I don’t talk much about my daily struggles with chronic illness and pain symptoms and all their wretched effects on everything, certainly not on social media or in my blogs. I constantly tell God all about them, crying to Him for help, relief, and wisdom to deal.
Honest lament continues to be His rescuing grace, as it has been since I first became sick 35 years ago, way before lament became a hot topic! It has always helped to bring my every need to the only One who understands and can truly comfort me, knowing exactly what my heart most needs.
But what happens in me if I fixate on my suffering by splashing my detailed and daily sorrows all over others (especially others who are also suffering in some way)?
Our Lord has made it clear through His Word that it’s sin for me to do so. It makes everything so much worse, as sin always does. No, it’s His healing way for me to lament (to Him) AND set my thoughts on my new self, not my suffering self. I don’t want my sin to affect others because it’s so contagious. I don’t want to sin against my precious Lord Jesus, but I want His Spirit’s help to grow me into my permanent identity as my Abba Father’s beloved and blessed daughter, my new self, as I suffer on earth.
If this resonates with you, here’s a prayer for both of us.
Help me to put on my new self
Jesus,
I’m daily tempted to consider myself a “suffering person.” To fixate on this thorny part of my being, even to the point of sinful idolatry. My pain tempts me to fixate on helping others understand my suffering…more than understanding and sharing Your love for them and me. Then, I’m suddenly tempted to fixate on my sin and become discouraged that I’m STILL battling with my old sin nature.
Sigh.
You know my frame. You know my needs. They’re spiritual as much as anything. More than anything, maybe?
So, help me to put on my new self, my identity in You alone, the regenerated one that’s now created to be like You “in true righteousness and holiness”…as I suffer on earth.
Now to the power of God supreme
Be everlasting honour given;
He saves from hell (we bless his name),
He calls our wandering feet to heaven.
(“Now to the Power of God Supreme,” Watts, I., 1806. Sing to the tune of “Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow,” Ken, T., 1674).
According to Romans 6, my new identity is in being united with Jesus!
I’ve been united with You in a death like Yours, so I’ll certainly be united with You in a resurrection like Yours.
My old self was crucified with You “in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing,” so that I would no longer be “enslaved to sin.” I’ve died to sin, been set free from its power to destroy me, to produce eternal death!
I do believe that I’ll live with You, for You’ve been raised from the dead! Death no longer has dominion over You, my living Head!1
’Twas his own purpose that began
To rescue rebels doomed to die;
He gave us grace in Christ his Son,
Before he spread the starry sky.
Help me to consider my new identity as I suffer
So, please help me to consider myself dead to sin and alive to our Father, Christ Jesus! (Rom. 6:3-11)
My identity has changed from being a “sufferer” to being Yours.
Because, by God’s power, He saved me and called me to a holy calling, only because of His purpose and grace, which He gave me in You, before the ages began! I can hardly believe this blessing from You!
Free me to embrace this new identity, given to me in Your appearing, Your abolishing death, and Your bringing “life and immortality to light through the gospel.”
Help me to believe that I am who You say I am!
Help me to believe it even when I don’t feel or see it…this is who I am in You, now and forever! Such amazing, good news and blessing when suffering seeks to claim me for its own.
Jesus the Lord appears at last,
And makes his Father’s counsels known;
Declares the great transactions past,
And brings immortal blessings down.
Thank You for this blessing as I suffer, Lord. Amen.
Material adapted from Praying God’s Blessings in Christ as We Suffer: Scripture Prayers for the Hardest Days, Lauri A. Hogle, © 2026
Putting on my new identity as I suffer, by singing about the new identity He’s given me
I need God’s help. I certainly don’t feel like a new creation when it seems like every “new thing” is just one more sorrow, loss, or pain. So, I need to remember the truth of who He’s made me to be and what He’s done for me, as one who is now and forever united with Christ Jesus.
I’ve made the playlist to help me sing into the temptation to fixate on my suffering or my sin. Who am I? Who are you, beloved in Christ?
Let’s sing what He tells us about ourselves…could it be that this might help us live more and more into that new identity? Could it be that this is how He’s helping us endure chronic earthly suffering? I’m asking Him for help…for all of us.
If this could be His blessing to you amid your suffering, sign up here, and my weekly playlist gifts will come to your email, with much prayer and love from a sister in Christ who understands.
- “And Can It Be, That I Should Gain,” Wesley, C., 1738 ↩︎
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