Quotes of Note on Suffering and Comfort

Note: I’ve taken the following quotes of note from God’s Healing for Life’s Losses: How to Find Hope When You’re Hurting. These are my personal favorites that most impact my own life. Feel free to use them in your life and ministry.

“When tragedy strikes, we enter a crisis of faith. We either move toward God or away from God.”

“There is no human experience which cannot be put on the anvil of a lively relationship with God and man, and battered into a meaningful shape.”

“Christianity doesn’t in any way lessen suffering. It enables you to take it, to face it, to work through it, and eventually convert it.”

“God’s Word empowers us not to evade suffering, but to face suffering face-to-face with God.”

“In suffering, God is not getting back at you; He is getting you back to Himself.”

“Shared sorrow is endurable sorrow.”

“No grieving; no healing. Know grieving; know healing.”

“We live in a fallen world and it often falls on us.”

“The world is a mess and it messes with our minds.”

“Spiritual friendship with God results in 20/20 spiritual vision from God.”

“To deny or diminish suffering is to arrogantly refuse to be humbled. It is to reject dependence upon God.”

“Crying out to God empties us so there is more room in us for God.”

“Faith does not demand the removal of suffering; faith desires endurance in suffering.”

“Faith understands that what can’t be cured, can be endured.”

“Comfort experiences the presence of God in the presence of suffering—a presence that empowers me to survive scars and plants the seed of hope that I will yet thrive.”

“In this life, your scar may not go away, but neither will His. He understands. He cares. He’s there.”

“Spiritual emergencies can produce spiritual emergence.”

“Faith looks back to the past recalling God’s mighty works. Hope looks ahead remembering God’s coming reward.”

“In Christ, loss is never final. Christ’s resurrection is the first-fruit of every resurrection.”

“When we wait on God, we cling to God’s rope of hope, even when we can’t see it.”

“Hope waits. Hope is the refusal to demand heaven now.”

“Waiting is refusing to take over while refusing to give up. Waiting refuses self-rescue.”

“In Christ, we move from victims to victors.”

“God is a ‘time God.’ He does not come before time. He does not come after time. He comes at just the right time.”

“Faith is entrusting myself to God’s larger purposes, good plans, and eternal perspective.”

“Faith is seeing life with spiritual eyes instead of eyeballs only.”

“Through faith, I look at suffering, not with rose colored glasses, but with faith eyes, with Cross-eyes, with 20/20 spiritual vision.”

“Instead of our perspective shrinking, suffering is the exact time when we must listen most closely, when we must lean over to hear the whisper of God.”

“True, God shouts to us in our pain, but His answers, as with Elijah, often come to us in whispered still small voices amid the thunders of the world.”

“God’s eternal, heavenly story doesn’t obliterate my earthly, painful story; it gives it meaning.”

“Grace math teaches us that present suffering plus God’s character equals future glory. The equation we use is the Divine perspective.”

“Worship is wanting God more than wanting relief.”

“Worship is finding God even when you don’t find answers.”

“Worship is walking with God in the dark and having Him as the light of your soul.”

“Every problem is an opportunity to know God better, and our primary battle is to know God well.”

“Problems can either shove us far from God or drag us kicking and screaming closer to Him.”

Join the Conversation

Which quotes are your personal favorites? Which ones most impact you? What other quotes bring you comfort and encouragement during times of suffering?

When Life Is Hard: Book Review

Book Details

• Author: James MacDonald

• Publisher: Moody (2010)

• Category: Biblical Counseling, Suffering, Grief, Consolation

• Discerning Reader Review: You can find the Discerning Reader review here.

Reviewed By: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., LCPC, Author of Soul Physicians, Spiritual Friends, Beyond the Suffering, Sacred Friendships, and God’s Healing for Life’s Losses. Find all of Bob’s book reviews, blogs, and free resources at www.rpmministries.org.

Recommended: When Life Is Hard shares a refreshingly candid and challenging message that teaches Christians not only why God allows suffering, but also what God wants us to do with our suffering.

Review: Refined by God

Greg Laurie, in his Foreword to the book, notes that according to the Barna Group the number one question people want to ask God is, “Why is there pain and suffering in the world?” James MacDonald skillfully, relevantly, and biblically tackles this gnawing question in When Life Is Hard.

Equally important, he speaks personally—out of his own spiritual struggle to face suffering face-to-face with God. In his Introduction, Pastor MacDonald shares a litany of personal, family, and ministry tragedies that seem Job-like in proportion. For MacDonald, the Psalmist’s cry became his own, “My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all day long, ‘Where is your God?’” (Psalm 42:3). In response, MacDonald preached a series of six sermons that became When Life Is Hard. Perhaps this personal struggle to grapple with God is the reason why this is the rare book derived from a sermon series that is well worth reading.

Truth for Life

No one reading a book about suffering, even a book reviewer, does so simply as an academic exercise. Knowing this, Dr. MacDonald implants several ways for readers to download God’s truth into the center of their souls:

• Glimpses of Gold: Meditations at the beginning of each chapter upon Job 23:10, “But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.”

• From God’s Heart to Mine: Verses at the end of each chapter to memorize, apply, and take personally.

• Mining for Gold: Each chapter includes a set of personal questions designed to help the reader to implement biblical principles.

• Come Forth as Gold: The final chapter has an unusual format—a series of brief meditations that summarize the sixteen key lessons covered throughout When Life Is Hard.

Pastor MacDonald begins at the beginning—what are trials and why does God allow them? His answer is foundational and scriptural: trials are painful circumstances allowed by God to change my conduct and my character. Exegeting Hebrews 12:5-11, MacDonald demonstrates that trials are God’s parental perfecting love. The Lord disciplines the one He loves. Right from the start, readers learn the lesson that in trials God is not getting back at them, He is getting them back to Himself.

In chapter two, MacDonald wisely encourages his readers to candidly ask the “Why?” question. He also challenges readers to be prepared to accept God’s answer, using James 1:2-8 as his text. That answer is the core of the book—God allows trials to deepen our faith and transform our character. MacDonald personalizes this by asking readers to ask God, “Why has this come into my life now? What do you want to teach me?”

What to Do After the Hug

Throughout chapters three, four, and five, MacDonald urges readers to reject the “self-help Jesus” who “came to build your self-esteem and maximize your human potential by Friday.” Some readers, accustomed to this Western worldview of Christ may be taken aback and may wonder, “Where’s the empathy in When Life Is Hard?” The empathy comes in the personal illustrations of pain and in the obvious passion for people in pain. However, MacDonald doesn’t want to leave people simply with a written hug. He wants to teach people what the Bible says to do after the hug.

Believing that God’s Word is sufficient for all life issues, Pastor James shares a myriad of practical principles drawn directly from Scripture. These are not trite behavioralistic “to do steps.” Instead, they are core heart issues played out in our relationships with God and others. They are other-centered and God-focused applications such as “Grace Your Relationships,” Give Away Your Gifts,” and “Glorify God.”

As only James MacDonald could say it, “some Christians treat God’s desire to get holiness into their lives like He’s giving them cod liver oil.” That captures When Life Is Hard in one picturesque sentence.

God spanks us because He loves us. He loves us too much to allow us to get too comfy. Pain enters. Other hug us—rightfully so. And after the hug we get on with the business of becoming more like Christ. We make a conscious choice to count/consider our trials as joy—the joy of being formed and fashioned into the image of Christ.

Principles to Live By

Don’t miss chapter six. MacDonald arranges sixteen principles from the four passages he has focused on (1 Peter 4, James 1, Hebrews 12, and 2 Corinthians 12). They are worth the proverbial “price of the book.” In one-to-two brief pages, he outlines each principle and then suggests profound, practical, and personal applications. A reader could spend a lifetime in this chapter alone.

Having published about grief (God’s Healing for Life’s Losses) and presenting seminars related to grief and growth in Christ, I wondered if I would learn anything new from When Life Is Hard. How arrogant of me. I was gripped again by the greatness of God’s grace—a grace that does not wink at sin, but rather crucifies sin. When life is hard, cling to the cross of Christ and the Christ of the cross. Enter into the mortification process that our loving heavenly Father ordains so that the salvation won by Christ is applied deeply in our daily lives. That’s the refreshingly candid and challenging message of When Life Is Hard.

Join the Conversation

What books and materials are grief and suffering have you benefitted from?

International Grief Ministry Endorses Book by Noted Counselor Robert Kellemen

WAKE FOREST, NC, July 13 /Christian Newswire

Author Robert W. Kellemen, Ph.D., LCPC, has released the GriefShare edition of his new book for people facing loss and grief.

Christian counselor Dr. Robert W. Kellemen and BMH Publishers have released the GriefShare edition of “God’s Healing for Life’s Losses.” GriefShare, a network of thousands of grief support group ministries worldwide, is excited about the hope-filled, relevant help this book can bring to people experiencing loss and grief.

In 2006 GriefShare selected Kellemen to be a featured expert in its new GriefShare video series. GriefShare grief support groups bring respected Christian counselors, authors and teachers into local churches to help grieving people via weekly videos. Participants receive comforting, foundational teaching from Robert Kellemen, Dr. Erwin Lutzer, Dr. Paul Tripp, Dr. David Powlison, Dr. Edward Welch, Anne Graham Lotz, H. Norman Wright, Dr. Larry Crabb and over 35 others.

With the release of Kellemen’s new book, Steve Grissom, founder and president of Church Initiative, GriefShare’s parent ministry, is optimistic that even more people will benefit from Kellemen’s insights. People who’ve heard Kellemen’s teaching in the past will enjoy even more in-depth, encouraging counsel through “God’s Healing for Life’s Losses.” Readers will find comfort and hope as they discover God’s active role in their healing. They’ll learn how to experience deep healing and lasting peace in a world of suffering and pain. 

The big idea behind Kellemen’s book is that it is possible to grieve with hope without denying the reality of suffering. As such, “God’s Healing for Life’s Losses” gives readers permission to grieve and offers a pathway toward healing.

Grissom explains GriefShare’s decision to endorse Kellemen’s book: “People in grief can be voracious readers, looking for anything to ease the pain. And unfortunately, many popular self-help books are filled with advice that is inconsistent with the Bible, which will ultimately hurt them more. ‘God’s Healing for Life’s Losses’ is a biblically consistent, solid resource that can be read and recommended with assurance.” 

To learn more about GriefShare, visit www.griefshare.org. To purchase “God’s Healing for Life’s Losses,” visit the GriefShare Personal Help Store and look in the Grief Recovery section. Or purchase your copy at Dr. Kellemen’s RPM Ministries Bookstore.

Journeying and Journaling with God

Worshipping: Finding God

Note: At the end of each chapter of God’s Healing for Life’s Losses: How to Find Hope When You’re Hurting, I include two reflection/action sections. One is Your Journey and one is Your Journal. Today, I’m sharing a few sample Worshipping Journey and Journal interactions to help you on your path of grief and growth—of finding God’s healing hope.

Your Worshipping Journey

1. Satan wants to use suffering to cause you to doubt God and to turn to false idols of the heart. In what ways have you faced such temptation? How are you overcoming them?

2. Facing his suffering, Asaph said, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you” (Psalm 73:25). In what ways are you responding to suffering like Asaph?

Your Worshipping Journal

1. How are you finding God even when you don’t find answers?

2. How are you walking with God in the dark and finding Him to be the light of your soul?

3. How are you using your suffering as an opportunity to know God better?

4. Suffering can either shove us far from God or drag us kicking and screaming closer to Him. Which direction do you seem headed?

Join the Conversation

Which of the interactions/questions/reflections most resonate with you?

Journeying and Journaling with God

Weaving: Spiritual Mathematics

Note: At the end of each chapter of God’s Healing for Life’s Losses: How to Find Hope When You’re Hurting, I include two reflection/action sections. One is Your Journey and one is Your Journal. Today, I’m sharing a few sample Weaving Journey and Journal interactions to help you on your path of grief and growth—of finding God’s healing hope.

Your Weaving Journey

1. In weaving, you refuse to give in to despair and you choose to perceive life with grace eyes and grace math. Where would you rate yourself on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being doubting God’s good heart and despairing of hope, and 10 being entrusting your self to God’s larger purposes, good plans, and eternal perspective?

2. How could you look at your suffering not with rose-colored glasses, but with faith eyes, with Cross-eyes, with 20/20 spiritual vision—grace narratives and grace math?

Your Weaving Journal

1. God is all-powerful, holy, good, loving, and in control of everything. What impact do these characteristics of God have on you as you face your loss?

2. How could you apply Genesis 50:19-20 to your life? “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”

3. What might God be up to in your suffering? How could He be weaving good out of the evil you are experiencing?

4. God’s story doesn’t obliterate your painful story, but it gives it meaning. What meaning could you find as you weave God’s story into yours?

Join the Conversation

Which of the interactions/questions/reflections most resonate with you?

Journeying and Journaling with God

Wailing: Pregnant with Hope

Note: At the end of each chapter of God’s Healing for Life’s Losses: How to Find Hope When You’re Hurting, I include two reflection/action sections. One is Your Journey and one is Your Journal. Today, I’m sharing a few sample Wailing Journey and Journal interactions to help you on your path of grief and growth—of finding God’s healing hope.

Your Wailing Journey

1. When are you most tempted to deaden the pain of life? How do you defeat this temptation so you’re able to groan to God?

2. The temptation when life beats us down is to refuse to face life anymore. We barely survive, rather than victoriously thrive. How can you victoriously thrive?

Your Wailing Journal

1. God made you a longing, thirsting, hungering, desiring being. What God-designed thirst is your loss stirring up in your soul?

2. Groaning exposes us for the needy people we are. How hard is it for you to admit your neediness—to yourself, to others, and to God?

3. Read and meditate upon Philippians 1:23-25. Paul says that he longs for heaven, but that he’s passionate about staying on earth in order to glorify God and benefit others. What would it look like in your grieving to apply this passage to your life?

4. God calls you to keep longing for Paradise while still pulling weeds even while you live east of Eden. What weeds is God calling you to pull?

Join the Conversation

Which of the interactions/questions/reflections most resonate with you?