Outline : Sometimes, hard things happen. Sometimes, they happen to children.
This simple picture book imagines that the hard thing in a child's life is a scribble following him everywhere. The child can't get rid of the scribble, no matter how hard he tries. His story offers reassurance to all readers, young and old, that God will take their own hard things and turn them into something beauti…
Outline : When suffering overwhelms us, it is easy to despair and even doubt God’s goodness. As the clouds of suffering roll in, we can lose sight of everything but our pain. In these moments, when the stars disappear, we must turn to Scripture to find assurance that God can and will carry us through. In this book, Mark Talbot recounts the suffering of some of the Bible’s greatest saints. T…
Outline : Many people wondered during their most painful moments, Why would a good, all-powerful God allow this? The Bible explains how suffering entered the world and why there is so much of it, and declares God's promise to believers that one day it will end. But in their distress, even Christians may have trouble seeing how their personal suffering connects to the storyline of Scripture. In …
Outline: Do Trauma and Abuse have the last word? After forty years of counseling abuse survivors around the world, Dr. Diane Langberg, a world-renowned trauma expert, remains certain that what trauma destroys, Christ can and does restore.
Outline: The question of why God would allow pain and suffering in the world has vexed believers and nonbelievers forever. In Walking with God through Pain and Suffering, Timothy Keller takes on this enduring issue and shows that there is meaning and reason behind pain and suffering, making a forceful and groundbreaking case that this essential part of the human experience can be overcome only …
Outline: Where is God? There are never quick fixes or easy answers when we can't immediately see God's hand - when the struggle is hard and painful - he is working. Weaving together Scripture, personal stories, and the words of classic "How Firm a Foundation," David Powlison brings an experienced counselor's touch to exploring how God enters into our sufferings, helping us see God working in ou…
Outline : "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." MATTHEW 11:28
Christians know what Jesus Christ has done-but who is he? What is his deepest heart for his people, weary and faltering on their journey toward heaven? Jesus said he is "gentle and lowly in heart." This book reflects on these words, opening up a neglected yet central truth about who he is for sin…
Outline : When life becomes difficult-when we face deep disappointment, agonizing loss, or on-going pain-we set out on a search to find answers to significant questions: Why would God allow this to happen? What good could come out of this? What will it look like to trust him? In this collection of insightful essays and excerpts, classic and contemporary theologians and Bible teachers-ranging fr…
If we are honest, we have to admit that there are many things we don’t understand about God. We do not have final answers to the deep problems of life, and those who say they do are probably living in some degree of delusion. There are areas of mystery in our Christian faith that lie beyond the keenest scholarship or even the most profound spiritual exercises. For many people, these problems …
If we are honest, we have to admit that there are many things we don't understand about God, especially in the face of terrible suffering and evil. Chris Wright offers reflections and encouragement from the Scriptures, so that those who are troubled by these tough questions can still sustain their faith.
Walking with God through Pain and Suffering is the definitive Christian book on why bad things happen and how we should respond to them. The question of why there is pain and suffering in the world has confounded every generation; yet there has not been a major book from a Christian perspective exploring why they exist for many years.
The two classics in this area are When Bad Things Happen …
Pastor Dane Ortlund Explores Jesus’s Heart to Reveal His Tender Love for Sinners and Sufferers
Christians know that God loves them, but can easily feel that he is perpetually disappointed and frustrated, maybe even close to giving up on them. As a result, they focus a lot—and rightly so—on what Jesus has done to appease God’s wrath for sin. But how does Jesus Christ actually feel ab…
Outline: Modern theologians have focused on the doctrine of divine impossibility, exploring the significance of God's emotional experience and most especially the question of divine suffering. Professor Rob Lister speaks into the issue, outlining the history of the doctrine in the views of influential figures such as Augustine, Aquinas, and Luther, while carefully examining modernity's growing …
Overview: The author declares a resounding yes! When the gospel is lived out in practice, it is the most powerful force in history, both for individuals and for entire societies. The Christian faith has transformed cultures and civilizations, demonstrating God's goodness, beauty and truth through art and literature, science and medicine, philosophy and social justice. Christians may yet chan…
Telling the dramas of suffering / Arthur W. Frank --
Hoping, willing, and narrative re-envisioning / Cheryl Mattingly --
At the gates of the labyrinth: a meditation on suffering / Paul A. Komesaroff --
Just one critter / Jonathan Shay --
Suffering, pharmaceutical advertising, and the face of mental illness / Joseph E. Davis --
"Meditations on impermanence" / Deborah J. Haynes --
A convers…