why do we suffer

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." –Revelation 21:4

This week on the podcast, we are wrapping up our 3-episode Q&A series with Jenny Hill. Living with cerebral palsy, Jenny has shared about how to navigate painful situations and where to find hope in the midst of loneliness. Today, Jenny is completing her Q&A series with a powerful conversation about suffering, healing, and heaven.

“Pain and suffering are probably the most universal experiences we have with other people.” 

Listen as Jenny shares how suffering has deepened her friendship with Jesus and helped her realize she is part of a bigger story. Don’t miss her powerful imagining of what heaven will be like and how living with a disability has helped frame her thoughts on eternity. 

Resources:

• Learn more about Jenny Hill
• Read Jenny's blog post about heaven.
• Hear more about heaven with Randy Alcorn
• Read Heaven: Your Real Home by Joni Eareckson Tada
• Listen to Disability and Belonging
• Listen to How to Transform a Painful Situation: Being Stared At and Falling in Public
• Listen to Loneliness
• Follow Jenny on Facebook and Twitter

Questions or comments? Email Crystal at podcast@joniandfriends.org
Support Joni and Friends to help make this podcast possible.

*Joni and Friends envisions a world where every person with a disability finds hope, dignity, and their place in the body of Christ. Join us in answering the call in Luke 14:21-23... until his house is full! 

Founded by author and international disability advocate Joni Eareckson Tada, the ministry provides Christ-centered care that serves needs and transforms hearts through Joni's House, Wheels for the World, and Retreats and Getaways. Joni and Friends also equips individuals and churches with disability ministry training and provides higher education courses and internships through the Christian Institute on Disability. Find more encouragement through Joni's radio podcast, daily devotional, or by following us on Facebook,  Instagram, and YouTube.

In this episode Mia & Christie discuss suffering, and if it's necessary for us to endure it in our human existence. Because suffering comes with pain or discomfort, we tend to think suffering as a bad thing, but if we are to embrace both the light and dark in ourselves, then suffering can perhaps be explored from a different perspective.

Topics of discussion:

1. What is the role of suffering in our lives? Principle of polarity - two things are really one in the same (light and dark, yin and yang, good and bad) If we don’t go through the darkness, how can we ever appreciate the light?
2. Spirit gives us the freedom of possibility to see what we can become as humans. Because we aspire as humans this can lead us to suffering.
3. Suffering shows us areas in ourselves that requires work, or shines a light on our discomforts.
4. Sometimes our suffering is self inflicted (setting high/unrealistic expectations).

...and more.

We continue to receive several questions on our platform and we greatly appreciate them. Keep those questions and comments about any of the episodes coming our way. We hope this episode will help those who are seeking answers.

Tune in for this week's crystal, intuitive message for the collective and temple work! 

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Abundance of GRATITUDE!
Christie & Mia

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“I don’t understand why all these hard things keep happening, and sometimes I wonder why God doesn’t just fix it. But I have to trust that he is doing something bigger… and one day we’ll see it.”

When Vaneetha Risner’s infant son died due to a doctor’s error, she felt devoid of purpose and feeling. Hadn’t she suffered enough? Multiple childhood hospitalizations due to polio, years of being bullied, the heartache of her husband’s unfaithfulness, and losing three babies to miscarriage—wasn’t there a limit to how much pain one could endure? What happened to the abundant life God promised? And could she survive whatever might come next?

In her new memoir, Walking Through Fire, Vaneetha details her courageous journey toward wholeness amidst a world of brokenness. And to celebrate the release, she hosted a special conversation with friends to talk about their personal experiences with suffering and how God has met them in it. This week on the podcast, Vaneetha is sharing her conversations with Joni Eareckson Tada, Paul David Tripp, Katherine Wolf, and Randy Alcorn, each of whom has walked through fire. 

If you are in the midst of unbearable circumstances today, be encouraged by these conversations. God is with you and he is using your suffering for something bigger than you may be able to see right now. It will not be wasted. When all seems lost, God can truly bring you to a place of abundance.

Resources:

• Read Walking Through Fire
• Hear more of Vaneetha’s story on season one of the podcast: The Scars That Have Shaped Me – Part 1 and The Scars That Have Shaped Me – Part 2

Questions or comments? Email Crystal at podcast@joniandfriends.org
Support Joni and Friends to help make this podcast possible.

*Joni and Friends envisions a world where every person with a disability finds hope, dignity, and their place in the body of Christ. Join us in answering the call in Luke 14:21-23... until his house is full! 

Founded by author and international disability advocate Joni Eareckson Tada, the ministry provides Christ-centered care that serves needs and transforms hearts through Joni's House, Wheels for the World, and Retreats and Getaways. Joni and Friends also equips individuals and churches with disability ministry training and provides higher education courses and internships through the Christian Institute on Disability. Find more encouragement through Joni's radio podcast, daily devotional, or by following us on Facebook,  Instagram, and YouTube.