12/22/2023
Christian storyteller LaValley (No Fruitless Words) shares her perspective of raw and deep suffering. For her, this came in the form of a miscarriage, followed by another high-risk pregnancy with twin girls that had the potential to end in severe disabilities or the death of one or both. At the same time, she found herself having to process a significant, lingering heartache from her husband's ouster from his church position by new pastoral leadership and the consequent painful rejection by nearly the entire congregation. The upshot, she explains, is her realization that suffering is not a function of God's anger or punishment since Christianity is not a transactional faith; suffering is simply part of the human condition. Handling pain, she asserts, is messy and uncomfortable, but it's neither sinful nor does it place one outside of the embrace of divine compassion. She believes that suffering provides an opportunity for understanding how to be compassionate and present for others in pain. Quoting Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl, she concludes that suffering ceases to be when it finds purpose, meaning, and eventually hope. VERDICT Gentle Christian wisdom that offers a fresh take on the link between suffering, faith, spirituality.—Sandra Collins
