star shaped christmas lights

Peace in suffering at Christmas…in the gospel of Christ

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…

gray rock mountain

Faith as God’s gift, over fear

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…

silhouette of person standing beside cross during sunset

Praising My Savior, Jesus Christ!

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…

teal ceramic cup and saucer

God is with me as I wait

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…

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…

beige sand with hear engrave

Loved with everlasting love, as I suffer

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…

gray concrete triumphal arch surrounded by flowers

Leaning on the Everlasting Arms in Crisis

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…

photography of barrel wave

You hold me up in waves of suffering

My dear husband took me to a small rocky beach on the Great Lake. We rested in God’s gifts, feeling warm breezes, watching holiday boaters, hearing gentle waves splashing stone piles. Under the canopy of blue sky and wispy clouds, we noticed seagulls soaring, carried by the wind. Carried. One Read more…

chords sheet on piano tiles

Singing Christ’s Hope Into Your Suffering

Many have asked me to share more about what the Lord did for me in the 90’s. I hesitate to share personal stories, but on this “anniversary” week, I will. You have a story too! Let’s all glorify God by telling stories of His work in our lives as believers. Read more…

gray asphalt road surrounded by tall trees

Finding hope when it seems there’s no answer

My knee-jerk reaction to suffering is to research, scrambling for solutions, aiming to find a way to make things feel more comfortable. I want to fix things and quickly. I want an answer. Back when my illness was the worst, my desperation for health had crossed the line into idolatry. Read more…

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