Category: Suffering

How to Navigate Suffering Like Jesus

Published by Leslie Newman Blog Posts, Suffering 49 comments
Suffering isn't easy and can be so hard to handle! But there is help for us when we look to Jesus. He navigates suffering in a good way, and we can too!

Suffering isn’t easy. Whatever we are going through often seems to make it harder to have the right attitudes and do the right thing, doesn’t it?

If you are going through a time of trial and suffering, you’ll find a lot of wisdom in this guest post from my friend, Beth Steffaniak. Beth’s words have always been an encouragement to me, and today is no exception. In her post below, she shares a verse with us that can make all the difference in how we handle suffering. I was encouraged by this verse, just has Beth has been, and just as I feel you will be, too! 

Click below to read Beth’s post and find 6 ways to navigate suffering like Jesus.

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How to Trust God When Life is Painful

Published by Leslie Newman Suffering 24 comments
When life is hard and we don't understand our circumstances, we may feel that we can't put our confidence in God. Nothing could be further from the truth. Click through for encouragement and help from God's word.

When life is difficult, it can be hard to trust God with our circumstances. Pain, no matter what form it is can last a lot longer than we’d like. Waiting for a resolution, trying to understand our situation – all this can take its toll and start to wear us thin spiritually speaking. We wonder if we should place our confidence in God when we can’t seem to find the answers.

If you find yourself in that place, here are some thoughts and verses that may help.

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What Can God Do With Suffering?

Published by Leslie Newman Suffering 16 comments
God keeps track of all our sorrows and is always working even in our suffering. Click through to learn more about what God can do.

For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. (2 Corinthians 1:5 NASB)

The sufferings of Christ are ours. On the surface, this truth from 2 Corinthians 1:5 doesn’t bring favorable feelings, does it? When we think about suffering, all sorts of thoughts about the awful things we see in the world today may come to mind. Or perhaps we might think of long-drawn-out painful situations we’ve experienced or watched others walk through. Suffering, on the surface, really seems to have no benefits.

But if we are walking in faith, something surprising happens – suffering becomes a powerful catalyst for growth. And incredibly, in His kindness and grace, God sends Jesus to walk beside us and comfort us in as we walk through adversity. Even when we can’t see the changes as they happen, even when we have no answers to the “whys” we may be asking, one thing is sure – the abundance of suffering we see around us or face ourselves today is always balanced by the abundant comfort we have through Christ.

Click through to read more! FREE PRINTABLE! A Prayer for Adversity

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Finding Answers in the Midst of Suffering

Published by Leslie Newman Suffering 21 comments
Suffering is part of life that all of us would like to skip right over, but leaving out the messy middle would change the ending of the story. Click through to read more!

I held the book in my hands, one that I had read hundreds of times it seemed. I was exhausted. I could hardly keep my own eyes open, and her big brown ones had, much to my relief, finally closed. I was ready to be done and go to bed myself, but I knew it was a delicate matter with a toddler who was so in love with books. I was careful and kept reading even after her eyes had closed. Then I did it. I flipped ahead, but I kept on right on going just like nothing had happened. Quick as a flash, those big brown eyes opened right back up and said, “Mommy you missed the middle!” She was not about to let me leave out part of her favorite bedtime story, so I gave in and turned back to read the parts I’d missed. And the long night-time ritual continued.

It’s a lot like that in life. We live in the middle, and sometimes it’s messy and complicated. The thing is, if we skip any part of what God has designed for us, our story just won’t be the same. Arriving at the end without experiencing the middle would change everything, especially the ending, which is so connected to what happens in the in-between.

Click below to read more and find encouragement in the pages of God’s Word.

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