Topic > When Life Hurts > Suffering & Tragedy >
Pain With A Purpose
I asked several friends what their most difficult, painful experience in life had been. Their answers included war, divorce, surgery, and the loss of a loved one. My wife’s reply was, “The birth of our first child.” It was a long and difficult labor in a lonely army hospital. But looking back, she said she considers it joyful “because the pain had a big purpose.”
Why Me?
Written By Jason Chen, Taiwan (Originally in Traditional Chinese) Why Me? That was the grabbing title of a book I read recently; a question which triggered a lot of memories. Implied in those two words is the larger question: Why does God allow people to suffer unbearable pains? There was once I asked God that […]
Unwelcome Visitors
Recently my wife, Marlene, and I received a panicky phone call from our son and his wife. The night before, they had found two bats in their house. I know bats are an important part of the ecosystem, but they are not my favorite among God’s creatures, especially when they are flying around inside.
The Power To Survive
When I was growing up, I had an inflatable plastic punching dummy. It was about as tall as I was and had a smiling face painted on it. My challenge was to hit it hard enough to make it stay down. But no matter how hard I tried, it always bounced right back up again. The secret? There was a lead weight in the bottom that always kept it upright. Sailboats operate by the same principle. The lead weights in their keels provide the ballast to keep them balanced and upright in strong winds.
Quenching our spiritual thirst with cool water
When our mouth is parched and our throat is dry, cool water is the only thing that can quench our thirst. Together let us find the only source of satisfaction when the complexities and confusions of life leave us feeling empty inside.
In Disguise
In the weeks after my husband survived a heart attack, we often thanked God for sparing his life. I was asked many times during the next few months how I was doing. My answer was often a simple one: “Blessed. I feel blessed.”
Pointing To God
God bless our homeland, Ghana” is the first line of Ghana’s national anthem. Other African anthems include: “O Uganda, may God uphold thee,” “Lord, bless our nation” (South Africa), and “O God of creation, direct our noble cause” (Nigeria). Using the anthems as prayers, founding fathers called on God to bless their land and its people. Many national anthems in Africa and others from around the world point to God as Creator and Provider. Other lines of anthems call for reconciliation, transformation, and hope for a people often divided along ethnic, political, and social lines.
It’s Worth It
I can’t do it,” Robert said, throwing his pencil down in despair. “It’s just too hard!” Reading, writing, and spelling seemed impossible to our dyslexic 9-year-old. At last, a solution was offered. But it was tough. We had to do reading and spelling practice with him for 20 minutes every evening—without exception. Sometimes we just didn’t feel like doing it, and at times we despaired of seeing progress. But we were committed to getting Robert’s reading age and his chronological age to match, so we battled on.
Out Of The Darkness
I don’t know what desperate situation gripped Asaph, the writer of Psalm 77, but I’ve heard, and made, similar laments. Over the past dozen years since I lost my daughter, many others who have experienced the loss of a loved one have shared with me heartbreaking sentiments like these:
Is Jesus Still Here?
Ted Robertson’s home in Colorado was one of more than 500 destroyed by the Black Forest Fire in June 2013. When he was allowed to return and sift through the ash and rubble, he was hoping to find a precious family heirloom made by his wife—a tiny ceramic figurine of baby Jesus about the size of a postage stamp. As he searched the charred remains of their home, he kept wondering, “Is the baby Jesus still here?”
The Nightmare before Christmas
I can only imagine the thoughts running through Mary’s mind when the angel Gabriel told her that she will conceive as a virgin and give birth to a son, who will be great and called the Son of the Most High (Luke 1:32). Now, although Mary was obedient […]
Hope In Suffering
When I opened my Bible to read Jeremiah 1 through 4, the subhead ascribed to the book startled me: “Hope in Time of Weeping.” I almost cried. The timing was perfect, as I was walking through a season of weeping over the death of my mom.
Discover the bright future God has for each of us!
There are times in life when our burdens and trials have drained us, and we feel like we cannot take another step. Discover biblical encouragement to keep going! Join the group for the final conversation in our series, “Unquenchable.”
A moving story about God’s miraculous comfort in the midst of personal pain
Even into the most intense, fiery trials of our lives, God brings refreshing splashes of joy. Hear a real-life illustration of God’s love.
The benefits of a faith that has gone through the fire
Just like a precious metal, God may run us through the refinery in order to purify our faith. And the process can be quite painful. See your trials in a new way.
