Last Saturday, April 20, was the 20th anniversary of the shooting at Columbine High School. Like many of us, I vividly remember the shock as the events unfolded

I really appreciated this 20-minute interview about chronic pain with Dave Furman, a church planting pastor/missionary in Dubai and the author of Kiss the Wave: Embracing God in Your Trials. 

Having strong emotions about a situation is understandable, and certainly emotions in and of themselves aren’t bad. I think there’s value in honestly confessing to God our feelings of hurt, resentment, and anger. However, we should direct our emotions (including blame) toward the proper object of our sadness, disappointment, and discouragement.

We pray “bring me closer to you, Lord,” and usually in answer, our loving and sovereign God keeps trials coming our way—even sometimes when we beg Him not to.

In this excerpt from his 2018 book God’s Grace in Your Suffering, David Powlison writes about how God changes our “Why me?” questions in suffering. 

Several friends have recently had their close loved ones die. I appreciate these five points from Vaneetha Rendall Risner, a dear sister who has experienced much suffering, on how to minister to others in need. 

Earlier this year I read through Joni Eareckson Tada’s book When Is It Right to Die?: A Comforting and Surprising Look at Death and Dying, which has been revised and updated to examine the current events, trending issues, and the rising acceptance of assisted suicide in this country. I can't say enough about this book.

Jesus suffered the same trials and temptations we do. God understands our worst losses and heartbreaks, even our temptations: “Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (Hebrews 2:18).

We first got to know our dear friend Tami Yeager when she was a part of our EPM staff. She is a dear sister with a big heart for the Lord and for people. May her words encourage all of us, especially those of us who are experiencing suffering, to “love one another deeply, from the heart” (1 Peter 1:22, NIV).