grace

text on a white paper

The most powerful song lyrics, composed in Christ

Lord Jesus Christ, Grief. Tears. Shocking sad. More new losses. Unchanging circumstances. But… Your songs, the Psalms, are the most powerful song lyrics. You composed them. You sang them in Your earthly life. They’re all…about You. You’re singing to me into this fresh grief, as You weep with me. The Read more

By Lauri Hogle, ago
a woman opening curtains

God’s promised best when I imagine the worst

Lord, You know my frame. When suffering is chronic in my earthly life and I wake up with pain-full, ongoing problems, You know I quickly imagine the worst when I look into the near future. Comfort me to remember Your promised best. Change my thoughts when I only imagine the Read more

By Lauri Hogle, ago
grayscale photo of person holding feet and hands

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
lit candle on the paper with notation

“Joy to the world,” in our painful Christmas

To Him “who loves us and has freed us from our sins” (Rev. 1:5 ESV), You’ve come, Lord and King Jesus! Joy to the world! The Lord is come: For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord (Lk. 2:11 ESV). For the Son of Man Read more

By Lauri Hogle, ago
white rose in close up photography

Grief in this sad Christmas time

Lord Jesus, We grieve. We ache. We long. We cry. It’s a sad Christmas time for many of those reading this. The Advent and Christmas season often makes us feel more sorrowful because every song, every tradition, and every celebration suddenly seems distant from us, blocked from us. Like we’re Read more

By Lauri Hogle, ago
close up photo of golden rings

Singing in the fire of affliction

Have you ever read the works of Susannah Spurgeon? I deeply resonate with this sister in Christ because her chronic illness and pain kept her bed-bound for 34 years.  But, even during that time, she could support her husband Charles in his ministry, write books, and spearhead a charity to Read more

By Lauri Hogle, ago
woman in blue fur coat holding a bible

Draw me nearer, blessed Lord, in the wounding

Lord, Sometimes I can’t even find the words to pray. I’m so weakened and overwhelmed in the wounding that I can barely breathe. Thank You for the lyrics of suffering songwriters who also needed to sing their prayers. Like Fannie Crosby, a blind sister in Christ who sang into her Read more

By Lauri Hogle, ago
human standing beside crucifix statue on mountain

Have you ever heard of spiritual depression? 

Particularly when our bodies suffer from chronic illness or ongoing fatigue and stress, we can become prone to what Martin Lloyd-Jones describes as “spiritual depression” or joyless unhappiness, a temptation of Satan for a believer.  My harp on yonder willow lies, Silent, neglected, and unstrung; My cheerful songs are turned Read more

By Lauri Hogle, ago
adult and young sheeps

When suffering makes me feel numb

Are you also suffering with chronic illnesses? With pain that interrupts your ability to sleep? Are exhaustion and depletion becoming a “numbed” depression? Blankly existing? Is an onslaught of simultaneous relational or financial suffering making you feel numb? “Numbness is an incredibly strong emotion, an emotion so strong that it Read more

By Lauri Hogle, ago
person soaking on body of water

Jehovah Râphâh, our Great Physician, our Healing

Bedridden and flat. The only way to reduce severe pain and eye-popping pressure, as my brain continues to heal. Tears of grief, feeling like I’d been given the game of Life’s “Move back 20 spaces,” missing many special times with people I love. Wondering how I could start over with Read more

By Lauri Hogle, ago

Protected by Security by CleanTalk