suffering — Warrior of The Presence

Walking Wounded Aug 14, 2023 No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear. I am not afraid, but the sensation is like being afraid. The same fluttering in the stomach, the same restlessness, the yawning. I keep on…

The Friend Closer Than A Brother Jul 29, 2022 It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinions. It is easy in solitude to live after our own. But the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps…

Smashed and Tattered Jul 4, 2022 Blessed – lucky – are those who cry. Blessed are those who are sad, who mourn, who feel the loss of what they love – because they will be held by the One Who loves them.…

Taking The Long View on Sorrow And Pain Jan 5, 2022 It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the…

Finding The Depths of The Riches Jul 19, 2021 No matter how great your pain or how confusing and intense your suffering, live in the mystery of My love. Struggle to trust Me. Do not live with the priority of making your life in this…

A Warrior’s Crisis at Christmas Dec 27, 2020 Hold my faith for me! I cannot grasp it right now!~ An African mother in travail of childbirth, to her attendants. “I have cut off nations;their battlements are in ruins;I have laid waste their streetsso that…

The Freedom in Continued Shattered Dreams Jul 8, 2020 The goal is that God be glorified in us, not that He be useful to us. ~ Larry Crabb And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to Him, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at…

Infant on The Anvil Nov 22, 2019 We are always on the anvil; by trials God is shaping us for higher things.~ Henry Ward Beecher For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for…

Living G_d’s Dream Feb 6, 2019 The Moravian Slaves, a popular story about Christian Missions concerning Johann Leonhard Dober and David Nitschmann, describes how these two young Moravian Brethren from Herrnhut, Germany, were called in 1732 to minister to the African slaves…

Living Like Frank A. (Francis of Assisi) Sep 13, 2018 See, Christianity is not a philosophy primarily. Christianity is a relationship to this Jesus. Which is why the renewal of the Church, though it has an institutional dimension; though it involves practical changes and all of…

Some of My Students Interview Me Jun 4, 2018 TIS SENIORS’ RESEARCH PAPER – Reasons For Faith BY: (JY, DL, KBY) Introduction This research emerged from discussions in our ‘Reasons for Faith’ class and is aimed to research the theme of ‘worldviews’. Methodologically, we approached…

Emptiness of Soul Is The Beginning of Life in The Spirit May 29, 2018 Tell me not, in mournful numbers, “Life is but an empty dream!” For the soul is dead that slumbers, And things are not what they seem. Life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is…

Sorrow Beyond Measure May 14, 2018 It was also like this for St. Jerome when he translated the Bible. Everyone was his master. He alone was entirely incompetent as people, who were not good enough to clean his boots, judged his works.…

G_d in The Wrong And Injustice Apr 28, 2018 And yet it may happen in these most desperate trials of our human existence that beyond any rational explanation, we may feel a nail-scarred Hand clutching ours. We are able, as Etty Hillesun, the Dutch Jewess…

Spent for A Friend Apr 12, 2018 Often people request prayers for deliverance, inner healing, or physical healing. But more frequently they simply want a man or woman to whom they can turn–not because of what this person is able to do but…

Uzziah Days: The Times of Our Coming Undone Jan 18, 2018 It is not true to say that God wants to teach us something in our trials. In every cloud he brings, God wants us to unlearn something. God’s purpose in the cloud is to simplify our…

Little Death Bringing Bigger Lives Dec 14, 2017 This is true joy in life, the being used up for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and…

Our Own Personal 9/11s: It Matters How We Handle Our Pain Jun 30, 2017 In explaining the growth of his faith, psychiatrist Gerald May writes, “I know that God is loving and that God’s loving is trustworthy. I know this directly, through the experience of my life. There have been…

Responding to The Hand We Were Dealt Jan 26, 2017 Life is like a game of cards. The hand you are dealt is determinism; the way you play it is free will. ~Jawaharlal Nehru Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the…

The Weather Outside Is Frightful Dec 27, 2016 The first thing that Jesus promises is suffering: “I tell you… you will be weeping and wailing… and you will be sorrowful.” But he calls these pains birth pains. And so, what seems a hindrance becomes…

Repentance to Strength Dec 22, 2016 Temptations come so that hidden passions may be revealed and so that it will be possible to fight them, and so that the soul may be rid of them. They are also a sign of God’s…

Keeping Our Shadows Behind Us Oct 31, 2016 A continual looking forward to the eternal world is not a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to…

The Joy in Not Getting What We Want Sep 25, 2016 Sometimes He calms the storm. Sometimes He lets the storm to rage, And calms His child.~ Leslie GouldI will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all…

Co-heirs, Co-sufferers, Co-glorified Aug 30, 2016 Co-heirs—co-sufferers—co-glorified with Christ—that is really the word here. We are side by side with Christ. We are sons of God, even as He is the Son of God—not in His eternal Sonship, but in the place…

The Reality of Our Suffering, And The Great Exchange Aug 4, 2016 Therefore, my dear brother, learn Christ and him crucified. Learn to pray to him an, despairing of yourself, say: “Thou, Lord Jesus, art my righteousness, but I am thy sin. Thou hast taken upon thyself what…

Hold On Jul 28, 2016 The only cure for suffering is to face it head on, grasp it round the neck and use it.~Brennan Manning Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High…

Dismal Success Apr 8, 2016 There will be no “knights in shining armor” in God’s kingdom; our armor will have many dings and dents. No, no perfect Hollywood heros will ride to save the day; just wearied saints to look to…

Knocking The Knots Off of The Big Sticks Oct 5, 2015 My identity as Abba’s child is not an abstraction or a tap dance into religiosity. It is the core truth of my existence. Living in the wisdom of accepted tenderness profoundly affects my perception of reality,…

Missing The Feast for A Bite of Porridge Oct 4, 2015 What if the biggest problem in America is not drugs, or pornography, or abortion, or poverty, or low education, or terrorism, or crime? What if the biggest problem in America is simply the lack of goodness?…

Gasping in His Arms Sep 19, 2015 Becoming a little child meant becoming aware that all is gift, that I am helpless and powerless to add a single inch to my spiritual stature. Without the subjective awareness of utter dependence, the personal consciousness…

Knowing Who You Are = Success in Suffering Apr 23, 2015 Flee a thousand leagues from saying, “I was in the right. It was not right for me to suffer this. They had no right to treat me so.” God deliver us from all such rights. And…

Learning to Let Go: The Suffering of The Firstfruits Dec 29, 2014 Receive every inward and outward trouble, every disappointment, pain, uneasiness, temptation, darkness, and desolation, with both thy hands, as a true opportunity and blessed occasion of dying to self, and entering into a fuller fellowship with…

The Difficulty of Compassion Dec 2, 2014 Let us not underestimate how hard it is to be compassionate. Compassion is hard because it requires the inner disposition to go with others to the place where they are weak, vulnerable, lonely, and broken. But…

Behind Grace… The Love of G_d Oct 13, 2014 I have always been filled with the fires of the love of a God not old, and now to this has been joined the passion of the love of a young man. That love, dear earth,…

When History Drops onto Our Shoulders Jul 11, 2014 God of our life, there are days when the burdens we carry chafe our shoulders and weigh us down; when the road seems dreary and endless, the skies grey and threatening; when our lives have no…

The Best of Days Jul 9, 2014 It is one thing to drop off or renounce certain things, and quite another to be engrossed with the right thing. Monks renounce much, but they are not occupied with the glorified Lord Jesus Christ. It…

HyperJoy Sep 7, 2013 True joy is not a thing of moods, not a capricious emotion, tied to fluctuating experiences. It is a state and condition of the soul. It survives through pain and sorrow and, like a subterranean spring,…

Torn to Be Made Whole Feb 14, 2013 It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply.~ A.W. TozerTake a moment beloved… read it. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and…

Total Disregard Feb 14, 2013 The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one’s own or real life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one’s…

Two Million Pedal Strokes A Year Apr 4, 2012 When we have exhausted our store of endurance, when our strength has failed ere the day is half done, when we reach the end of our hoarded resources, our Father’s full giving is only begun. His…

20 Reasons John Piper Doesn’t Take Potshots at Fundamentalists Dec 18, 2011 Would that we all might live like these kind of fundamentalists. 1. They are humble and respectful and courteous and even funny (the ones I’ve met). 2. They believe in truth. 3. They believe that truth…