Christian

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God’s promised forever family of love

Abba Father,  You made a most beautiful promise to Your people, offering them hope…six years before Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed. You knew they would need it, and You know I need to remember my hope in Christ today. Into this very judgment for their sin, You promised:  “I will Read more

By Lauri Hogle, ago
ethnic sister and brother in angel costumes touching decorative clouds

Can we hear the angels sing into our suffering Christmas?

This week’s Christmas carol resonates. It sings of tragedy, tribulation, suffering upon suffering. It sings of the evil wreckage that we all experience in this fallen and broken world that’s groaning under the weight of sin and its effects on everyone. Including believers in Christ. But it also sings of Read more

By Lauri Hogle, ago
sleeping newborn baby in cozy nursery setting

Christ in us, spiritually safe, in this fallen world

Last week, I talked about how God had me insert “chronically ill” into my reading of His Word. In my current suffering, every Scripture then comes to life, real and applied to my cries. No shame, no fear, but so loved by our Lord as He speaks tenderly to the Read more

By Lauri Hogle, ago
person holding hand

Keep. Yourself. In. the Love of God. Waiting.

Has God ever slowed you way down as you read His Word? His Spirit gently nudges me into this slow-motion encouragement, many days! One day, I was overwhelmed by my body’s pain alongside the incessantly fear-full noise of the news, the divisive slander of Christians against one another, and the Read more

By Lauri Hogle, ago
person holding hand

When people don’t understand our suffering, we have our Friend

Job’s friends started well. They visited to “show him sympathy and comfort him” (Job 2:11). They mourned with him; they wordlessly sat with him, “for they saw that his suffering was very great” (Job 2:13). Maybe they didn’t know what to say?  Job himself was the “first to speak,” honestly sharing Read more

By Lauri Hogle, ago
personal organizer and pink flowers on desk

What an amazing promise! God will give me strength!

The lies fill our thoughts. ”I can’t do this today. I can’t keep going like this.”  “God doesn’t hear me.” “He’s forgotten me, abandoned me.” Afflicted saint, to Christ draw near… (“As thy days, so shall thy strength be,” Fawcett, J., p.d.) “Behold, I am with you always, to the Read more

By Lauri Hogle, ago
woman wearing gray long sleeved shirt and black black bottoms outfit sitting on gray wooden picnic table facing towards calm body of water at daytime

Looking to the love of Jesus as I suffer

Lord, Job’s words match my sighs, my groans, my losses.  My sighing comes instead of my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water. For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me (Job 3:24-25 ESV). I’m slogging through today, Father. Things seem to be worsening. I can’t Read more

By Lauri Hogle, ago
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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

By Lauri Hogle, ago
landscape photography of clouds

Finding peace instead of “what if” anxious thoughts

Do you find your thoughts drifting into the “what if” zone? They can keep us up at night. The loud voices of the media fuel them. We Google around, looking for possible answers, fretting. Wondering. Trying to take control…again. “What if” thoughts jab our souls when we suffer. We try Read more

By Lauri Hogle, ago
close up photo of grape fruit

God’s promises to take care of you

My husband has become a gardening hobbyist. With the help of YouTube videos, he’s created a vegetable garden to continually nurture. Now that new plants are in the ground, they’re constantly on his mind as he’s begun a routine of watering, composting, and watching each little plant. He’s done much Read more

By Lauri Hogle, ago

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