How are your thoughts running these days? I was talking with a precious younger sister in Christ who’s suffering with much illness and loss. On top of it all, she was running the tape of a recent conversation over and over in her thoughts. A few critical comments from someone Read more…
Have you noticed conflicting teaching and thinking? We gasp for hope as we pray for Jesus to return or rescue us from earthly suffering, but we also quietly fear escalating evil and global suffering. Our thoughts fill with odd tensions. Everything will be fine. This will blow over. Jesus will Read more…
Suffering is scary. A road of suffering often twists with crisis after crisis and brings sleepless nights as we battle with darkness. It all can foster fears of every scenario that our brilliant minds can concoct. It’s exhausting, isn’t it? Job felt it. On top of his kids’ sudden death, Read more…
We’ve flipped the calendar and here we are, entering Advent. So, we begin to sing the old familiar hymn… Hark! the herald angels sing,“Glory to the newborn King!” (“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” Wesley, C., 1739) “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” (Lk. Read more…
Facing this week’s scary possibilities, imagining very-plausible-horrible in my thoughts, also clouded by my grief of a sudden death last week, I wondered…was Jesus ever afraid? Scripture doesn’t reveal a time when He was. Why would He be? He’s God! But Jesus was also human and He faced anticipated suffering Read more…
God, I cherish Your name as my Savior (Is. 43:11; Hos. 13:4). Into my suffering today, please remind me of Your love story in my Savior, Jesus Christ. Chapter 1: Creation and Fall In the beginning of the love story, You declared everything in Your creation as “very good” (Gen. Read more…
Do you feel like you’re constantly waiting for God to do something? Does your life feel like one giant waiting game? Suffering requires so much waiting, doesn’t it? My latest round of suffering has brought a newly convicting awareness of my needed mindset shift in the waiting. It started on Read more…
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…
In the heavy weight of ongoing suffering, it’s so easy to doubt God’s love for us. I suppose this is why I write about His love so often. Because it’s an age-old question, deriving from our Genesis 3 fall with Satan’s hiss, “Did God actually say?” What if my suffering Read more…
Crisis screams. A phone call that shatters, symptoms that destroy, an emergency that swirls into chaos. If you’re like me, you grasp for control and try to hold things together as you pray, “Help me, help me” or just “God,” until you finally breathe and melt. In the siren lights Read more…