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
I will never forget it. Exactly one month after my second lifesaving brain surgery, I was able to sit at the piano and quietly play this Advent hymn. Pumped up with heavy medication, muscles and nerves shrieking in pain, our Lord gently tweaked the very direction of my earthly life Read more
This week’s hymnwriter, a pastor’s kid, wrote this in serious illness, re-turning to the Lord after falling away for over twenty years: We plow the fields and scatterthe good seed on the land,but it is fed and wateredby God’s almighty hand. (“We Plow the Fields and Scatter,” Claudius, M., 1782) Serious Read more
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
Five years ago, obeying the clear voice of our Lord to create an online ministry of gospel hope alongside my suffering sisters in Christ, all of us under the weight of a frightening pandemic, this hymn rolled into my thoughts continually. It still is…even more so today! Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! Read more
Lord Jesus Christ, You are my only hope as I suffer. Exalted Jesus, help me to daily celebrate Your resurrection! For You are risen and reigning now! Christ exalted is our song, Hymned by all the blood-bought throng; To his throne our shouts shall rise; God with us by sacred Read more
O the power of love divine! Who its heights and depths can tell – Tell Jehovah’s grand design, To redeem our souls from hell? (“I am His and He is Mine,” Robinson, W., 1890) What’s your redemption story? His gift of redemption or justification happened for me when I was Read more
In the blurred agony of severe nerve pain, I cried to our Lord. “How can I endure a lifetime of this? You kept me alive through Your miraculous intervention of a brain surgeon’s repairs. But nerve pain is now its thorny after-shock, and I don’t know how I can love Read more
God has woven some underlying themes into my 35 years of suffering from chronic illness and pain, much like themes in a sonata. As I read my prayer journals, one theme has been the ongoing need to believe the gospel…daily. I see the subtle spiritual warfare and temptation of the Read more
Lord, the fruit of Your Holy Spirit includes kindness. This is also a facet of Your unchanging character that we easily forget when suffering. Temptations everywhere annoy, And sins and snares oft make me sigh; My earthly joys are from me torn, And oft an absent God I mourn. (“Remembering Read more
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