I recently did an interview with Dave Jenkins at Servants of Grace. We discussed my book and how the body of Christ can support those who are facing cancer. I’d love for you to head over to Servants of Grace and check it out! Click here to read the interview.
ShareJesus is With You as You Suffer {No Matter What Monday}
I have many parenting moments that I’m not proud of, but one of my worst mom-fails happened as I slept. My daughter was frightened in the middle of the night and came to my room to wake me up. She shook my shoulder and said my name, but I kept snoozing. My neglected little girl eventually gave up and went back to bed.
As I read Mark 4, I wonder if the disciples felt a little bit like my daughter that day on the Sea of Galilee. They were scared, and Jesus was sleeping.
“On that day, when evening had come, [Jesus] said to [his disciples], ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’” (Mark 4:35–38)
Let’s pretend we never heard this story in Sunday school, and we don’t know what the next verses say. (We’ll get to them next week.) What does this passage teach us about being in the middle of the storm of suffering?
When the waves are crashing over the side of your boat and it’s filling with water, it’s doesn’t mean Jesus has abandoned you. Jesus was right there with the disciples, and He’s right here with you.
If it seems like Jesus is sleeping while you suffer, it’s not because He doesn’t care. It’s because He cares about you that He’s waiting for the perfect time to calm the storm. As we’ll see next week, He always has a purpose to His timing, even when we can’t understand it. And in the meantime, you can trust that He is with you.
No matter what you face this week, Jesus is with you in the storm of your suffering.
ShareWhat Not to Say {Guest post for Servants of Grace}
I spent most of my young adult years quoting Romans 8:28 to friends and family who were suffering. This promise from God’s Word has always been one of my favorite verses: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (ESV). For years, the truth of God’s sovereignty over all circumstances has been a rock I can cling to, no matter what life brings. I’ve often wielded this truth like a sword when I felt that someone might be slipping in their trust as they walked through suffering.
Then I was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive cancer called angiosarcoma the day before my 34thbirthday. I had three young children—ages 6, 4, and 18 months—and the prognosis wasn’t encouraging. As I walked through the months of intense treatment and years of uncertainty which followed, I treasured the truth of God’s sovereignty even more than before. But hearing others tell me “God has a plan” didn’t bring comfort in my pain.
I’m not alone in feeling this way. In fact, when I talk to cancer patients and survivors about the unhelpful words they’ve heard from friends, sentiments like “God has a plan” and “God uses everything for good” top the list. Every single cancer survivor I know has heard these words from friends. We’re saying it often, but it’s failing to provide comfort to our friends with cancer.
I’d love for you to read more in an article I wrote for Servants of Grace. Click here to read the article – I hope it encourages you!
ShareUnto You a Savior is Born! {No Matter What Monday}
Every December, I read The Best Christmas Pageant Ever with my kids. We sit by the Christmas tree and read about how everything went wrong, starting with Mrs. Armstrong’s broken leg and ending with the Herdmans bringing their ham to the baby Jesus. (That part always makes me cry!)
When we get to the line that the feisty Gladys Herdman screams at the trembling shepherds, my kids and I love to yell it together: “Hey! Unto you a child is born!”
“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11)
Many of us have heard these words so many times that we fail to recognize how bizarre, how profound, how amazing they truly are.
When the angel says to the shepherds that unto them a child is born, that had to be shocking news. (And not just because it was delivered by an angel in the middle of the night.) Shepherds weren’t celebrities or powerful rulers or the religious elite. And yet, this Savior was born to them. Christ’s arrival was turning all the social norms upside down.
Next, the angel says the child is born this day in Bethlehem. The birth of the Son of God was an actual event in history, on a specific day, in a specific place. It unfolded according to centuries-old prophecy so there would be no doubt Who this baby truly was.
Then the angel delivers the really good news: this baby is a Savior, Christ the Lord, the promised and long-awaited Messiah. But He’s not only divine. He’s human, born of a woman, a baby lying in the animals’ feeding trough.
The shepherds knew the only appropriate response to this bizarre news was to run to the baby Messiah. I pray that no matter what you face this week, you will run to your Savior and Lord in worship and praise.
Merry Christmas, friends. Unto you a child is born!