Devotionals about Suffering & Trials
Suffering is not the evidence that God has left — it's often where He does His deepest work. The devotionals on suffering and trials below refuse easy answers and sit with the real pain while pointing to the real hope.
210 devotionals about suffering & trials
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210 devotionals in Suffering & Trials
May 2, 2024
Finding Rest in Christ's Easy Yoke
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."”Matthew 11:28-30 I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to...
sufferingApril 25, 2024
Learning Patience Through Three Years of Fighting
So as I drove to my CT Scan yesterday, I got to thinking a bit about just how long I’ve been on this fight. July will be three years. It’s amazing to watch the world go by, everyone scrambling about dealing with their own issues and lives. While I still have treatments ahead of me indefinitely, i...
gods-planApril 19, 2024
God's Plans Are Here and Now
Just sit tight for a minute, this probably isn’t going where you think it’s going. “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”Jeremiah 29:11 ESVHow many times you heard this when your going through “your season”? P...
patienceMarch 21, 2024
Learning Patience: Waiting on God's Perfect Timing
I have been forced to learn a lot about myself the last few years and one of the things I’ve learned is I need to get better with patience. Not only with life but mostly with people. I always thought I was a relatively patient person until I started trying to really learn what it meant to be pati...
faithMarch 14, 2024
Walk By Faith Not By Sight
So we’ve been talking about gratitude off and on all year and while it’s always a great topic and one we need to continue to be intentional about, I want to shift gears a little bit. Why? Well, because I want to talk about something else, like faith! I’ve been having to lean on my faith a lot lat...
sufferingMarch 6, 2024
Good and Bad Happen to All
I had a great dinner with one of you last night and Job came up…so, one last thing on Job and suffering. Job was a tremendously righteous man and suffered greatly. So do we assume that the more righteous we are the more suffering we are to expect? Not necessarily. The large part of Job’s life fea...
sufferingFebruary 23, 2024
Standing Firm Through Trials and Opposition
I want to stay with Paul in Philippians because I think it’s important to understand how he was using his imprisonments as an advantage to further the message of Christ. “so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righte...
wisdomJanuary 29, 2024
Asking God for Wisdom in Hard Times
Alright, so you are probably asking yourself, after Friday’s message, “how exactly am I supposed to stay rejoicing during these hard times?” Well, I hear you and I get it. James is telling us to rejoice during our times of struggle because this faith produces perseverance. The Bible teaches us th...
peaceJanuary 4, 2024
Finding Peace Through Life's Problems
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."”John 16:33 Do you ever feel like life is one problem after another?You make it through one issue, but before you can recover another one shoots up....
hardshipDecember 20, 2023
Finding God's Purpose in Life's Heavy Burdens
Let keep digging into 2 Corinthians;“For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us...
weaknessDecember 19, 2023
Strong in Weakness: Embracing God's Sufficient Grace
Hope everyone’s week is off to a great start. I want to shift gears this week by discussing probably my most favorite verse in the Bible;“So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass...
resilienceDecember 12, 2023
Learning Contentment and Pressing On Through Hardship
I’m going to wrap up our discussion I stated yesterday with this; how quickly can you or do you bounce back from hardship and loss? Maybe it paralyses you into a depressed state? The key is learning to press on in life regardless of your adverse circumstances.“Not that I am speaking of being in n...
faith-testingNovember 22, 2023
Trusting God's Goodness Through Life's Hardest Moments
We will all face those times in our lives when we question whether or not God is on our side. I am sure I’ve told this story before, but in light of Thanksgiving, I feel like telling it again. In September of 2016, I was seriously injured doing what I love, racing motocross. I broke my jaw requir...
faith-trialsNovember 14, 2023
Step Out of the Boat - Faith Through Life's Storms
So, you ever have a lot of things going on and you’re really having to lean on the Lord to give you patience and strength and deliver you from this storm that won’t seem to subside? I have, and it gets me asking myself how strong is my faith and is it strong enough to survive it? Am I ready to “w...
sufferingNovember 2, 2023
Why Does God Allow Bad Things to Happen?
I see a lot of post and stories in the media (that which I allow myself to see) and people seem, generally speaking, so mad and angry. We protest everything for Pete’s sake. Many times I see them questioning God or if there even is one! Why do we sometimes get frustrated or angry with God? Let’s...
justificationSeptember 25, 2023
Living in Grace: Peace Through Justification
“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that s...
faithSeptember 12, 2023
Faith in the Storm: Beyond Mere Belief
So, I made the comment yesterday that, “Believing is not Faith”. I’m confident of this and I believe that, while related, they are drastically different. Faith is not believing in God’s goodness only when we are out of the storm; faith is believing in God’s goodness right in the middle of it. The...
living-hopeAugust 11, 2023
Born Again to Living Hope
Take this into the weekend with you. Wow, just let this sink in this morning...“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that i...
gods-presenceAugust 3, 2023
God Is Near to the Brokenhearted
So, I’ve been getting pretty deep in my reading the last few days on how I/we should try to get our minds and thoughts in order. I mean, we’re dealing with a lot right now but I know Job had it worse and God is in control, yet my mind still goes down rabbit holes. I know He is still there though....
gods-graceJuly 21, 2023
His Grace is Sufficient
In 2 Corinthians 12:9 God says, “my grace is sufficient for you”. I feel like this is a message for us to the answers we seek. What I mean is we pray for God to remove certain things from our lives and sometimes it feels like He’s not answering. But what if He has already answered us with a hidde...
sufferingJuly 19, 2023
When God's Ways Don't Make Sense
Unless you live on an island alone there’s a good chance you’ll be faced with dealing with other peoples problems. Family, friends, etc. Trying to carry the burden of others and taking care of you own at the same time can be exhausting. I’m sure you’ve been there, we all have. So, I decided to di...
burden-castingJuly 12, 2023
Cast Your Burdens: God's Strength in Life's Struggles
23“Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.”Psalm 55:22 Psalm 55 addresses the struggles that can overwhelm us in this life. It’s everything from the depths of emotion we face in death, loss, and grief, to the everyday disappointments...
spiritual-disciplineJune 27, 2023
Strength Through Weakness: Serving from Gratitude
There are no shortcuts to fully living for Christ. This is a battle. To return to Proverbs, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” Prayer, worship, meditation, Scripture memory, are all part of nurturing the inner life of our hearts.More than anything else, we must r...
sufferingJune 26, 2023
Good People, Hard Times: Understanding God's Goodness
I got to thinking about last weeks talks of “doing good” and how it seems there is this weird idea of God Karma or something some people have. What I mean by that is it seems as though we can fall into the trap of thinking if we do good, God will reward us with good stuff. Conversely, if we don’t...