Faith is not only something we speak about—it is something we learn to live, especially in seasons that test our strength, patience, and trust in God. In this Living My Faith conversation with James Fenimore, William “Bill” Davis, Director of Adventist Disabilities Ministries, shares a deeply personal perspective on disability, grace, and the call to help every person find belonging in the life and mission of the church.
As a minister, speaker, and teacher, Bill’s story reflects a faith shaped through real hardship and sustained by a steady confidence in God’s presence. His journey offers encouragement for anyone learning how to trust God more fully, serve others more faithfully, and make faith communities more accessible and inclusive.
About Adventist Disabilities Ministries
Adventist Disabilities Ministries is the disabilities ministries department of the Pacific Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Its mission is to raise awareness about disability and faith while promoting access and full integration of people with disabilities in the life and mission of the church.
This work is rooted in a simple but powerful conviction: people with disabilities are not spectators in the body of Christ. They are vital members of the church community, called to participate, serve, worship, lead, and belong.
A Faith Journey Shaped Through Disability
Bill Davis describes his faith journey as one that has grown through the experience of disability. Born with primary immune deficiency, he endured prolonged illnesses that eventually led to the amputation of his right leg.
Yet even through pain, uncertainty, and loss, Bill has seen God working in him and through him. His experience has opened doors to connect with fellow members of the disability community and to speak with authenticity about faith, perseverance, and hope.
Serving God Through Personal Experience
Bill shares that his daily life and ministry give him the opportunity to speak and teach around the world. He describes his experience with God as similar to Job’s words: “Though he slay me, yet will I serve him.”
That kind of faith is not shallow optimism. It is a grounded trust that continues to serve, worship, and witness even when life includes suffering. For many believers, Bill’s story is a reminder that faith does not require the absence of hardship. Instead, faith often deepens as we learn to see God’s grace at work within hardship.
Learning to Rest in God’s Grace
When asked what encouragement or scripture has been especially meaningful in this season, Bill points to Paul’s experience with the “thorn in the flesh.” Paul asked God for deliverance, but God answered, “My grace is enough for you.”
For Bill, this has become a sustaining truth: God’s grace is enough. He has learned to rest and let God’s grace sustain him, no matter what circumstances he faces.
What Paul’s Thorn Teaches Us Today
Many people understand what it feels like to pray for something difficult to be removed. Whether the struggle is physical, emotional, spiritual, or relational, it can be hard to accept that God’s answer may not come in the way we expect.
Paul’s experience reminds believers that grace is not a small consolation. It is the very power of God sustaining us when our own strength is not enough. Bill’s testimony invites readers to consider how God may be present not only in deliverance, but also in endurance.
Faith as Rest: A Message for Those Struggling Spiritually
For anyone who is struggling to live out their faith or longing to grow spiritually, Bill offers simple and profound advice: learn to “be still” and let God be God.
He points to Scripture’s repeated lessons of faith as rest. Faith is not frantic striving. It is the assurance that God is present, active, and trustworthy. Bill also emphasizes the meaning of Sabbath, noting that God’s first gift to humanity was rest.
The Spiritual Practice of Being Still
Being still does not mean doing nothing. It means surrendering the illusion that everything depends on our control. It means making space to remember who God is and allowing His grace to shape our perspective.
For readers seeking practical ways to grow spiritually, Bill’s message offers a helpful starting point:
- Pause before reacting. Give yourself room to pray, breathe, and listen.
- Return to Scripture. Let the stories of Job, Paul, and others remind you that God is faithful in suffering.
- Practice Sabbath rest. Receive rest as a gift, not a reward for productivity.
- Look for God’s grace in the present moment. Even when circumstances are difficult, grace can sustain you.
- Make room for others to belong. A faith community grows stronger when every person is welcomed and integrated.
Why Disability Awareness Matters in the Church
The mission of Adventist Disabilities Ministries highlights an important responsibility for faith communities: awareness must lead to access, and access must lead to full integration.
Disability ministry is not only about physical spaces, though accessibility matters. It is also about attitudes, language, leadership opportunities, worship participation, and the belief that every person bears God-given value.
Moving from Inclusion to Belonging
Inclusion often asks, “How can we make room?” Belonging asks something deeper: “How can we recognize that this person is already an essential part of us?”
Churches that embrace this mindset are better equipped to reflect the heart of Christ. They become communities where people are not defined by limitations, but welcomed as whole people with gifts, callings, stories, and purpose.
Practical Takeaways for Faith Communities
Bill’s story and the work of Adventist Disabilities Ministries invite churches and believers to take meaningful steps toward greater awareness and participation for people with disabilities.
1. Listen to Lived Experience
People with disabilities are often the best guides for understanding what access, support, and belonging should look like. Listening with humility is an important first step.
2. Speak About Disability and Faith Openly
Awareness grows when churches create safe, respectful spaces for honest conversations. Disability should not be treated as an uncomfortable topic, but as part of the human experience within the body of Christ.
3. Design Ministry with Participation in Mind
Access is not only about attendance. It is about participation. Churches can ask how people with disabilities can serve, lead, worship, teach, and contribute to the mission.
4. Teach a Theology of Grace and Rest
Bill’s emphasis on grace, stillness, and Sabbath rest speaks to the needs of all believers. A church that teaches rest as trust in God can become a place of healing and encouragement.
A Witness of Grace in the Midst of Difficulty
William “Bill” Davis’s story is a moving reminder that faith can be strengthened through suffering, service can flow from personal experience, and God’s grace is sufficient even when prayers are answered differently than expected.
Through Adventist Disabilities Ministries, the message is clear: people with disabilities belong fully in the life and mission of the church. Their stories, gifts, and leadership matter.
Conclusion
Living faith is not about having a life free from struggle. It is about trusting God in the middle of real life, receiving His grace as enough, and helping others experience the belonging God intends for His people.
Bill Davis’s journey points us back to a timeless truth: we can be still, rest in God, and depend on Him. And as we do, we are called to build communities where every person is welcomed, valued, and invited to participate fully.
To hear more conversations about faith, purpose, and the stories that shape our walk with God, visit Living My Faith.
