Suffering: Gospel Hope When Life Doesn't Make Sense Kindle Edition

I'll read anything Paul Tripp writes! This book on suffering came at a great time. Not that I'm a sufferer right now, but it's all around me, and I'd be in deep denial if I thought it wouldn't touch me at some point.As with all of Dr. Tripp's book, this book delves into issues of the heart. The main message of the book is that not only will you at some point in your life experience the pain of suffering itself -- whether it's physical or another sort of suffering -- but you will experience the pain of the truths the suffering uncovers about your heart. Throughout the book, Dr. Tripp comes back to this theme and expounds on different aspects of it.As an example, the book begins with Dr. Tripp himself suffering attacks of pain so brutal he often wished for death. His doctors learn that his kidneys have almost shut down. For the next few years, he's in and out of the hospital, enduring treatments and surgeries and periods of recovery that hamper his previously healthful life. Hobbled by pain and weakness, he had to cut back on his ministries, cancel speaking engagements and rearrange book deadlines while he languished in bed. Through his experience, he learns that in addition to suffering from the kidney disease, he was stunned to realize that in his heart, he had harbored the illusion that his previous state of health was his to command. He had been proud of his productive life, and was quick to attribute it to his own efforts, not as a gift from the hand of God.There's plenty more to learn from this book. Each chapter ends with thoughtful questions that will lead you to discover your heart's "idols," as Dr. Tripp writes about in every book he releases. He brings in examples from his counseling that reveal how people either learn from their pain -- whether through divorce, illness, addiction, infidelity or whatever -- or how they run from it and, in the process, further destroy their lives.I understood Dr. Tripp's point right away, just from his words. But I also felt my first dagger to the heart. While I was reading about his personal experience, I was getting irritated that he didn't say what caused his kidney failure. I like the facts! I tend to disregard a writer who talks in general terms about a specific event. But as I thought about it more, I realized that I wanted to know what caused the kidney failure, because I wanted to be assured that I hadn't made the mistake that Dr. Tripp had. I wanted to be able to pat myself on the back that I could -- through my own effort! -- avoid his fate. I'd done what he did, and dropped 30 pounds and started hitting the gym, and therefore, felt I had a right to gloat about my ability to stave off disease.That was my a-ha moment -- when I realized that Dr. Tripp was a healthy, fit and active person and STILL he was felled by disease. It truly is out of our hands. It doesn't matter what he, or I, did or didn't do. My sinful pride in my perceived ability to avoid diseases that other people got because they were less-committed or less-disciplined had to go out the window! Can I keep myself from getting the diabetes that runs in my family, or the dementia that my mother suffered, or her congestive heart failure? I can try, but ultimately my fate is in the hands of God. And throughout his wonderful new book, Dr. Tripp shows readers (again!) why it's okay to rest in the hands of our loving God.

I have underlined many passages, jumped into scripture, and nodded “yes” a lot during the study of Tripp’s book. Incredible wisdom and humble, Godly advice is here. He packages the following scripture in a helpful way to demonstrate God’s battle for us: Psalm 139, Habakkuk, 1st and 2nd Corinthians. His suffering moved his personal experiences and ministry to a new level of understanding and mystery, than would have been possible in the absence of his health challenges.Suffering gets our attention so we can more clearly hang out with God in this fallen, messed-up world. Interruption is our friend.So many quotes, but my favorite:“Here is the comfort for every sufferer: hope is a person, and his name is Jesus. Life is a person called Emmanuel. God enters your life by grace and by grace makes you the place where he dwells. So he goes wherever you go; he’s there with you in whatever you’re facing, and he lovingly provides you with everything you need. You don’t have to search for him; you don’t have to wonder if or when he will come; you don’t have to earn his presence. His presence with you has been purchased by his own blood. In your suffering he gives you the best of gifts, the gift of himself. To be in him and he in you is infinitely better than having an easy, predictable, trouble-free life. And if hardship has been the tool that forges in you an unbreakable trust of him, then your hardship hasn’t been for naught,” Chapter 14.

Hands down this is by FAR the best book I have read on suffering.Although written from his perspective of personal illness and suffering debilitating pain, I read it from the perspective of child loss/ grief, and hopelessness. And what I love about truth is that it is applicable to everything...so the truths he touches on land exactly where God knows they need to land.I wish I could put into words how deeply the TRUTH he reminds us of, resonate into the depths of my being.

Overall, this work is to be praised for it's honesty as a practical guide on the topic of suffering. It is well balanced using the author's own personal stuggle and stories of those he has counseled over the years to weave a tapestry of practical wisdom, biblical insight, and hope for the sufferer in any difficult season. It also offers much to those who want to help and provide counsel to the suffering. The writing is excellent and the author's ability to connect with the sufferer is unsurpassed. It is a treasure of biblical counseling saturated with gospel truth. This work should be considered among the best of its kind and time on the topic.

PDT is one of my favorite authors. He weaves together personal stories with the truths of the bible. Each of his books tell wonderful stories, yet are ever practical. This book is no different. From the beginning, he lets you know that the most important aspect to how we handle our suffering is not what we are indeed suffering, the pain that afflicts our bodies or the world around us, but instead what is shaping our hearts. The book is a battle cry, reminding us that Jesus will meet us in our suffering. Most importantly, the book reminds us that in our times of suffering our need to seek out the grace of God is at its highest. It is through His pouring of grace into our hearts that God will grow us in unimaginable ways, molding us into better kingdom citizens. I hope that you will travel through the pages of this book, , enjoying each one of them as much as I did, learning about the traps that our set for us in our suffering and the comforts God is able to bring to us.

Outstanding book! Raw, deeply personal yet filled with encouraging hope in the face of hardship and suffering. The author shares his journey with an ongoing life threatening illness, which changed his life forever. It stepped in as an unwanted "guest" who has never left. He explores unhelpful responses and coping methods commonly used, and shares what really works practically.None of the "I'm a man of faith with no fears or concerns" but he is totally honest and transparent on how vulnerable he has felt. Yet he clearly points to the only true help and source of hope, Jesus his Saviour and Lord, who has been with him every step of the way, and has promised to always be with him.If you need hope and encouragement in the face of suffering, this is your book.

I have had 7 years of fairly intense suffering, including death of a loved one, the betrayal of those closest to me, robberies, sickness & general chaos. I have searched for something that would help & this is the first book that has. It deals with the bible verses that I have struggled to understand in the middle of it all & shines the light of Jesus brightly. Take a walk with the wonderful Paul Tripp, who will help you see Jesus more clearly in the darkest of your hours, when your heart is broken beyond repair.

Purchased these as gifts. Well received for those struggling. Especially during the holidays