Are your hard days becoming hard years of a hard life? As we both look ahead, let’s find courage as we pray together, for God is redeeming our suffering. God’s redeeming work of grace Father, I continually cherish Your rescuing gift of saving grace. My blessed Redeemer gave Himself for Read more…
I’m writing this week’s “praise interruption” on a day when suffering’s earthly storms are howling on multiple fronts. Screaming at me, to the point of overwhelm. Are you having “one of those days” too? Perhaps, like me, we could recount many days, weeks, and years of storms. But sometimes, when Read more…
In this holiest of weeks, we “survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of glory died.” I don’t cry often, but in my physical pain a few days ago, I wept when I re-realized how willingly Jesus submitted Himself to immense pain, torturous suffering, and surpassing agonies of complete Read more…
Is this a Thanksgiving through tears for you? One of deep loss and pain? Our tears are in the tender care of the One who also wept in His loss. Beloved in Christ, our thanks-giving tears are offerings of trust to the One who understands. In the United States, this Read more…
Mary was about to lose our beloved Jesus to the cross. What did she do in the midst of this sad and stressful time? She broke her precious possession, an alabaster flask of expensive perfumed ointment, pouring it over Jesus’s feet (Jn. 12:3). She has done what she could; she Read more…
I wonder what they were singing. They’d been attacked by the crowds, stripped naked, beaten, thrown into prison, and fastened into stocks. About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them (Acts 16:25). Which hymns? What were the lyrics? Did Read more…
They trudged the dusty road, so sad and overwhelmed. Their beloved Jesus had died and they thought He was gone. They’d heard Jesus was alive and resurrected, but they hadn’t actually seen Him. All they could see was stifling darkness around them. Their pain felt like the Light of the Read more…
Majestic jagged rocks scraped the clouds. My granddaughter explained, “Nana, these rocks were here a billion million years ago!” Oh yes, they’ve endured, standing firm when heavy wind, storms, and droughts beat strong. I imagined Biblical lands where people found shelter in rocky crevices. Rocks shaded people from blazing heat Read more…
When suffering seems endless and despair kicks in, thoughts of “why” and “how long, oh Lord?” can permeate our thoughts. We fixate on circumstances, trying to understand them, and then stress multiplies even more. Our songs of praise feel out of tune, inauthentic, cacophonous, ugly, filled with discord underneath. Sometimes Read more…
In quietness and in trust shall be your strength (Is. 30:15b ESV). “But Lord,” she cried. “Nothing in my life feels quiet or calm. My life is filled with chaos, this fallen world is filled with chaos and noise. I’m honestly battling the ever-present anxiety that underlies my life circumstances Read more…
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