Episode 313 - Holding Onto Faith in Our Doubts with Laura Wifler
How do we navigate those questions we have in the middle of our struggles? How can we hold onto our faith when doubt seems to want to unravel what we know to be true?
For author and podcaster Laura Wifler, walking through a season of doubt in the middle of life's challenges wasn't something she anticipated. As someone who spent much of her time encouraging other women on her well-known podcast and through her book by the same name, Risen Motherhood, to cling to Jesus in their lives, she never imagined to find herself wrestling with uncertainty in her own faith. And yet through that season and through parenting a child with special needs, Laura found God reveal Himself to her more and more. Learning to cling to her faith when it felt impossible was a lesson that continues to carry her through the lingering questions and challenges she is experiencing. She also found that her vulnerability in sharing where she was in her journey with Jesus gave others permission to do the same.
In this episode, Eric talks with Laura about what the gospel offers in parenting a child with special needs, how to find hope in our pain, and what it looks like to cling to faith in our doubts.
If you or someone you know have found themselves in a season where there seems to be more questions than answers, this conversation is an invitation to ask God what is on your mind and know that there is no question or struggle with doubt that can keep you from His love.
Episode 290 - Beholding God in our Suffering with Strahan Coleman
What do we do when our suffering makes us feel angry at God? How do we continue to hold on to our relationship with the Lord when we are struggling with difficulties and trials in our lives?
For author, musician and spiritual director, Strahan Coleman, his battle with chronic illness left him depleted physically, emotionally, spiritually and financially. And while it felt as though so much was being stripped away in his life, he also began to experience an expansion when it came to his relationship with God. It didn't come easy though, but only through the painstaking honesty and lament in his cries to the Lord for help and healing. Through it, Strahan learned the power of being with God rather than simply working for Him. It was that journey that led him to write, Beholding: Deepening our Experience in God, in which Strahan encourages believers to see prayer as a beautiful invitation of not just seeking, but becoming.
In this deep conversation, Eric sits with Strahan to discuss the role of prayer in our suffering as well as our daily lives, what to do with anger towards God, and what it looks like to behold God in our suffering.
If suffering has ever left you wondering if God even cares, this episode will remind you that the Lord wants you to come to Him with all of your pain and emotions and to learn to simply behold Him in the process.