Now, most people who suffer realize that the Bible contains answers for their plight; they just don't know where to look.

True, God hates Alzheimer's, spinal cord injury, mental illness, autism, and the rest (these conditions are all symptoms of the Fall). Yet he permits these things to accomplish something far more precious in our lives: patience, endurance, compassion for others who hurt, and refined faith and trust in God, to name a few.

My longings are best met when, in prayer, I simply let my heart beat in time with the Lord's.

Even in my despair, I knew in a vague way that the Bible held hope for me in its pages. I just didn't know where to begin.

I wished God were like He used to be, a few notches lower. I wanted Him to be lofty enough to help me but not so uncontrollable. I longed for His warm presence, times when He seemed more… safe.

Faith means being sure of what we hope for now. It means knowing something is real, this moment, all around you, even when you don't see it.

God turns on its head one form of evil - suffering - in order to defeat another form of evil - that is, our transgressions. It happened at the cross, and it occurs in the lives of followers of Christ every day.