Grieving and Hope
This week, grief and suffering have been on my mind a lot. I read Rachel Denhollander's interview with Christianity today and I found myself agreeing with so much of what she said. Although her topic was abuse, I feel the church tends to respond similarly to any issue that involves suffering. I don't mean to generalize because I know the church is made up of people and many of those people are very empathetic and kind, but overall, the feeling I have gotten at church is that suffering and grief are things we should be able to move on from pretty quickly if we have any hope and faith in God--as if grief and suffering are the antithesis to faith and hope. If that is the case I'm in some big trouble. Our small group meets on Sunday mornings and this morning our dear friends were sharing a struggle in their life that consistently brings them pain and discouragement. They are one of the kindest and most prayerful people I know, but this morning they lamented sounding "like...