How do you respond when the reality of your life is so different from your hope? Miller argues that Christians are to be different – it is possible to thrive in the desert, in the tension, pain and mystery, because God is with us. We see the huge chasm between hope and reality, and somehow walk in the middle. Prayer is the key to survival when you are in the desert.
The darkness that threatens to overtake me? The clouds that seem to suffocate? I am getting close to him. Over and over I am told that God is near to the brokenhearted, He saves the crushed in spirit.
I would tell you that God’s story for your life is always bigger than your most painful chapter, or even the one you are in right now. Just because you’ve suffered incredible loss does not mean that your story is over
My interview for BBC Radio 4 on the topic of being ‘in the world, but not of the world’, presented by John McCarthy
I have been interviewed as part of a half-hour program presented by John McCarthy (yes, the John McCarthy who was a journalist in the Lebanon hostage crisis) on being ‘In the world, but not of the world’.
Some tweetable quotes from Nicky Gumbel’s interview with Rick and Kay Warren, on suffering, grief and their son’s suicide. Also Brother Luigi Gioia on prayer.
When we are overwhelmed by the contemplation of our own suffering, when the future looks black, we can know that we have a Saviour who experienced those same feelings. There is no shame in feeling that we just cannot cope. Some things are too big to bear alone.
What do you believe about God and suffering?
I’m answering that exact question today, explaining my ‘theology of suffering’.
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Tanya Marlow blogs on the Bible, suffering and the messy edges of life [read more]