brown wooden dock

Help me to praise You when I don’t feel happy, God

When life’s suffering brings us to our knees, we need God’s help in many ways. If you’re like me, emotions quickly cloud my thoughts. I need His help. Praising God in the midst of pain somehow doesn’t feel emotionally authentic. Am I feeling emotionally happy when I’m in physical agony? Read more…

white clouds

Please help me see Your glory, Lord

In today’s suffering, do you ache to see God’s glory and beauty (Ps. 27:4)? Are you like Moses, praying, “Please show me Your glory” (Ex. 33:18) because you’re traveling an unknown and heavy road? Are you begging to see a glimmer of His dazzling bright light in today’s darkness?  Beloved in Christ, Read more…

crop mother washing hands of child in bathroom

Interrupt Our Suffering by Serving Others in Love

This week, one of our sisters here at “Singing Christ’s Hope” has written something beautiful for all of us to ponder. Here are words of Heather Hooks, sharing her perspective: I have a radical idea – what if we interrupt our suffering by worshipping God? And what if that worship Read more…

chords sheet on piano tiles

Singing Christ’s Hope Into Your Suffering

Many have asked me to share more about what the Lord did for me in the 90’s. I hesitate to share personal stories, but on this “anniversary” week, I will. You have a story too! Let’s all glorify God by telling stories of His work in our lives as believers. Read more…

wood typography photography connection

Tune my heart to sing, Lord

When suffering seems endless and despair kicks in, thoughts of “why” and “how long, oh Lord?” can permeate our thoughts. We fixate on circumstances, trying to understand them, and then stress multiplies even more.  Our songs of praise feel out of tune, inauthentic, cacophonous, ugly, filled with discord underneath. Sometimes Read more…

close up of hands

Lord, I praise You with Psalm 139

Did things go differently than you expected this year? Did life take a turn into a new season for you? Are you in the middle of one, not knowing its outcome? Does that feel unsettling? Me too, on multiple fronts. Many days this year, the Lord has taken me back Read more…

purple sky

Jesus Has Overcome! Christ is Risen! Victory in Jesus!

Jesus is alive! Hallelujah! What does His resurrection mean for us, as we remain on earth with its suffering? The effects of sin, evil, our enemy Satan, and resulting death can feel so strong when we’re suffering. For me, daily trials mean I’m often bombarded with the enemy’s darts, “what Read more…

adult affection baby casual

Returning and Resting in Jesus When I’m Weak

I had a recent day when the world’s weight bore heavy and threatened to pull me under. I work as a teacher. I’ve loved teaching others how to sing and make music with their God-given instrument. In one of my research studies, a child called teaching “helping.” Yes, I’ve always Read more…

aurora lights

Please help me sing to You, Jesus

In suffering, I’m instantly tempted to focus on myself. The pain overtakes my every thought and everything becomes so inward, fixated on my hurting. When it becomes days and years, with no end in sight, it’s easy for me to become self-absorbed. Me, me, me. But Jesus beckons us:  “If Read more…

rainbow on grass field

Your Love Will Never Let Me Go

It’s a week of love. Valentine’s Day celebrated it and the beginning of Lent points us to Love crucified.  “But how could I be suffering so much if God loves me?” Sometimes our enemy forces this secret question into our pain. In that same experience of anguish, the blind hymnwriter Read more…

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