It’s been said that God won’t give us too much too handle. But there are times when life is altogether too much to handle.

How friends help in suffering and difficulty can make a world of difference.

Maybe you’re the friend or maybe you’re the one going through tough times. Perhaps there’s been a diagnosis making life fragile and the future murky or a financial collaps changing life as you know it forever. Maybe, it’s the unthinkable death of someone you never expected to lose so early and you find yourself wondering whether you’ll ever smile again.

That’s where I found myself seven years ago. Life as I knew it shattered into a thousand irreparable pieces but in that unwanted and unexpected difficulty, friends were one of the lifelines that helped me get through. I can honestly say I would not have navigated that season of suffering like I did without my friends.

Here’s how friends help in suffering and difficulty.

[Read more…]

Grief takes many forms and one that often catches us short is grief for someone who’s still living. We watch them cycle in and out of hard choice after bad circumstance, praying, begging God to rescue and hoping that this time — this time — will cause a change. It’s a joy to welcome Abby McDonald, author of Shift: Changing Our Focus to See the Presence of God, to share how her hope changed when her perspective changed.

The antidote to loss of hope when we grieve someone who’s living. 

*               *               *

I was fresh out of words. With arms folded across my chest, I looked out the bay window as if I might find fresh fire for my prayers. It seemed as though each one fell flat or hit some invisible wall, not reaching the place I needed it to.

For years, I didn’t realize you could grieve a living person. In my mind, grief was reserved for those who left this life for the next or perhaps those fighting a terminal illness. But someone still alive? I didn’t see it.

[Read more…]