Suffering

Encouragement for the Anxious and Depressed

CHRISTINE GORDON | CONTRIBUTOR The days are getting shorter. That bright light that peeked out from under my shades with hopeful energy in the early mornings has begun to wane. And night creeps up closer to dinner time. Some people barely notice the change. Their anticipation of pumpkin lattes and sweater weather is a welcome shift from the heat of summer. But some can’t help but notice. Because as the days go by their energy level seems to slowly drain out of some unknown orifice until it reaches a dangerously low point. Symptoms such as these may be attributed to what mental health professionals call Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD. I’d never heard of SAD but was painfully aware of my sudden desire to sleep fourteen hours a day as the month of November came around every year. When I was awake, I’d sit and stare out the window, unable to concentrate, wondering when I could get back in bed. When I read a description in my 20s, I finally understood there were others who dreaded the fall for the same reason I did. Suffering and Mental Health Maybe SAD isn’t part of your life, or that of someone you love. But it’s probable that some form of anxiety or depression is. Approximately 19 percent of Americans have some type of anxiety disorder. Eighteen percent will be diagnosed with depression in their lifetime. That means at least one out of every five people you interact with every day is battling something you probably can’t see...

Encouragement for the Anxious and DepressedChristina Fox2026-09-02T19:45:53+00:00

When Pain Has Purpose

KATIE POLSKI | CONTRIBUTOR I have a friend who’s been going through a rough season. I’m not sure “rough” is an adequate word. Deep pain, unimaginable pain, has touched her marriage, her kids, and her parents all at once. She expressed recently that she simply didn’t know how to put one foot in front of the other. Other friends are currently grieving an unwanted diagnosis and the awful effects of chemo. Several sisters are confused about how to help aging parents; and still, many are just exhausted, silently disappointed, or deeply lonely. The honest question we ask in seasons of hurt and hardship is, “Why would God allow this?” As honest and real as that question is, so is our response to pain in this life: anger, numbness, and striving to “just get through.” But what would it look like to stop viewing suffering as an inconvenient detour…as an awful back road you just have to survive to reach something better? What if instead you saw your pain as part of your life with Christ… as part of belonging to his family? Suffering is and will be a part of life until Jesus returns. We were never promised otherwise. In John 16:33, Jesus says, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” Yes, there is real pain, but do you hear the hope in that verse? Because Jesus has overcome the world, defeating sin at its root, those who belong to God can trust that even our suffering is not meaningless. In His sovereign wisdom, God works through every hardship for His good and perfect purposes and for the good of His children...

When Pain Has PurposeChristina Fox2026-07-25T19:38:09+00:00

Suffering and Our Suffering Servant

DIANA SCHEIDLER | GUEST Suffering. No one wants to suffer. Yet we all do. What does it look like to suffer? What does it mean to suffer? It looks different for everyone. We all walk a different path in life. However, we all have a suffering servant who has gone before us who bore all our sin and shame. He now comes alongside us in our suffering to remind us that we are not alone. He knows what it is to suffer. Indeed, the suffering He endured was so much more than we will ever have to endure. Suffering can, does, and will take on many forms. Chronic and terminal illnesses, infertility, loss, divorce, unruly children, desires that never come to fruition, and familial difficulties are just a few of the ways that we suffer here on earth. Can joy be found even among these difficult times? When keeping your eyes on our Lord Jesus Christ, our suffering servant, yes. Joy can be found. In my own life, I have gone through various trials that have caused me and my family to suffer. The biggest one that has caused all of us to suffer long though, was receiving my multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis in February of 2015, just a year and a half after my husband and I were married. While those two words were scary to hear, we finally had an answer as to why my body always seemed to react negatively. I dealt with numbness and tingly legs and face. I struggled (and still do) with leg spasms. There are times when I am unable to think of words and come up with silly sounds instead. I stumble and I fall, and I get overwhelmed by too many sounds easily. And yet, the Lord has been so gracious to me even within this diagnosis. He has never left me and never will. When I cry out to Him in pain, He restores my soul for He is with me. When I ask Him, “Why, Lord?” the answer is a peace that surpasses all understanding for I know it is within His plan. And His plan is so much higher and greater than my own....

Suffering and Our Suffering ServantChristina Fox2026-07-18T19:00:19+00:00

Book Review on Suffering: Gospel Hope When Life Doesn’t Make Sense

SHARON ROCKWELL | CONTRIBUTOR It happened in an instant. While on vacation at a national park, I slid on wet tile in the visitor’s center, throwing my feet in the air and ramming my shoulder into a wall. I knew instantly that my shoulder would never be the same. In the two-hour ambulance ride to the nearest hospital, I remember calling out “Lord just take me.” The pain was unbearable. A dear friend who suffers excruciating pain from cancer suggested Paul Tripp’s book, Suffering: Gospel Hope When Life Doesn’t Make Sense, as a source of encouragement after the accident. Truth be known, I was feeling exactly as the title of this book states; that life doesn’t make sense. Why me, why now, why would God allow this when I serve as a helper to my disabled husband, and why now when I can also help with my grandchildren? From the first page of Paul Tripp’s book, I identified with his sudden suffering. He casually walked into the hospital emergency room at the advice of his physician with mild but persistent symptoms. Quickly there were four specialists examining him, talking about dialysis, and ordering tests. Soon his body was going into full-body spasms with pain so intense he was screaming in despair, “God help me!” This would be the first of six hospital stays, each with kidney surgery, over the next two years. Tripp was discouraged, disappointed and in spiritual battle, asking why, in the prime of his career, when he was doing God’s work, would God allow this set of circumstances which would leave him physically damaged forever, devoid of energy, and without a major source of his income. Many good books have been written on suffering, but this one draws you in as Tripp recounts his personal story and also uses examples of suffering beyond physical pain from his years as a counselor, including relational, spiritual, and circumstantial suffering. And because at the time of his writing, he was in a place where his life didn’t make sense, he offers practical and hopeful theology for every sufferer’s struggles. Tripp suggests that our lives are shaped both by what we suffer and by the background we bring to our suffering. For him, pride in his physical health and in his numerous accomplishments made him self-reliant, an idol he was not happy to face. Further, his new physical weakness was a surprise disruption to his carefully planned and executed life. These realizations tugged at his heart, exposing what was really inside. The first half of the book delves into the various trappings that can control our thoughts: fear, envy, doubt, denial and discouragement. He reminds us that nothing we suffer is ultimate or eternal. God is eternal, He is present with His children forever, His power does not wane, and He alone determines our destiny. He is the good news that every sufferer needs. Our suffering is not in the way of God’s plan; it is part of God’s plan. He never lets us alone in our suffering and His presence changes everything...

Book Review on Suffering: Gospel Hope When Life Doesn’t Make SenseChristina Fox2026-04-18T19:49:23+00:00

God’s Faithful Sovereignty When Things Don’t go as Planned

HANNAH HAGARTY | GUEST My husband and I have two failed adoptions, chronic illness, and an unexpected mission field exodus to our names. Things not going as planned? I may be an unwilling expert on the subject. But it turns out, being an expert on disappointment can mean possessing a deep appreciation for the goodness of God’s sovereignty. We readily said yes when asked to adopt the two little sisters in our home. As foster parents for nearly half of our married lives, Mali had come to us at eighteen months old. When her sister Ziva was born, we picked her up from the hospital. Birthdays and holidays flew by with our biological children and the little girls until they had been with us nearly two years. And then, with one phone call, we were told the case plan had changed from adoption to reunification. The girls were to be handed over to a biological relative investigated for crimes against a child. It didn’t matter which way anyone turned that fact about - sense was found nowhere in it. Years later, my husband and I and seven of our children were living in West Asia, sent out by the church to do mission work, never intending to live in the States again. For thirteen months, we worked our assigned jobs, learned the culture, and did the difficult work of progressing in the local language. Our kids flourished. And then, with another phone call, devastating news from the States immediately put me on the thirty-one hour flight back....

God’s Faithful Sovereignty When Things Don’t go as PlannedChristina Fox2026-02-27T20:54:52+00:00

When You Want to Trade in Your Specific Clay-Like Conditions

ELLEN DYKAS | CONTRIBUTOR But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. (2 Corinthians 4:7) I recently told a friend that I’m willing to participate in the sufferings of Christ; but can it be on my terms and in the form, timing, and intensity of my choosing?! I see the irony and hypocrisy of such a statement yet the truth is, it’s how I feel and think sometimes, even if unconsciously. Maybe like me, you delight in being a clay jar filled with the treasure of Jesus, yet struggle when the clay feels extra fragile, sad, or worn out. In those conditions, I can be tempted to want to click a ‘return’ button as simply as it is to send back an unwanted Amazon package. In the past few years, certain aspects of my clay-ness have felt extra hard. The impact of menopause on my body and ongoing disrupted sleep. Health related anxiety and the physiological, emotional, and spiritual impact of that. I transitioned into a (mostly) full time equipping and content development role which has been truly such a gift to have a dedicated season to pour out what I’ve learned in the years I’ve served with Harvest USA. Yet, it’s also been unexpectedly lonely, as I’ve been at my desk more than face to face with women as I was for my first sixteen years. What’s a girl to do?...

When You Want to Trade in Your Specific Clay-Like ConditionsChristina Fox2026-02-15T14:32:53+00:00

A Testimony in Sorrow

JENNA BOGARD | GUEST As my dear pastor neared the end of his life in 2022, I wept by his hospital bed. All I could utter was, “Jim, you are going to be with Christ soon!” His face lit up; that was all he wanted. His intimacy with Christ was apparent to everyone who knew him. Prior to his death, he repeatedly urged me to dive into the Song of Solomon as it ministered to him greatly in his last few months of suffering with ALS. At the time, I dismissed his claim that the book had anything to do with Christ and the church and even teased him for holding such beliefs. I wish he was still here so I could humbly admit my error and thank him for pointing me to some of the most beautiful truths of Christ that I’ve only begun to uncover. A Reflection of the Heart Dr. David Murray’s exposition of Song of Solomon chapter five was particularly impactful as it so perfectly described my spiritual condition at the time: utterly weak, fearful, depressed, and desperate.[i] As the chapter opens, the groom is at the door, calling the bride to open the door (v. 2). However, the bride is apathetic to his call. “I had put off my garment; how could I put it on? I had bathed my feet; how could I soil them?” (v.3) The bride didn’t want to put in the effort, a situation we usually find ourselves in when we have temporarily satisfied ourselves with the lust of our idols...

A Testimony in SorrowChristina Fox2026-02-14T18:25:24+00:00

Discipling Children in Suffering

AMY SANTARELLI |GUEST When my children were young, my husband and I worked hard to prepare them for life. We taught them skills they needed such as tying their shoes, doing laundry, driving, and choosing a career. We also taught them Bible stories, character lessons, and how to obey. But how to suffer? Mostly, we tried to help them avoid it. Now I am a biblical counselor who sits with people who are enduring a wide range of suffering. Seeing their struggles, I find myself looking back at this aspect of our child rearing and wishing I could have a parenting do-over. In our efforts to raise our children well and prepare them for life, we missed something important—purposefully preparing them for a world where the Bible says we will have trouble (John 16:33; James 1:2; I Pet. 4:12–13). How do we equip our children to biblically respond to life’s troubles, so they do not flounder, or worse, run away from God to false comforts? When trouble hits, practice lament and submission to God with your children....

Discipling Children in SufferingChristina Fox2025-07-11T15:04:24+00:00

The Stewardship of Suffering

AMY SHORE | GUEST Winter crept into my heart early this past year. Weariness gave way to selfish wallowing and introspection as I reflected on hard realities during the holiday season. December 31st, I found myself unable to breathe. A beautiful sand dollar, a Christmas gift from a friend, lay shattered on the kitchen floor. I fell to my knees in despair alongside this visual representation of my current brokenness. January 1st, a morning filled with missed calls and urgent messages: my dad had suffered a heart attack and was undergoing surgery. Then came January 21st when I faced the devastating reality of his death. I couldn’t catch my breath. The Learning Journey “Learning to live in the reality of His presence is the essence of our prayers and our pilgrimage.”[1] For the past year and a half, well before my father passed, I’ve been chewing on that quote from Susan Hunt around the journey to know God better amidst fear and frailty. I long to live more fully in that reality. You may have heard the saying, “God never gives us more than we can handle.” My pride wants this to be true because it means I can pull myself up by my own bootstraps. I’ve tried. My bootstraps snapped....

The Stewardship of SufferingChristina Fox2025-06-21T19:25:35+00:00

Entering into the Joy of Others

LISA UPDIKE | GUEST Ecclesiastes 3 tells us that there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven, a blessed ebb and flow of challenge and loss, peace and rest. Joy and sadness. Births and deaths. Serving and receiving. And though we intellectually understand that we will have trouble in life, it still can catch us off guard. When the time of trouble persists, we cry out like the psalmist did, “How long, Lord?” We wonder, “Does the Lord even see me?” If we are in a particularly long, hard season we may wonder why the Lord is richly blessing others and not us. Well, at least that’s what I do. My guess is that I am not alone. For the past several years my life has been really hard, sometimes heartbreakingly so. Two of my children are going through some painful circumstances causing distance between us. My heart aches over our difficult relationship. In another sphere of life, my mother is aging and often in pain. She is lonely for my dad whom she lost five years ago to Alzheimer’s. It’s so painful to see her suffer, though she does so with grace. On top of these things, this past fall we were blindsided with grief when my husband’s youngest brother took his life. We had no warning. So. Much. Grief. And I hate to say it, but there is a lot more to this list. I’m telling you; my husband and I have been hurting. A lot. Still, we were hanging in there. We were growing and learning to cling to Jesus. But then there was just one more tragedy and it tipped the balance. It seemed more than we could bear. Was God actually kicking me when I was already down? I knew better, but at 4:30am when the phone rang, I knew it couldn’t be good news. My heart sank as I reached for the phone. The vet told me she was so sorry, but our dog had passed. You see, she had been rushed to the emergency vet the night before. We thought she was going to recover, but just like that, she was gone. My husband and I held each other and cried. This just seemed like too much. In our sadness, she had been such a comfort. Now she was gone. Hadn’t we had enough grief? Why this too?...

Entering into the Joy of OthersChristina Fox2025-06-12T18:05:51+00:00