Fearfully and Wonderfully Broken: Fighting for Faith When You're Falling Apart

If you are in the midst of great soul-sorrow, this book is written for you by someone who has been there too. Christians are often afraid to put language to deep suffering. It doesn't seem "holy" to outwardly grieve our losses, to lament our afflictions, to put up words like modern-day dust and ashes. This book is Sydney Anne Bennett's humble effort to sit beside you in the darkness and say, "I know. I feel it too. Let's go to Jesus right now, for we have nowhere else to go."

After becoming disabled just two weeks after her honeymoon, Sydney was forced to reckon with a body that changed overnight and inhabit a faith that no longer fit tidy answers. Diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder (FND)--a condition that disrupts the brain's ability to send correction signals to the body--Sydney now lives with daily seizures, mobility loss, and chronic pain.

Fearfully and Wonderfully Broken is not about overcoming disability. It is about learning to live truthfully before God and others with unresolved grief, humiliating dependence, and lingering limitations. It is about recognizing that faith does not resolve all questions neatly, and that dignity, courage, and steadfastness may remain even when independence disappears. God is present in bodies that no longer work as they once did. His presence makes broken things fearful and wonderful.

This book is the companion Sydney wanted to have when she first became sick. Whether you are struggling with physical pain, disability, or illness, or are working through chapters of grief of a totally different kind, the answer to pain is always the same: Jesus will redeem your brokenness. He is building something--something fearful, yes. But also something wonderful.

Sydney Anne Bennett is a writer, disability advocate, and speaker who helps people struggling with chronic illness and pain find confidence and hope again--while pointing them to Jesus.

Two weeks after her honeymoon, Sydney became disabled and was later diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder (FND), a condition that disrupts the brain's ability to send correct signals to the body. She experiences daily seizures, chronic pain, and mobility loss--and often uses a wheelchair.

In 2022, Sydney began sharing her story on Instagram as a way of processing grief, faith, and the strange in-between of being both young and disabled. Today, she encourages a global audience of over 300,000 people with honesty, humor, and hope that leans hard on Jesus.

She lives in Idaho with her husband, Colton, their daughter, Hadassah, and are joyfully awaiting the arrival of their second child in fall 2025.