Philippians 1:12–13
“Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel… it has become clear… that I am in chains for Christ.”
Such a hard truth.
Hardship gives us two choices:
to turn toward God for help, or to turn away from Him in anger.
Both are painful—
but one leads to hope, and the other leads deeper into despair.
The last three years have felt like wave after wave.
Our daughter was diagnosed with cancer.
Our third daughter broke her nose.
Our first daughter tore her meniscus.
Our second daughter ruptured her CFL ligament and sprained three tendons.
And more recently, our nine-year-old chocolate lab was diagnosed with lymphoma.
The hits keep coming.
Do I get angry? Yes.
Do I ask why our family keeps walking through suffering when I pray day and night for protection? Yes.
In the middle of tears and grief, I reached for a small card from my scripture jar—
a gift from the sweetest high school girls a year ago.
On it was Proverbs 3:5:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”
So simple.
So incredibly hard.
And yet… I do trust Him.
Deep down, I know His mercy has saved my life more than once.
When I look back, even the story of my parents meeting, choosing to stay together, and having my brother and me doesn’t feel like coincidence. It feels held together by God’s hand.
There are moments in my childhood and adulthood where I truly believe God intervened.
One memory stands out:
My childhood best friend and I were alone on the side of a road, far from a campground we were never supposed to leave.
A car screeched to a halt when the driver saw two eleven-year-old girls by themselves.
Something inside me—an urgent inner voice—said, RUN.
We grabbed each other, ran down an embankment, into a river, and hid in the bushes.
The man followed… but he couldn’t find us.
I don’t know what his intentions were.
But I believe with my whole heart that the Holy Spirit was guiding us that day—saving our lives.
Looking back, I see that moment as one small glimpse of a much bigger truth—
a Father who watches closely, cares deeply, and never looks away.
Matthew 6:26 reminds us:
“Look at the birds of the air… your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”
And Matthew 8:27 says:
“What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?”
So in the hard season—
the chapter where we wish we could flip ahead and see the ending—
remember this:
The God who cares for the smallest birds and commands the vast oceans
is still a loving Father.
Your story is not insignificant to Him.
You can trust that He will guide you through the next chapter.
We don’t get to choose only the easy parts of faith.
Trusting His way—especially when it hurts—
is still the strongest foundation we can stand on.
Is there an area of your faith where trust feels especially hard?
I know there is for me.
In those moments, my prayer becomes simple and honest:
God, I am trying to trust You in every detail.
In the middle of pain and suffering, I cannot see the good in this.
Please reveal Yourself to me.
Guide me through every step of this struggle.
Have mercy and compassion on my family.
I ask this in the name of Jesus, Amen.