We talk a lot after loss about giving ourselves permission to grieve. And that’s important! But we don’t talk as much about giving ourselves permission to laugh. To sing. To feel joy, even here. So consider this permission. I’m sharing three practices I’m adopting to welcome joy into my life.

It feels powerfully defiant to look suffering in the face, to stare it down, and say, “You can’t have my voice. You can’t have my praise, my affection, my song. No matter how shaky my voice gets, it won’t ever change its tune." Worship isn't always the easy choice when we're facing suffering, grief, and pain but it is a powerful weapon in this battle we're fighting - and we're never fighting alone!

When we've tried everything - kicking, screaming, resisting, begging, pleading - and the pain still doesn't go away, we're tempted to believe that God is inactive, distant, and aloof. But what if God is more present than ever, waiting out our pain with us, and delivering us through the very trial we're in.

There are some moments in life that feel so final, so unending that hope is hard to find. But it's from the darkest place that Jeremiah declared these words that bring us so much comfort today.

One of the most confusing questions I get asked after our daughter died at birth is, "How can you still believe in God? How can you still believe He's good?" And I always think, "How could I not?" I'm not sure what it gains me to give up on God, but I am sure that He has the words of eternal life. We're committed, we've made up our minds, we're confident in who He is. In this episode, we explore how God's character and track record are more than enough to convince me of his goodness.

When it comes to God’s goodness, our language matters. The words we use build the theology we live in, and we want it to stand the test of life’s shifting circumstances.

When your prayers for healing haven’t been answered, when you’ve waited longer than you should have for a husband or a child, when your marriage ends in divorce or when God simply says no, your prayer life becomes a battleground where it’s hard to continue to fight. How do we continue to offer God our prayers when the answer is never yes? Or when it wasn’t yes when it mattered the most?

Sometimes the loss is so great that we’re left feeling violated and robbed. But even here, our pain can become our greatest offering, an act of true worship and surrender.