Download or read book Suffering written by Paul David Tripp and published by Crossway. This book was released on 2018-09-20 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sometimes life just hurts. Out of nowhere, death, illness, unemployment, or a difficult relationship can change our lives and challenge everything we thought we knew—leaving us feeling unable to cope. But, in the midst if all this pain and confusion, we are not alone. Weaving together his personal story, pastoral ministry experience, and biblical insights, best-selling author Paul David Tripp helps us trust God in the midst of suffering. He identifies traps to avoid in our suffering and points us instead to comforts to embrace. This raw yet hope-filled book will help you cling to God's promises when trials come and move forward with the hope of the gospel.

Download or read book The Power of Suffering written by John MacArthur, Jr. and published by David C Cook. This book was released on 2011-10-01 with total page 165 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In today’s modern world of convenience and comfort, suffering can seem senseless. This idea has even crept into the church, where many believe that if we make the right choices and do the right things, pain can be avoided. So it’s little wonder that when do encounter tough situations, we face even tougher questions: Why does God allow suffering? Where is God when I’m hurting? The Power of Suffering takes an in-depth, honest look at the reality of pain and hurt in the life of a believer. Filled with rich Biblical truths and fresh insights, this study explores how God ultimately uses suffering for good in the lives of His children, and offers encouragement and hope for the heavy heart. Includes a guide for both personal and group study and features discovery questions, suggestions for prayer, and activities, all designed to connect life-changing truths with everyday living.

Download or read book The Transforming God written by Tyron Inbody and published by Westminster John Knox Press. This book was released on 1997-01-01 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a bold new approach to the theological interpretation of human suffering. Beginning with a description of suffering and evil as religious problems, Inbody moves to a critique of the all-loving and omnipotent deity in classical theism, concluding with a radical interpretation of the Christian God as a vulnerable, transforming God.

Download or read book The Transforming Power of Suffering written by Peter Denbo Haskins and published by Theosis Books. This book was released on 2011-05-15 with total page 179 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work of love is an examination of a God-centered view of life through the eyes of a modern-day mystic by the name of Dr. Charles Bozidar Ashanin. His is a story of the evolutionary effect which suffering can have on the human psyche when it is a suffering which is accepted as an opportunity for spiritual awakening. Like the saints of the Early Church before him, Dr. Ashanin demonstrated with his life how transformative and powerful suffering can be when it is received as a part of one's relationship with God and therefore with one's relationship with the universe.

Download or read book Like Gold Through Fire written by Massimilla Harris and published by Fisher King Press. This book was released on 2009-05-20 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A Herculean work . . . whose purpose is to help us fathom the depth of this mystery in our own hearts. The Harrises, in this marvelous book, help us begin this holy work." -Robert Sardello, Ph.D., Author of Love and the Soul: Creating a Future for Earth "A book to heal so many wounds of misunderstood suffering. Suffering not as blame, punishment, or mysteriously meaningful, but as the painful transformation into our innermost truth." -Dick Evers, Ph.D. Jungian analyst, Zurich, Switzerland. Like Gold Through Fire explores the transforming power of suffering, how it can change us and open our hearts to compassion and joy, and in turn provide for a more rewarding life filled with a wider range of experiences. Like Gold Through Fire helps us to find meaning and to function in a society filled with suffering how to participate in the transformation, as opposed to being a victim of our rapidly changing world.

Download or read book On the Christian Meaning of Human Suffering written by Pope John Paul II and published by . This book was released on 2014-01-01 with total page 107 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Published on February 11, 1984, Salvifici Doloris addresses the question of why God allows suffering. This 30th anniversary edition includes the complete text of the letter plus commentary by Myles N. Sheehan, SJ, MD, a priest and physician trained in geriatrics with an expertise in palliative care. Acknowledgments of recent episodes of violence bring the papal document into a modern context. Insightful questions suited for individual or group use, applicable prayers, and ideas for meaningful action invite readers to personally respond to the mystery of suffering.

Download or read book More Beautiful Than Before written by Steve Leder and published by Hay House, Inc. This book was released on 2017-11-07 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Every one of us sooner or later walks through hell. The hell of being hurt, the hell of hurting another. The hell of cancer, the hell of a reluctant, thunking shovel full of earth upon the casket of someone we deeply loved, the hell of betrayal, the hell of betraying, the hell of divorce, the hell of a kid in trouble . . . the hell of knowing that this year, like any year, may be our last. We all walk through hell. The point is not to come out empty-handed. . . . There is real and profound power in the suffering we endure if we transform that suffering into a more authentic, meaningful life. In the spirit of such classics as When Bad Things Happen to Good People, A Grief Observed, and When Things Fall Apart, More Beautiful Than Before: How Suffering Transforms Us examines the many ways we can transform physical, psychological, or emotional pain into a more beautiful and meaningful life. As the leader of Wilshire Boulevard Temple, one of America’s largest and most important congregations, located in the heart of Los Angeles, Rabbi Leder has witnessed a lot of pain: "It’s my phone that rings when people’s bodies or lives fall apart," he writes. "The couch in my office is often drenched with tears." After 27 years of listening, comforting, and holding so many who suffered, he thought he understood pain and its challenges—but when it struck hard in his own life and brought him to his knees, a new understanding unfolded before him as he felt pain’s profound effects on his body, spirit, and soul. In this elegantly concise, beautifully written, and deeply inspiring book, Rabbi Leder guides us through pain’s stages of surviving, healing, and growing to help us all find meaning in our suffering. Drawing on his experience as a spiritual leader, the wisdom of ancient traditions, modern science, and stories from his own life and others’, he shows us that when we must endure, we can, and that there is a path for each of us that leads from pain to wisdom. "Pain cracks us open," he writes. "It breaks us. But in the breaking, there is a new kind of wholeness." This powerful book will inspire in us all a life worthy of our suffering; a life gentler, wiser, and more beautiful than before.

Download or read book The Virtual Body of Christ in a Suffering World written by Deanna A. Thompson and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 2016-11-01 with total page 131 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We live in a wired world where 24/7 digital connectivity is increasingly the norm. Christian megachurch communities often embrace this reality wholeheartedly while more traditional churches often seem hesitant and overwhelmed by the need for an interactive website, a Facebook page and a twitter feed. This book accepts digital connectivity as our reality, but presents a vision of how faith communities can utilize technology to better be the body of Christ to those who are hurting while also helping followers of Christ think critically about the limits of our digital attachments. This book begins with a conversion story of a non-cell phone owning, non-Facebook using religion professor judgmental of the ability of digital tools to enhance relationships. A stage IV cancer diagnosis later, in the midst of being held up by virtual communities of support, a conversion occurs: this religion professor benefits in embodied ways from virtual sources and wants to convert others to the reality that the body of Christ can and does exist virtually and makes embodied difference in the lives of those who are hurting. The book neither uncritically embraces nor rejects the constant digital connectivity present in our lives. Rather it calls on the church to a) recognize ways in which digital social networks already enact the virtual body of Christ; b) tap into and expand how Christ is being experienced virtually; c) embrace thoughtfully the material effects of our new augmented reality, and c) influence utilization of technology that minimizes distraction and maximizes attentiveness toward God and the world God loves.

Download or read book The Power of Unearned Suffering written by Mika Edmondson and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2016-12-09 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the roots and relevance of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s approach to black suffering. King’s conviction that “unearned suffering is redemptive” reflects a nearly 250-year-old tradition in the black church going back to the earliest Negro spirituals. From the bellies of slave ships, the foot of the lynching tree, and the back of segregated buses, black Christians have always maintained the hope that God could “make a way out of no way” and somehow bring good from the evils inflicted on them. As a product of the black church tradition, King inherited this widespread belief, developed it using Protestant liberal concepts, and deployed it throughout the Civil Rights Movement of the 50’s and 60’s as a central pillar of the whole non-violent movement. Recently, critics have maintained that King’s doctrine of redemptive suffering creates a martyr mentality which makes victims passive in the face of their suffering; this book argues against that critique. King’s concept offers real answers to important challenges, and it offers practical hope and guidance for how beleaguered black citizens can faithfully engage their suffering today.

Download or read book Walking Through Fire written by Vaneetha Rendall Risner and published by Thomas Nelson. This book was released on 2021-01-19 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The astonishing, Job-like story of how an existence filled with loss, suffering, questioning, and anger became a life filled with shocking and incomprehensible peace and joy. Vaneetha Risner contracted polio as an infant, was misdiagnosed, and lived with widespread paralysis. She lived in and out of the hospital for ten years and, after each stay, would return to a life filled with bullying. When she became a Christian, though, she thought things would get easier, and they did: carefree college days, a dream job in Boston, and an MBA from Stanford where she met and married a classmate. But life unraveled. Again. She had four miscarriages. Her son died because of a doctor's mistake. And Vaneetha was diagnosed with post-polio syndrome, meaning she would likely become a quadriplegic. And then her husband betrayed her and moved out, leaving her to raise two adolescent daughters alone. This was not the abundant life she thought God had promised her. But, as Vaneetha discovered, everything she experienced was designed to draw her closer to Christ as she discovered "that intimacy with God in suffering can be breathtakingly beautiful."

Download or read book No Mud No Lotus written by Thich Nhat Hanh and published by Parallax Press. This book was released on 2014-12-02 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The secret to happiness is to acknowledge and transform suffering, not to run away from it. Here, Thich Nhat Hanh offers practices and inspiration transforming suffering and finding true joy. Thich Nhat Hanh acknowledges that because suffering can feel so bad, we try to run away from it or cover it up by consuming. We find something to eat or turn on the television. But unless we’re able to face our suffering, we can’t be present and available to life, and happiness will continue to elude us. Nhat Hanh shares how the practices of stopping, mindful breathing, and deep concentration can generate the energy of mindfulness within our daily lives. With that energy, we can embrace pain and calm it down, instantly bringing a measure of freedom and a clearer mind. No Mud, No Lotus introduces ways to be in touch with suffering without being overwhelmed by it. "When we know how to suffer," Nhat Hanh says, "we suffer much, much less." With his signature clarity and sense of joy, Thich Nhat Hanh helps us recognize the wonders inside us and around us that we tend to take for granted and teaches us the art of happiness.

Download or read book The Light Shines on in the Darkness written by Fr. Robert J. Spitzer, S.J., Ph.D and published by Ignatius Press. This book was released on 2017-04-10 with total page 546 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why would an all-loving God allow suffering? Aren't suffering and love opposed to one another? Does suffering have any benefit for this life? Does it have any benefit for eternal life? Is there any objective evidence for God – for a soul that will survive bodily death – for the resurrection of Jesus? If there is testable, objective evidence for a resurrection, what is this resurrection like? Who is God anyway – benevolent and loving or angry and retributive? Father Spitzer gives a comprehensive explanation of contemporary evidence for God, the soul, and the resurrection, and helps us understand how God uses suffering to lead us to the resurrection, and to compassion for others. He also shows how the Holy Spirit guides us through times of suffering toward our salvation – and other's salvation, explaining the signs and interior movements that reveal the Spirit's actions. But even armed with this eternal perspective, serious questions remain. If God has power over nature, why doesn't He just perform a lot more miracles when we pray for them so that we won't have to suffer? Why did God make the natural world imperfect in the first place? Wouldn't it have been better to create us in a world without suffering – without challenge, need, and self-sacrifice? Father Spitzer not only addresses the perplexing questions associated with suffering but he teaches us how to suffer well. He points out some of the most common errors we make in interpreting God's motives for and alleviation of suffering. He explains why suffering – in combination with love – is one of the most powerful motivating agents for personal, cultural, and societal development. Suffering and love are inextricably bound up with one another on the highest levels of human meaning.

Download or read book Transformative Power of Suffering written by Cristina F. Utti and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Suffering and the Sovereignty of God written by John Piper and published by Crossway. This book was released on 2006-09-13 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the last few years, 9/11, a tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, and many other tragedies have shown us that the vision of God in today's churches in relation to evil and suffering is often frivolous. Against the overwhelming weight and seriousness of the Bible, many Christians are choosing to become more shallow, more entertainment-oriented, and therefore irrelevant in the face of massive suffering. In Suffering and the Sovereignty of God, contributors John Piper, Joni Eareckson Tada, Steve Saint, Carl Ellis, David Powlison, Dustin Shramek, and Mark Talbot explore the many categories of God's sovereignty as evidenced in his Word. They urge readers to look to Christ, even in suffering, to find the greatest confidence, deepest comfort, and sweetest fellowship they have ever known.

Download or read book How to Make Sense of Suffering written by Marguerite Duportal and published by Sophia Institute Press. This book was released on 2006-09 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Learn to bear your troubles well, and how to avoid the mistakes that make your spiritual burdens heavier.

Download or read book The Fellowship of the Suffering written by Paul Borthwick and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2018-05-15 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Missionary Paul Borthwick and pastor Dave Ripper show how transformation through our personal pain enables us to minister faithfully to a hurting world. They candidly share about their own struggles and how they have seen God's kingdom advance through hardship and suffering. We can become powerful witnesses to Christ as a result of our brokenness.

Download or read book Suffering written by Paul David Tripp and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Best-selling author Paul David Tripp weaves together his personal story, years of counseling experience, and biblical insights to help us in the midst of suffering, identifying 6 traps to avoid and 6 comforts to embrace.