Hope during suffering
For weeks, Handel’s Messiah has burst into my thoughts, throughout the day! I’ve had the joy of singing, playing, and conducting it multiple times…any music studied carefully for performance is part of our very being! But this year, it’s way bigger than the music. It’s God’s comforting soul care as I suffer. Read more…
The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me (Psalm 50:23 ESV). Heavenly Father, finding heartfelt words of thanksgiving during suffering and loss can sometimes be challenging. We can make lists of things for which we are thankful. It helps. We can sing words of praise to You, sing Read more…
In this week’s one-year anniversary of brain surgery, I am in awe of what our Lord and King has done. I’m alive! Hallelujah! Beloved in Christ, it’s far grander than His kind gift of so much physical healing. It’s way more holistic and weighty than that. I can only describe what Read more…
I’m writing this three weeks before America’s election of new government leaders, another historical transition. No matter who wins, some people will be disappointed and frightened of what is to come. Many of my subscribing sisters in Christ live in nations with deeply corrupt governments. They’ve already learned the practical Read more…
A mighty fortress is our God,a bulwark never failing;our helper he, amid the floodof mortal ills prevailing. (“A Mighty Fortress,” Luther, M., 1529) Mortal ills and storms of life in this fallen world, raging temptations to sin, all of us desperately needing God’s help. Here’s one of the greatest of Read more…
Lord of love, Job cried his litany of losses to You with honesty, in lament. In grief. In depression. I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul (Job 7:11 ESV). He told You everything he’s feeling, echoing lament songs You’ve given Read more…
Into my utter exhaustion one afternoon, I read God’s promise, “As your days, your strength shall be” (Deut. 33:25), and this song immediately came to mind once again. Afflicted saint, to Christ draw near,The Savior’s gracious promise hear;His faithful word declares to thee,That as thy days, thy strength shall be. Read more…
Sometimes, it feels like being trapped. Like we’re victims, prisoners of war. Stuck in pressured darkness, feeling there’s no way out of problems, imprisoned in sick bodies, continually being revisited by trauma. It’s all within our contexts of ongoing battles in this fallen world decaying in sin. Sometimes, we’re faced Read more…
O soul, are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you see? (“Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus,” Lemmel, H. H., 1922) I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and he will hear me. In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord; in the night my Read more…
I felt defeated, discouraged, guilty, lazy. Unable to “do” what I’d planned. Letting others down. Now, nine months after my second chiari malformation brain surgery but still rehabilitating, I’d forgotten that I may look “fine” and I’m able to “do” at times, but other times? I just…can’t. Those times come Read more…
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