“Mommy, put my favorite song on!”
Knowing what our young granddaughter endured recently, grieving far more suffering and sudden death than many little ones, my Nana heart dissolved.
Tears of grief became tears of gratitude.
Our Lord had been answering my prayers all along, for my children and their children to know Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, and grow in the grace and knowledge of Him (2 Pet. 3:18).
In their own suffering.
As she sang our Lord’s words with gusto, she ministered to all of us as the song played in the car. We all sang-prayed along with her, along with Jesus Himself, knowing that His prayer was planted deep within her and would be His sustaining grace in any future suffering her earthly life may hold.
A few years ago, He had me write a prayer book of His promises to those who belong to Jesus, as I dealt with 10/10 pain and faced my incurable condition, before He revealed a second lifesaving brain surgery for me.
Returning to those words often now, I see how He’s expanded my personal suffering prayer to an even wider focus…
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.
His love toward me and each of us expands further the longer we live on earth—His answer of “yes” to this prayer!
Such a beautiful work of His Spirit as He sanctifies and empowers us to be “the aroma of Christ” (2 Cor. 2:15 ESV) with others!
So today, I’m changing a snippet from Praying God’s Promises Into Suffering to include you, me, and our believing loved ones. May His Word carry you today, as He’s carrying me.
We want to reverence and glorify You in this suffering, Father God
How? We all need Jesus more as we suffer; we love our Suffering Servant more as we suffer, and we want to be conformed more and more to His image, His promised good to us (Rom. 8:28-29).
Our Father, which art in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy name.
We want others to know Jesus too, perhaps through our suffering experiences
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
We want to love You and others with whatever time You’ve given us on earth! Oh Lord, we can see Your redeeming work! For this suffering is Your gift to help us walk steadfastly (Jas. 1:2-4), to be zealous for good works (Tit. 2:14).
Your strong and tested gift of faith is Your rescuing and delivering grace, a continual and ongoing thing You’ve promised to do in each of us, specifically as we suffer.
Help each of us, Lord! Thy will be done!
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors.
So, in the hardest moments, when it feels anything but light and momentary, help us cling to Your promised outcome of perfecting work within. We are so impatient! We depend on You as we ask for Your help to walk in Your way.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil…
Take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one (Eph. 6:16 BSB).
Your promised, joy-full end of Your glorious love story! Thy will be done!
You promise each of Your believing children in Christ will receive…
“praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ…that [we] may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 1:7; 2 Thess. 2:14 ESV)!
You promise our glorification!
And if we are children, then we are heirs: heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ — if indeed we suffer with Him,
so that
we may also be glorified with Him (Rom. 8:17 BSB, emphasis added).
What is the outcome of Your sanctifying work as we suffer right now?
Salvation of our souls!
Thy will…DONE!
Could this be how we can “count it all joy” today? ( Jas. 1:4 ESV) This joyful end can become our current joy when we realize our suffering is Your redeeming work in us, as Your beloved children.
Salvation exists in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12 BSB).
As we suffer, we wait with Your promised and blessed hope…to see Jesus, perhaps at His return (Titus 2:12).
And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will slay with the breath of His mouth and annihilate by the majesty of His arrival (2 Thess. 2:8 BSB)!
As we suffer, though we haven’t seen him, we do love Him. Though we don’t physically see Him right now, we do believe in Him. So we can “rejoice with inexpressible joy that’s filled with glory.”
With joy you will draw water from the springs of salvation (Is. 12:3 BSB).
How? Because of Your grace-filled promise, we are obtaining the outcome of our faith, the salvation of our souls! (1 Pet 1:8-9)
For Thine is the kingdom,
and the power,
and the glory forever.
Amen. Amen!
Material adapted from Praying God’s Promises Into Suffering: A Devotional Bible Study Prayer Journal, Lauri A. Hogle, © 2023
Singing “Thy will be done” as we bless the Lord and proclaim His salvation
Sing to the Lord, bless His name; proclaim His salvation day after day (Ps. 96:2 BSB).
Sister in Christ, are you suffering too? How our hearts need to sing the words He’s given to us. To sing gospel truth to our hurting hearts. To bless His name, His unchanging character. To remember the glorious hope He’s given us…at the end of His glorious love story written for us.
If you’d like to join me, this week’s playlist gift gives us the words to sing. Including our Lord’s Prayer. Offered with love, let’s sing to our Lord as we suffer…day after day…until the day we see Him face to face! Sign up here and it will come to your email.
Other resources to encourage suffering Christian women
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