Suffering with hope

Broken Bones and Crooked Paths

I write this as I sit across the room from my fourteen-year-old daughter, listening to the steady pump of the circulation machine as it tries to keep blood clots at bay.  Roughly two weeks ago, she endured a nasty gymnastics injury, severely fracturing her tibia and growth plate. A few days ago, she underwent a… Continue reading Broken Bones and Crooked Paths

Suffering with hope

A Sunflower in the Dessert

Quarterly Newsletter Something on my mindโ€ฆ This image has been on my mind a lot latelyโ€”including the analogy it represents. On the last day of our family road trip last year, we drove through a vast national park and pulled off at the final lookout before we were set to head home. It was hazy,… Continue reading A Sunflower in the Dessert

Suffering with hope

The Three L’s of Suffering Well With Others

Weโ€™ve all suffered. Weโ€™ve all known someone else who has suffered. And weโ€™ve all been on the giving and receiving end of unhelpful and ignorant comments as a result. Suffering is simply a natural part of the human experience in this world. Godโ€™s Word doesnโ€™t leave us wondering, โ€œifโ€, but โ€œwhenโ€ the pain of this… Continue reading The Three L’s of Suffering Well With Others

Suffering with hope

When The Waves Threaten to Take You Under

My cousins and I were enjoying a carefree summer day as we often did at my grandparents house in Wisconsinโ€”building sand castles, swimming in the lake, and pushing each other off the old wooden raft that floated a good distance from the dock. I was young, but I remember the details of this particular day… Continue reading When The Waves Threaten to Take You Under

Suffering with hope

Fighting for Faith When Doubts Abound

โ€œMay your compassion come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate needโ€(Psalm 79:8).  Itโ€™s a prayer that Iโ€™ve often prayed over the past two decades of trials. As the waves of tribulation seemed to relentlessly beat upon me and my family, itโ€™s a prayer that has also been riddled with doubts over Godโ€™s… Continue reading Fighting for Faith When Doubts Abound

Suffering with hope

When Nothing Makes Sense, Remember These Three Thingsโ€ฆ

Newsletter Something on my mindโ€ฆโ€œEverything in my life always goes wrong! I know God can prevent it if he wants to, so it seems like he enjoys inflicting pain on me.โ€ Tears welled up in my teenage sonโ€™s eyes as these words of discouragement and borderline despair flew out of his mouth.ย  I caught myself… Continue reading When Nothing Makes Sense, Remember These Three Thingsโ€ฆ

Suffering with hope

A Story of Redemption is Being Written in Your Life

The past several years, God has been stripping away the frills of earthly success, independence, and self-confidence in me. Like Elijah, I have felt hidden by the Lord, severely tested by difficult and painful circumstances. I have been in a battle for faith in response to Godโ€™s silence and the relentless furnace of affliction. My… Continue reading A Story of Redemption is Being Written in Your Life

Suffering with hope

There Is Purpose in This Place

I admit, I often battle discouragement in my pursuit of health. I am beyond grateful for the extensive treatment protocol that Iโ€™ve been allowed the opportunity to pursue this past year. And yet, while it gives me great hope, the process is still brutal--with no guaranteed outcome. Iโ€™m confident that this journey wonโ€™t be wasted,… Continue reading There Is Purpose in This Place

Suffering with hope

Does Anyone REALLY Understand What I’m Going Through?

Long-term chronic illness in myself and my kids has made life difficult.  The traumatic experiences and heartbreak of a neurodivergent child has made life heartbreaking.  A devastating injury that led to a degenerative ankle and the inability to do so much of what I love anymore robbed me of a piece of myself. Losing our… Continue reading Does Anyone REALLY Understand What I’m Going Through?

Suffering with hope

Pain is a Taste of Hell; Jesus’s Comfort is a Taste of Heaven

I have no clear recollection of a life without pain.ย  Although it didnโ€™t dominate my life as a young child as much as it does now, for roughly thirty years, Iโ€™ve been housed in a physical frame thatโ€™s baseline is one of physical pain and illness.  When physical affliction is a way of life, there… Continue reading Pain is a Taste of Hell; Jesus’s Comfort is a Taste of Heaven