Preface: "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." - Romans 8:18 Four years later, I am still rummaging through Heidi’s personal effects. Trinkets, cards and notes she wrote and received, gifts and other items that hold no substantive … Continue reading Death of a Spouse, Part V: Rising Hope in a Risen Savior
The Sufficiency of God’s Grace in our Everyday Weakness
* * * * 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of … Continue reading The Sufficiency of God’s Grace in our Everyday Weakness
I am in pain and distress
As hard as it is for us to accept, we must arrive, by the Spirit's help, to the belief and conviction that relief from pain and distress is not the most important thing we need. Relief is good but God's salvation is better.
Learning to Forgive
Because Christ is risen from the dead, therefore can forgive.
The Sun Rises
Tomorrow is the end of 2022 and for many of us, this year was marked with many life changes. On the whole are you able to see God’s hand through it all?
How to Deal with Grief at Christmas
The course of grief invariably leads us through seasons, like Christmas and it invariably crosses thresholds of painful memories. But the realization that grief is like a watercourse directed by God which we need not fully grasp or understand will help us move toward accepting the grief when it comes.
This is Not My Home
I need an acquaintance and familiarity with the gospel that quenches the deepest thirst in my soul so as to give up looking for satisfaction on and in things on this side of heaven. I need Christ's comfort. I need stability and direction. I need to remember, albeit however painful, that this is not my home; rather, that Heaven awaits - my true home that will indeed last forever.
Where is God? (Pt 2)
God has the prerogative of silence, but we must also always realize, he has already spoken. He will not speaking anything new. Rather, he will, by his Spirit, use his Word to cause you to hear what is he saying to you in your pain.
A Comfort Received
Introduction: March 28th is the first anniversary of my late wife going to glory. Her name was Heidi. And that is how best to put it that she is in glory. She is not dead but with the Lord. Though we wait for the resurrection of the body (1 Cor 15:42), we know in the … Continue reading A Comfort Received
Transformed by the Power of the Gospel
Transformation by the power of the gospel is a transformation wrought by the work of Spirit of Christ in us as we come to him according to his invitation. Transformation by the power of the gospel bears certain kinds of fruit that enable us to know whether transformation is occurring; whether Christ is supplying our needs according to his promise.
Where is God?
Close yours eyes. Contemplate the essence of your pain. Consider your loss, your suffering, your hardship, your ailment, your difficulty, your struggle, the thing in your life you desperately wish were different…then, as you go to that deep, dark place of silent aloneness, ask the question: God, where are you?