close up of hands

You are my strength, my God who is strong

Loving Father, I can’t do this. I’ve overwhelmed. Burdened. I can’t take it much longer.  But You understand, God. Your Word is filled with cries just like mine.  For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself (2 Cor. 1:8 ESV, emphasis added). My soul melts Read more…

green and black hummingbird

Lord, You are my safe refuge

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah (Ps. 46:1-3 ESV). Read more…

landscape photo of pathway between green leaf trees

I’m suffering…but take heart! But God!!

As always, this week’s “praise interruption” interrupts our suffering with loads of Scripture, with God’s Word of truth. I agonized on a recent morning when I couldn’t see a way to manage my new treatment plan, even while grateful for having one now. So graciously, the Lord again came near Read more…

photo of red boxes

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound

In the dark moments of suffering, we can easily be tempted to doubt God’s grace. Is God gracious if I’m dealing with so much hardship? How can this be His favor toward me?  Let’s think about God’s grace to us as we suffer. Let’s battle the accuser’s lies with truth Read more…

woman in white dress standing in field with raised hand

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

The book of Lamentations is a book of agony and lament. Everything was falling apart as God’s people suffered. In the middle of the writer’s grief and fear, he interrupts his suffering by reminding his soul of an important truth about God: Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness! Read more…

person s scooping water by hands

Help me trust You, my trustworthy God

It’s so easy for me to forget God’s trustworthy hold on me as I suffer. It’s so easy to forget my trustworthy Lord when I focus on the pain I’m enduring. My troubles scream loud and I quickly fixate on them, spiral into desperate fix-it mode, or helpless despair about Read more…

asphalt blur car city

You are always the same, Lord!

“I’m so stressed out and exhausted.” “The continual challenges and changes overwhelm me.” “The many voices conflict, arguing for their own opinions. Who do I believe and trust anymore?” “The pictures, videos, and clanging words in this world make me feel it’s all sinking sand.” “Changing minds, changing plans, changing Read more…

woman sitting while showing heart sign hands

My omnipresent God is with me and my children

I’ve noticed that the hardest suffering for many women has to do with mothering, in multiple ways. Mothering starts with the anguish of labor, yet it’s mingled with joy (John 16:21). In the sacrificial love required, exhaustion of child-care, and continual seeking of God’s wisdom, we sometimes suffer in mothering Read more…

water drop

God’s mercy, in the messy middle

Do you ever feel Job-like when suffering doesn’t go away? What if they say it’s permanent and incurable? What if God’s answers to our prayers seem to be “no” or “not yet?” Could these situations be God’s leading us to His gentle mercy and compassion for us, as we walk Read more…

man standing on a rock near snow covered land

Praying to our wise God as we suffer

Are Job’s words echoes of your thoughts? I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, but trouble comes (Job 3:26 ESV).  Like Job, suffering trial after trial, we don’t understand why this is happening. How could we? We are not God and we have limited wisdom Read more…

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