an elderly man consoling a woman

Bringing our emotions to the feet of Jesus

God made us emotional beings, housed in a body with a cognitive brain that thinks and an emotional brain that simultaneously “feels.”  Beloved in Christ, God not only understands our emotions, but He created us with physical brains… that automatically have them.  Many faithful and mature children of God (e.g., Read more…

woman praying

Giving my litany of losses to my Lord of love

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…

an eagle flying in the sky

Lord, please give me “Be still, my soul” patience

As grief overwhelmed me, I lost my patience. Anger welled up and had to be honestly released with a shout. Shrouded in loss and shocked by my unusually loud reaction, I asked God to help me see what lay beneath my tear-full explosion.  My anguish had started with an unexpected Read more…

blue jeans

God leads His dear children along, all the way through

As my brain’s slumping out of the skull worsened with its body-systemic symptoms last fall, our Good Shepherd Jesus Christ came so near with His love songs, ones filled with praise and adoration to Him. Although I could rarely physically read my Bible, I heard His tender voice of comforting Read more…

white goat kid on grass

Knowing Jesus suffered for me…and suffers with me

When bouts of electric shocks fired into my body, with violently convulsing pain, I couldn’t think but only endure. When they subsided, I always melted with gratitude to our Savior, who suffered with me.  Can you imagine His raw and exposed nerves struck by scourges? Can you imagine the physical Read more…

person s scooping water by hands

A “praise interruption” into my pain and tears

For this musician who thinks and breathes in music, being unable to make music to our Lord was a heartbreaking loss. Overwhelming grief. For months, I was so sick as the resonating chambers in my head filled with pressure from my sagging brain and herniated brainstem, that I couldn’t sing Read more…

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…

baby s feet on brown wicker basket

Your promises fulfilled! Hope as I suffer at Christmas!

Lord Jesus, You came. You condescended to earthly flesh, incarnating as a human. You, the Word made flesh, the Creator and sustainer of all things, holy and majestic God the Son…came. We bow before You today, in awe of who You are. Lo, within a manger lieshe who built the Read more…

selective focus photography of pine tree with snow flakes

A lament of suffering at Christmas, into Love

God rest you merry, gentlemen,let nothing you dismay…Oh tidings of comfort and joy! (“God rest you merry, gentlemen,” p.d.) Yes, we’ve begun the Christmas season with all its “tidings of comfort and joy.” But are you suffering this year, as I am? Does this feel impossible to sing? Is your Read more…

green trees

Help me to see Jesus this Christmas, promised from eternal years

See the tender Lamb, promised from eternal years. This week’s hymn beckons us to see Jesus, the promised Savior and Messiah. It reminds us of our own redemption, through this tender Lamb. Beloved in Christ, let’s remember God’s glorious love story toward us, for so many of His promises have Read more…

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