“I have full hope Jesus can do anything…Like, He healed people…But sometimes He didn’t. Sometimes that was peoples’ story—They were not healed.”
These words from Reagan are striking and true. Sometimes He doesn’t heal people—and He has not healed her. But that is only part of her story.
These words from Reagan are striking and true. Sometimes He doesn’t heal people—and He has not healed her. But that is only part of her story.
Early Life
Reagan Tippett was born and raised in Round Rock, Texas into a strong Christian family. Her early life was shaped by church involvement, and she was baptized on Easter Sunday as a freshman in high school.
Shortly thereafter, cancer took the life of a teacher who meant a great deal to her, and she entered into a spiral of grief, depression, and anxiety that lasted for the next several years. “I was a theater kid…so I was really good at performing, putting on ‘everything’s great’ when internally I was really struggling. I still had my hope in Jesus, but I didn’t know how to navigate the impact that grief was having on me.”
With the help of a Christian counselor in her Senior year of high school, she was finally able to break free of this cycle by helping her process and heal from the trauma of grief. She didn’t know at the time, but this counseling was also giving her tools she was going to need in the next part of her story.
Shortly thereafter, cancer took the life of a teacher who meant a great deal to her, and she entered into a spiral of grief, depression, and anxiety that lasted for the next several years. “I was a theater kid…so I was really good at performing, putting on ‘everything’s great’ when internally I was really struggling. I still had my hope in Jesus, but I didn’t know how to navigate the impact that grief was having on me.”
With the help of a Christian counselor in her Senior year of high school, she was finally able to break free of this cycle by helping her process and heal from the trauma of grief. She didn’t know at the time, but this counseling was also giving her tools she was going to need in the next part of her story.
The Diagnosis
During her first semester of college, Reagan suddenly faced an onslaught of GI issues that she hadn’t previously experienced. She was waking up in the middle of the night with extreme abdominal pain, losing her appetite, and struggling to digest the little she was managing to eat. She was alone in a place that was still largely unfamiliar to her, and she was barely able to function.
When she was home for Christmas break, her parents became alarmed by the intensity of her symptoms and insisted she see a doctor. That winter, she had her first colonoscopy; but the results were insignificant. She took a semester off school to recover, and felt so much better that she began to believe it had all been in her head. But as summer approached, the symptoms returned — now with new and worsening pain. A second colonoscopy was performed, and this time they found evidence of Crohn’s disease.
Reagan remembers feeling only relief. “I finally had answers… there’s something actually wrong with me. I’m not making it up.”
Crohn’s is a chronic inflammatory condition that affects the gastrointestinal tract, causing pain, digestive issues, and poor nutrient absorption. It can occur in the colon and/or the small intestine, and Reagan has had impacts to both. Once she had an official diagnosis, the first line of defense was routine infusions to lower her immune response; and for a while they seemed to work. She was symptom free for a full year before they realized that her case was resistant to the medication, and she began to need treatments with increasing frequency.
“No matter how hard we were trying to get ahead of it, my body just wouldn’t.”
When she was home for Christmas break, her parents became alarmed by the intensity of her symptoms and insisted she see a doctor. That winter, she had her first colonoscopy; but the results were insignificant. She took a semester off school to recover, and felt so much better that she began to believe it had all been in her head. But as summer approached, the symptoms returned — now with new and worsening pain. A second colonoscopy was performed, and this time they found evidence of Crohn’s disease.
Reagan remembers feeling only relief. “I finally had answers… there’s something actually wrong with me. I’m not making it up.”
Crohn’s is a chronic inflammatory condition that affects the gastrointestinal tract, causing pain, digestive issues, and poor nutrient absorption. It can occur in the colon and/or the small intestine, and Reagan has had impacts to both. Once she had an official diagnosis, the first line of defense was routine infusions to lower her immune response; and for a while they seemed to work. She was symptom free for a full year before they realized that her case was resistant to the medication, and she began to need treatments with increasing frequency.
“No matter how hard we were trying to get ahead of it, my body just wouldn’t.”
Identity in Christ
For the next few years, her life followed a cycle of annual colonoscopies and new infusion protocols, with short bursts of relief sprinkled in. During this time, Reagan admits that she was living in a state of “over-identifying” with her disease. “It kind of became my world. I was reminded on a daily basis that I couldn’t escape it…It was who I was.”
And then, in early 2023, the Crohn’s progressed even further.
When Reagan started exhibiting new symptoms, they decided to use a pill cam to see the upper GI tract. This was her second time doing this test, and she recalls everything being perfectly normal on day one; but the next morning she began to experience severe pain. The pill cam was stuck in her small intestine.
She spent the next five days in the hospital, receiving steroids to reduce inflammation enough for the camera to pass on its own — a plan that eventually succeeded. Then she went in for a follow-up visit and was told she needed to have surgery anyway, and few months later she had a bowel resection to remove a scarred portion of her small intestine along with her appendix.
That Spring was a season of pain, fear, and disappointment for Reagan – but it was also full of grace and goodness. The Lord showed her many ways that her suffering was not only not wasted, but also used to reframe her story as one that He was writing and where He was the main character, securing her identity with meticulous love and specific care for her.
He showed her that He saw her whole story even when she couldn’t: “I really struggled with ‘Why? Why can’t I just go do what everybody else my age is supposed to be doing? Why do I have to sit at home in pain, not able to be productive or financially independent?’ But then when I had to have surgery and I needed to be in a position where I didn’t have anything else to do, it opened my eyes to see that in the moment when things are hard, there’s ultimately going to be a reason for it.”
Even still, Reagan doesn’t brush off the reality of her suffering. “As much as I know there is a purpose, there are moments when I hate the fact that this is part of my story.” And yet, her lament over her circumstances has not led to a crisis of faith. She has drawn strength from the stories in the Bible, recognizing how God has historically advanced His kingdom through the suffering of His people. And she has drawn strength from a Christ who suffered greatly. She remembers a Good Friday service several years ago, when the gravity of crucifixion hit her for the first time. “He hung on the cross and dealt with the death He did not deserve. And then He looked death in the face and was like, ‘Hey, wait a minute. Just watch.’ And if He can go through that and still see us as valuable and wanted, then I can deal with this.”
And then, in early 2023, the Crohn’s progressed even further.
When Reagan started exhibiting new symptoms, they decided to use a pill cam to see the upper GI tract. This was her second time doing this test, and she recalls everything being perfectly normal on day one; but the next morning she began to experience severe pain. The pill cam was stuck in her small intestine.
She spent the next five days in the hospital, receiving steroids to reduce inflammation enough for the camera to pass on its own — a plan that eventually succeeded. Then she went in for a follow-up visit and was told she needed to have surgery anyway, and few months later she had a bowel resection to remove a scarred portion of her small intestine along with her appendix.
That Spring was a season of pain, fear, and disappointment for Reagan – but it was also full of grace and goodness. The Lord showed her many ways that her suffering was not only not wasted, but also used to reframe her story as one that He was writing and where He was the main character, securing her identity with meticulous love and specific care for her.
He showed her that He saw her whole story even when she couldn’t: “I really struggled with ‘Why? Why can’t I just go do what everybody else my age is supposed to be doing? Why do I have to sit at home in pain, not able to be productive or financially independent?’ But then when I had to have surgery and I needed to be in a position where I didn’t have anything else to do, it opened my eyes to see that in the moment when things are hard, there’s ultimately going to be a reason for it.”
Even still, Reagan doesn’t brush off the reality of her suffering. “As much as I know there is a purpose, there are moments when I hate the fact that this is part of my story.” And yet, her lament over her circumstances has not led to a crisis of faith. She has drawn strength from the stories in the Bible, recognizing how God has historically advanced His kingdom through the suffering of His people. And she has drawn strength from a Christ who suffered greatly. She remembers a Good Friday service several years ago, when the gravity of crucifixion hit her for the first time. “He hung on the cross and dealt with the death He did not deserve. And then He looked death in the face and was like, ‘Hey, wait a minute. Just watch.’ And if He can go through that and still see us as valuable and wanted, then I can deal with this.”
"If He can go through that and still see us as valuable and wanted, then I can deal with this."
God works in Community
He also showed her the peace and joy that exist within the body of believers. Reagan had only become a partner at Redeemer a few months before her surgery, and God affirmed that decision through the ways the church cared for her during her recovery. “I remember getting a card from the church, and that was the first time my church had ever done something like that. So it reconfirmed that this is the right place…I know I have a family at church, praying and thinking about me.”
Reagan says that leaning on other people is not something that comes naturally to her. She often feels like she’s a burden when her illness gets to a point where she can’t manage things on her own. In these moments, she remembers the words her dad spoke to her during one particularly difficult day: “None of us are supposed to do this on our own. We were literally created to be in community with one another.”
Reagan’s dad, along with scripture, declares a truth that is essential to enduring suffering: Community is not simply a good idea – it is the way in which we were designed to experience, know, bear image to, worship, and wholly belong to the Triune God.
The Father, Son and Holy Spirit created us in His image to exist in community as He does with Himself. And then He structured the church the same way. “For just as each of us has a body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” (Romans 12:4-5)
At Redeemer, Reagan has found herself rooted in that Biblical sense of belonging that the Apostle Paul so often described. “GC has definitely done that for me” she says. “These aren’t just people that you see on Sunday morning, but people all invested in each other’s walk with Christ. And it’s been super encouraging to know that on Wednesday nights I don’t have to show up and be put together – I can just go sit with my family and say, ‘Guys, I’m having a really hard time.’”
It is an assurance that grounds her both on the hard days and on the average Sunday morning. In sharing her life with the people here, she has found the freedom to stop performing and “just be.” Whereas her flesh still struggles with feeling like a burden, her Spirit proclaims that she was made to need and be needed. In fact, it’s through community that God has been speaking His presence over her all along. “He was just repeating to me over and over again: ‘I’m here, and all these other people are here too. I brought these people here so you’re not alone. This is really hard, but I’m here.’”
Reagan says that leaning on other people is not something that comes naturally to her. She often feels like she’s a burden when her illness gets to a point where she can’t manage things on her own. In these moments, she remembers the words her dad spoke to her during one particularly difficult day: “None of us are supposed to do this on our own. We were literally created to be in community with one another.”
Reagan’s dad, along with scripture, declares a truth that is essential to enduring suffering: Community is not simply a good idea – it is the way in which we were designed to experience, know, bear image to, worship, and wholly belong to the Triune God.
The Father, Son and Holy Spirit created us in His image to exist in community as He does with Himself. And then He structured the church the same way. “For just as each of us has a body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” (Romans 12:4-5)
At Redeemer, Reagan has found herself rooted in that Biblical sense of belonging that the Apostle Paul so often described. “GC has definitely done that for me” she says. “These aren’t just people that you see on Sunday morning, but people all invested in each other’s walk with Christ. And it’s been super encouraging to know that on Wednesday nights I don’t have to show up and be put together – I can just go sit with my family and say, ‘Guys, I’m having a really hard time.’”
It is an assurance that grounds her both on the hard days and on the average Sunday morning. In sharing her life with the people here, she has found the freedom to stop performing and “just be.” Whereas her flesh still struggles with feeling like a burden, her Spirit proclaims that she was made to need and be needed. In fact, it’s through community that God has been speaking His presence over her all along. “He was just repeating to me over and over again: ‘I’m here, and all these other people are here too. I brought these people here so you’re not alone. This is really hard, but I’m here.’”
Eyes fixed on Jesus
While she awaits an eternity without pain, she lives in a body that may not be healed in this lifetime – and yet her mind is clear, and her heart is set on Jesus. “At one point my life was about performance. That’s where my value was. Now my life is valued by how I can show up for others. How can I use my journey to show people Christ? I’m still using the same talents that I had before, but now instead of it being about getting recognition for myself, it’s about glorifying Him. And that’s what my purpose is. Even in my suffering, I can still do that. So that’s my story.”
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. -Hebrews 12:2
And that’s His story, too.
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. -Hebrews 12:2
And that’s His story, too.
Written by Lacy Jarvis, Pictures by Rebecca Lysaght.
