always chosen that I would like to be the fly on the wall. Just let me be invisible girl and just watch people from afar. But you don't really get to be invisible girl in a giant wheelchair.

Dannah: When the Lord stretches us, He also equips us with divine grace, tailor-made grace, as Nancy often says, and a better perspective. Now, living life without any limbs might seem to require superhuman strength. Ciara lists some of the so-called superpowers she's developed as a result of what the Lord has brought her through. Only these are superpowers based on God's strength, His enabling.

Ciara: Gratitude can be a superpower. More compassion for people who have been through different journeys of suffering. Even just having your eyes open to the amount of suffering that people have gone through.

One person I'm thinking of in particular, I believe her name was Barb. She's also in a wheelchair, but she has even a hard time speaking. So her friends brought her, and they were helping her get around and talk to me, and just having compassion. I honestly was afraid to talk to people in wheelchairs before. You don't really know how to approach them, but we have something in common now. I realize God wants us to be reaching and speaking to every person, no matter what type of disability they might have.

Dannah: We asked Ciara for advice on how to interact with people with disabilities.

Ciara: Just treat them like they're a normal person. Speaking to them, even if they can't respond back, you can ask, "How are you?" or just acknowledge them as a person. I think I can tell sometimes that people might be wondering, like, can she speak? And so they don't say anything to me. But even if I couldn't, I probably would like for people to acknowledge that I was there.

Dannah: A little empathy can go a long way. Imagine what you would feel like if you were the one in the wheelchair. And if you're a parent, help your kids know how to be respectful and kind.

Ciara: The most scared I am is of children, because they are brutally honest. Adults, and especially coming to a conference like this, Christian women were so sweet to me. But kids will be honest. They will facepalm or they'll scream, so that can be hard. I kind of prep myself before going into a situation where there will be a lot of kids. I love kids, and I can't blame them for their honesty. But that can definitely hurt.

Dannah: Ciara says she sometimes doesn't know how to respond when people thank her for giving them courage in the difficulties they're facing.

Ciara: Sometimes people will stop me in the hall and just say encouraging things, that they've been praying for us since the beginning and that they're excited to see how God is using our story to encourage other people.

I typically say “thank you,” and “God gives us the grace to do what He brings us to.” Really, I was nothing special before, and I feel like any situation that God brings you to, if you're open to Him, He will give you the grace to endure it and to find a purpose in it.

Dannah: Since thankfulness plays such an important part in Ciara's story, she and her husband David founded the organization Always Grateful Ministries. We've included a link to their website in the transcript of this program at ReviveOurHearts.com. But that simple two-word phrase, “always grateful,” has been a blessing to so many.

Ciara: We have the shirts, the always grateful shirts. Our friend Becky was sharing that a lady from their church had stage three cancer, and she chose to put on those always grateful shirts to remind herself that in every situation there is something to be grateful for.

You know, that's surprising. Just a T-shirt that we had thought up in the hospital, that that would be something that would encourage other people.

Finding Strength and Hope in God's Word

Dannah: And what about Ciara herself? What encourages her? Well, she's already talked about it. It's God's Word. Here's our conversation at True Woman.

You already mentioned Psalm 23. You have arranged a new way of reading the Word. You have a ledge in your home, where you put the Word up for you to read and be in. Tell us how the Word has been a part of your journey.

Ciara: Yes, when I first came home from the hospital, I had an amazing friend and mentor who would come to my house every week, and she would bring me handwritten notecards that had verses on them that I was supposed to meditate on and memorize before I saw her next week.

Those verses truly kept me going. I mean, there were times I did not want to read the Bible. I just was doubting God. I didn't feel like reading His Word, but having this friend come and encourage me in that way was such a huge blessing because I was accountable to her.

And those words spoke to me everywhere. I would memorize them. When I was outside with the kids, those words would come back to me and just encourage me over and over and over again.

And one of the ones that she first wrote out and taped to my hospital bed was in the Psalms: "God, you are good and you do good. Teach me your statutes" (see Psalm 119:68).

I would just pray every morning, "God, help me to see Your goodness today. Help me to understand Your Word. Help me to want to read it, because I knew even though I didn't want to read it, where else was I going to turn? There was nothing else that was going to bring me satisfaction. I wasn't able to do any of the things I used to do, or be the person I used to be. In His Word, I truly did find it satisfied.

Dannah (at the conference): Wow! You truly put your hope in the Word.

Ciara (at the conference): I did. Yes.

Dannah (at the conference): Are you inspired? 

Ciara (at the conference): I was surprised because I'm just a very ordinary person, and I would never have thought of myself as inspiring somebody else. But I think of that picture in 2 Corinthians, where we're the fragile clay jars, and it's God's Spirit that is shining through us.

 I should also say, I feel like that's the Holy Spirit. I feel like truly God is so good to give us the Holy Spirit inside of us that He would keep drawing us back again and again to God's Word, even when we and our flesh don't want to go. He's drawing us back.

Dannah (at the conference): Give us an update. How are you now? What's going on now?

Ciara (at the conference): I have spent the last year going to appointments, prosthetic appointments, to get some arms and legs, and rehab appointments. Also, learning how to drive my wheelchair. I've taken out big chunks of the wall and some doors off the hinges. I'm fully licensed now. Don't worry.

Dannah (at the conference): Oh, you are just precious. You know who else is precious? Your husband.

Ciara (at the conference): Yes.

Dannah (at the conference): Tell us about him.

Ciara (at the conference): He is a true servant. He fills all the roles that he has to do without complaint, and he has a lot of roles. He's husband, caregiver, father, full-time worker, and I also hired him for my company that I decided to start for the T-shirts and the watercolors. So, he's my only and my best employee. (laughter)

Dannah (at the conference): Okay, tell us about the company because you have begun painting.

Ciara (at the conference): Yes.

Dannah (at the conference): Were you painting before?

Ciara (at the conference): No, I didn't have time before. I was too busy perfecting the home, and I can do hardly anything with my prosthetic arms. I can only lift very light things, so I decided I'll lift up a paintbrush and give that a try, and that's been such a gift from God. It's something creative and beautiful, and I hope to use it to encourage other people.

Dannah (at the conference): Amazing. 

Ciara: Before I got sick, I would see pictures of people who had done watercolor paintings, and I thought it was beautiful. But I really was too busy just cleaning up my house and doing all the mom jobs. But after I got sick, I found myself with a lot of time and almost no ability to really do anything. So I thought, Maybe I can hold a paintbrush. That began as something I thought I would do with my kids.

I was excited to find an activity to do with them, but I quickly realized that their idea of painting was splatter paint, and it was all over the dining room. So I sent them over to a different craft table, and I continued on with painting. We still have a really good time doing it. We're doing it together, but we have to be a little bit separated so that I don't get splattered. It has been such a gift. It's something that's fun and creative and relaxing, and I just have such a great time doing it.

Dannah: If you're like me, you want to see what Ciara's artwork looks like. Well, I'm excited to tell you that all of the painting in our 2027 Revive Our Hearts wall calendar was done by Ciara Dierking. In fact, here's something she recorded about that.

Ciara: When Nancy and Revive Our Hearts first reached out about painting for the 2027 calendar, I was so honored. I am not a professional artist, but what a gift it was to be able to paint for them and work with them—especially knowing the theme of the calendar, the wonder of the Word.

The Word has been such an encouragement to me in the last few years, especially. I've always loved the Word of God, but the Word of God has been where I go to correct my thinking in the last few years. It's been where I go when I have doubts about my faith and who God is, and it never fails to reorient me to focus on eternity.

I am so thankful that God gave us His Word so that when we're stumbling and when we're going through trials, His Word can be our comfort. When we are doubting His goodness, His Word can tell us exactly who He is: that He is good, and that He is loving, and that He sent His Son to die for us, and that He is working even the hard things in our life for our good and for His glory.

In the past few years, God has been drawing me to His Word more and more for finding wisdom and also just finding my purpose. After losing my limbs, I was wondering what I was going to do. I’m still here, so what does God have for me?

He just keeps reminding me through His Word that if I'm still here, it is part of His plan. I can reach others who may be struggling and share the hope of the Word of God with them.

So I'm so grateful for this theme of the wonder of the Word this year.

Dannah: This month we're saying thank you for your donation of any amount by sending you a wall calendar, but you have to request it. It features the beautiful artwork of our guest today, Ciara Dierking. If you go to the transcript of this program, you'll find a link where you can watch a video of Ciara painting.

To make a donation to Revive Our Hearts and ask for your 2027 ministry calendar, contact us at ReviveOurHearts.com or by calling 1-800-569-5959. Thank you so much for your prayers and your support. We can't do any of what we do without God's help and the help of God's people.

I want to close today's program by really just taking a moment to pray for Ciara. She talked about how we're all what the apostle calls clay jars. We're not fancy. We're breakable, but God entrusts us with the treasure of the gospel to carry to the world.

Here's how that same passage in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 continues:

We are afflicted in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed. We always carry the death of Jesus in our body, so that the life of Jesus may also be displayed in our body.

Oh, you know, it makes me just think of sweet Ciara Dierking shining forth the life of Jesus in her body.

And then at the very end of the chapter, and let this be an encouragement to you.

Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day, for our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory.

Amen? Amen.

Dannah (at the conference): Wow, the beauty of Christ in you is breathtaking. I think I know you well enough to know that you guys want to get around her and pray for her. Should we pray for her?

Lord Jesus, we just lift up to you Ciara and her family. We are grateful for the example that she has given us of hoping in you and waiting on you. Thank you, Lord, that you have not taken away but given purpose. Thank you, Lord, that she is teaching us today through her testimony. And Father, will you just make these arms and these legs she's waiting on work beautifully. In the mighty name of Jesus, we praise you for the life of Ciara. Everybody said, "Amen."

This program is a listener-supported production of Revive Our Hearts in Niles, Michigan, calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

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