Suffering

When things go wrong, our thoughts often wander to, “Is God punishing me?” Whatever circumstances surround this thought – an illness, a loved one’s death, a tragic event – we sometimes start digging into the past (recent or long ago) and pull out something we feel guilty about and attach our present situation to that.

When we study the Bible, we sometimes see God testing believers – often in hard ways. We see Abraham, asked to sacrifice Isaac. We see Joseph, withstanding injustice. We see Job, losing his possessions and loved ones. We see Paul, suffering mightily for Jesus. We see Esther, risking her life to help God’s people. And

In this world of sin and suffering, even believers experience hardships. Sometimes it seems like the strongest Christians we know are hit with the hardest life circumstances and we question why. Why does a good God allow such hard things to happen? Some of the hardships we must go through are specifically allowed by God

To us, this world is an uncertain place. We try to hang onto our lives as tightly as we can, keeping all the pieces exactly where we want them, afraid that something might come unglued. And when it threatens to (or actually does) we can get lost in fear. To God, His plan is certain.

When We Hurt Walking through this world is hard, especially when our world seems to shatter. Sometimes we are left wishing we could pick up all the pieces and glue them together. Long trials, health diagnoses, a broken relationship or a death. We wonder how to go on or even if we can.  When we’re