This week on Better Together, Priscilla Shirer, Victoria Osteen, Chrystal Evans Hurst, Elaine Fisher and Laurie Crouch discuss how God will always redeem your suffering. You will go through difficult seasons in life, but God will ALWAYS carry you through. This video was brought to you by TBN Networks®. SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/c/TBN/feature… For nearly 50 years the mission of the Trinity Broadcasting Network has remained unchanged: To use every available means to reach as many individuals and families as possible with the life-changing Gospel of Jesus Christ. Launched in 1973 by Christian television pioneers Paul and Jan Crouch, TBN began as one low-power television station broadcasting a few hours of Christian programming each day to viewers throughout the Los Angeles area. In the years since, TBN has grown into a family of over thirty twenty-four hour global networks reaching every inhabited continent with entertaining, inspirational, and life-changing programming for every family member and demographic. TBN began as a dream to “build a Christian television network that spans the whole world.” Today that dream is reality…and still expanding! #tbn #priscillashirer #bettertogether 00:00 Intro 00:51 Jesus Faced Suffering 07:18 The Ministry of Community 16:58 We Process Things Differently 29:08 Prayer of Hope
it’s important for me and then as even
as I talk to my sons about what it means
to to walk with the Lord and be a
believer and be a Christian it doesn’t
mean ease it means that when there is
pain and suffering God can still be
glorified through your life and that he
is fully able to turn the situation
around but since life is going to come
with difficulty and it is you don’t have
to go looking for the storms of life you
just keep living and the storms somehow
find you so since that’s going to happen
then we at least need to be mindful of
praying okay Lord why have you allowed
me to be in this pocket and would you be
glorified through the way I respond the
decisions I make the way I treat others
while I’m in it let me glorify you while
I’m here
[Music]
I have never looked at the picture of
Jesus in The Garden of Gethsemane
praying to the point of sweating blood
the same after having a conversation
with a friend of mine we were talking
about
um
suffering and things just being hard and
horrible I’ve had that conversation with
numerous friends over time because you
know life just has Ebbs and flows but at
this current conversation it was in the
middle of 2020 and
um I was talking to her about our mom’s
passing and just you know just trying to
reconcile some things that when somebody
passes away and they they’re not ready
you’re not ready and what does that look
like where is God and all that and she
said to me
the only thing that helps me the thing
that helps me most and she’s cancer
survivor multiple times over she said
is that Jesus didn’t want to do it
he he didn’t it’s not just that he can
understand our suffering it’s not just
that he walked on the earth and
experienced so many of the things that
we experience
but he didn’t do this from this place of
um I’m God so it’s easier for me and he
didn’t just choose death he chose the
path of suffering to death that was the
part of his journey and he wrestled with
it
so giving me permission to wrestle with
it giving me permission to move forward
the process and the path of
um difficult times in my life and know
that sometimes a part of the process and
path
that leads to Resurrection that leads to
the Joy set before us is suffering and
that suffering is a part of life we
don’t want but it is also part of life
number one that Jesus knows too and then
also that for for us that it’s a part of
the process you know and so I think that
while there are so many things that God
can save us from and he does save us
from because we live in a lost and
Fallen World there are going to be hard
times that come things that are
difficult sometimes they’re physical
sometimes they’re emotional sometimes
they’re mental sometimes it’s a
spiritual wrestling with God when we
prayed for something and he didn’t give
us what we wanted and sometimes it’s on
the Rock it’s on the stone and
Gethsemane Sweat and Tears of Blood
coming down your face and out of your
forehead because it’s that painful
but what it says in Luke chapter 22
verse 44 and being in agony he was
praying very fervently and his sweat
became like drops of blood falling down
upon the ground and then right after
that in verse 45 when he rose from
prayer
he came to the disciples and found them
sleeping and said why are you sleeping
get up and pray
so he’s having this hard prayer and then
what does he do he gets up in the midst
of his suffering goes to his disciples
and says get up like we still have work
to do we still have to move forward and
so when I think about what I am learning
and have learned through suffering
because I just want it to stop you know
what I mean you just do you ever feel
like when there are seasons of suffering
it’s like it’s like you know it’s like
high tide it’s the it’s the role of
waves that are higher and all the high
ones come at the same time you know and
you just are like Make It Stop
um and then I have to remind myself
um you know God is good and he can do
good things and create great things in
my life and answer prayer but when the
seasons of suffering roll in like the
waves do on a high tide day what do I
look at Jesus and say well he just got
up
and he kept going and sometimes for me I
know that the next step is the only
thing I can do
because to try to look to the end of the
road is too hard to try to think about
where the road could end is too
overwhelming
to try to think about my frustration
even of why is God taking so long
but for me looking at Jesus example the
lesson that I learned is that he got up
and he kept going
you know I think I do think that we
handle we process things and we handle
things differently you know and I and I
and I have a way to and I think it was
the way I was raised like you know when
my kids would fall down scrape their
knee I’m like you’re okay you’re okay
come on come on come on come on you’re
okay you’re okay you know and and I
think it may be the generation that my
mother was raised in and I was raised in
that it’s like okay just don’t worry
about that we can’t look at that we
can’t think of that we can’t we can’t
take time to process that you know we’ve
got to move forward we’ve just got to
move forward and sometimes I think it
results in stuffing things down you know
and and maybe that has you know uh
detrimental effects
and I think the way I process thing is
is I try to ignore certain things you
know and I like of course I process it
through prayer and talking to God and I
think but you know it’s how we it’s how
we find ourselves doing different things
different situations you know like if
you’re talking about your mother’s death
you know you probably I don’t know if
you even processed it the same way nope
if you found yourself doing it
differently but I mean you can’t you
can’t get any more suffering than death
and loss like that you know that’s just
a that tears your soul you know that’s a
tearing away literally yeah and so I
think I think that we shouldn’t be
ashamed that we process it differently
or feel like well this one did it better
than I did or you know so I think
sometimes I just think about people
listening and and they’re thinking well
how should I process suffering you know
I mean I think the first thing we need
to do is run to the father that’s right
because he’s the only one that can help
us and to be truthful with him honest
and honest and open and
um you know a day that you could hear in
his in in in his writings you know he
was open he was honest with God but it
was as he began to talk he began to
shift yeah that’s right his perspective
that’s right and it was it was only by
the power of the Holy Spirit it was only
by God you know shifting that for him
and helping him see things in a
different way and Enlighten him in a
different way but I think that I can
just hear some people say well how am I
supposed to and I think you have to do
it by going to God and in your own
personal way that’s right that’s right
and and also the ministry of community
people who have suffered as you are
suffering I think that’s at least one of
the benefits that come out of tough
times in our individual lives is that we
come out of that tunnel to the other
side that we never thought we’d make it
through and then the Lord gives us
opportunity to comfort those with the
comfort that we have been given and to
give them that same hope that listen I
just went through this time someone made
it out let me tell you and let me show
you how the Holy Spirit helped me how
prayer Works how you know Community
during my time of suffering was so
important people encouraging me now let
me offer that same encouragement to you
um Victoria you know your your husband
did that for me he called me
while Mom was sick and I mean that man
encouraged me and just said you know we
we walk through real difficult times as
well so let me remind you of some of the
things that it’s so easy either to
forget or to just have so dulled and
pushed down underneath all of the the
Urgent sort of things that are that
you’re facing in the middle of a crisis
it can be so dulled that you just need
someone to come alongside of you and say
let me remind you of who Jesus is that
he still is who he says he is that he is
still able and fully capable of covering
you and your family to have people’s
voices in your ear who can remind you of
that and can also give you perspective
from their own seasons of suffering
it buoys you up and keeps you going to
the next 24 hours like nothing else like
nothing else yeah you know I I always
think
going through suffering and hardships
and people dying that you’ve believed
God for yeah I mean we’ve we’ve all put
our faith on the line for so many things
and just God please you know please let
this happen and and to think that Jesus
got the fathers no as well you know he
he got he got God’s no
and so I think praying that gethsemane’s
prayer it’s it’s God I know you can I
know you can deliver me I know you can
do this I know you’re the great
physician I know you you know you are
the the father to the fatherless and the
husband to the husbandless and all the
things that you are you’re the great
physician
and I know you can do it
but if you don’t thy kingdom come thy
will be done and Jesus had to do that
please let this cup pass from me we can
we can say who God is and then we can
pray God please don’t make me do this
don’t let don’t let me and my children
have to walk this road
but then
it’s but not my will but thine be done
yeah you know and and knowing the
faithfulness and the love of God
and the comfort of the Holy Spirit to
take us and the grace and the mercy of
God to bring us out of those times to to
to to strengthen us I mean think about
some of the hardest things you’ve gone
through it makes you who you are today
gives you something gives you absolutely
the tenacity I mean if it’s given me
nothing but tenacity to believe God even
harder the next time
whether it happened or not it
it does something on the inside of us to
strengthen our faith I believe if you
don’t let go if you don’t stop if you
don’t give up and you know and don’t you
think that we have to re retrain our own
thinking and make sure we do this with
the children or the other people that
we’re discipling and pouring into as
Christians
we can tend to think or pretend that a
good life is mutually exclusive of pain
a painful life that those two things
can’t exist that we’re striving for ease
and happiness and we’re looking for that
and I know people that’s that’s kind of
a a western kind of perspective on on
being a believer that ease is what we’re
after that happiness is what we’re after
there are some people Christians in
other parts of the world
um I remember someone saying to me that
that lives in other part of the world
that when there is suffering happening
amongst them that their first prayer is
not deliverance from that suffering they
pray that too but that’s not the first
prayer the first prayer is Lord help me
to glorify you in this suffering yeah
while I’m here since I’m here can your
name be made great somehow through the
suffering now Lord yes heal and deliver
and free and we know you can do all that
but why while you’re going to leave us
here in this moment for whatever time
frame it is a week or a month or
whatever Lord would your name be made
great while we’re here and I just
thought it’s important for me and then
as even as I talk to my sons about what
it means to to walk with the Lord and be
a believer and be a Christian it doesn’t
mean ease it means that when there is
pain and suffering God can still be
glorified through your life and that he
is fully able to turn the situation
around but since life is going to come
with difficulty and it is you don’t have
to go looking for the storms of life you
just keep living and the storms somehow
find you so since that’s going to happen
then we at least need to be mindful of
praying okay Lord why have you allowed
me to be in this pocket yeah and would
you be glorified through the way I
respond the decisions I make the way I
treat other others while I’m in it let
me glorify you while I’m here
I think there’s a gift of presence too
in the midst of suffering totally like
I’m sure if we asked you could say
somehow God was there throughout these
moments and you know I just talked to a
woman who lost her husband
um suddenly during the last couple of
months actually and she said you know it
was weird because I was sitting in the
moment I kept going God I’m okay and it
was like she was shocked that she was
okay she thought it would destroy her
and she said but it was so sweet of the
Lord because he had sustained me and
almost prepared me for it and she was
like of course you are devastated and
you’re grieving but it was like she kept
going I was just standing in shock like
God I’m okay like you’re here with me
I’m in this moment you actually prepared
me for this your presence was with me
and and I think for us that’s one thing
that he never left us he never forsaked
us he’s never like oh you’re in
suffering I’ll pick you up on the other
side of the tunnel you know like it’s
I’m with you through that and it’s the
one thing that I believe we can do I
don’t always know what to say to you in
your moment of suffering or grief but I
know that I can show up I can bring a
meal and I can sit in the moment with
you and I can be in your suffering with
you and not have the perfect answer not
have the answer to the problem that
you’re facing but I can have the gift of
presence to go and remind you like
Pastor Joel did of like hey God’s with
you and he will cover you in this grace
is sufficient in this moment and all
those these moments feel a little extra
positive in such a painful moment my
gift of presence can be here to remind
you there’s people that will be with you
through this and I think that’s what I
have found sweet of the Lord of like in
those moments like I had the same thing
in my hardest season I remember Lord
just said keep showing up and I was like
you don’t understand what you just said
to me that’s rude and but it is it’s
like you just every day you get stronger
every day and I know time doesn’t heal
and I’m not trying to say that but there
is a process and learning to lament
learning to process your grief learning
to go to the father and David did it so
excellently we’re here would say God I
acknowledge your God but I also need to
acknowledge my pain and here’s what I’m
asking but whether you do it or not
here’s my prayer of Thanksgiving because
you are still worthy of it despite what
happens and I think we don’t teach that
we don’t teach the process of lament and
grief to allow people to so they they
shove it down or they go to you know the
whole trend of we’re self-caring it’s a
great Trend go get therapy it’s an
amazing gift and it’s freeing and it’s a
good thing and we need to do it and we
need to be okay with sitting in our pain
but not living there and not making it
our identity because our identity is not
what has been done it’s who he has what
he will do with it and I think that’s
the part where I’ve had to process okay
God you’re faithful through it all and
I’ll just continue to show up I’ll
continue to press in I’ll learn to
lament like David did in his Psalms and
Psalms are great prayers to pray in
these moments because he says it so
eloquently and I don’t in my prayers so
I read his and so it’s just ways that we
can process it all and be there for
others around us yeah yeah I love this
idea of presence too because it takes
the pressure off of me
as a friend someone who wants to be a
good friend to someone else
um you know and as someone who wants to
do something to be helpful and sometimes
I think we
we make it worse when we try to make
ourselves do something just because
we’re looking for something to do when
really we can’t fix it what we can do is
be present
we don’t have to say the right thing we
don’t have to do the magical thing if
it’s in our hand or heart to do then
great
but especially if it’s someone that you
that you know well just being there
super important showing up
um them knowing that that I cared enough
or whoever cared enough to be present
and then this idea of processing that
you know as you were saying Victoria
that we
we are designed differently so how we
process
is different you know some of us want to
write some of us want to holler and cry
and I mean everybody who wants to holler
and cry I think we both do a little bit
of both of those things actually I
definitely holler and cry yeah but there
have been people on the road they’re
looking in the car and they’re probably
like is she okay listen the car is safe
nobody can hear me please nobody that I
care about and seeing me do it I hope
not but I mean there have been times I I
just remember one time pulling out of
the Target parking lot and heading up
the service road and there was this long
line of cars to get through this light
and I was anxious and frustrated and I
don’t even remember what about I just
remember the build up of not getting
what I needed at Target being stuck at a
light and already being upset about
something else I mean I literally was
banging my steering wheel yeah and just
and I just was yelling at God and I was
like you’ve got to be kidding me yeah I
mean it was really I was saying you’ve
got to be kidding me about the traffic
light
and that’s the thing when you are not
intentional about acknowledging where
you hurt that’s what all happened yeah
right it’ll it’ll build up and it can do
bad things to your body yeah uh because
we are beings where our physiological
self connects with our spiritual self
right or you explode and pain that is
unaddressed can come out in so many
different ways
um it can come out and you know sadness
can
um anger process as anger and you’re
angry nobody knows why you’re angry but
really what it is is you’re sad about
something that you haven’t addressed
um so you know one of the things that I
look at to know when there is something
that I need to process and you know
suffering being a part of that is
um is looking at where things are
overflowing and coming out
that that you know why am I yelling and
banging my my
um steering wheel at a light it’s not
about the light you know you and
sometimes the people that are in your
life have a window and we get irritated
because they’ll say what’s what’s wrong
with you nothing’s wrong with me what’s
wrong with you you know you know but
sometimes the people that love us or
that are around us both can pick up on
things that we are so busy
pushing past
um and so that’s a signal of you know
when do I need to stop and deal with it
when I need to go to therapy when do I
need to talk to a friend I mean we have
one moment where she remembers I called
her it was in the middle of snowmageddon
last year and it was an explosion it was
an explosion you know Texas we don’t do
winter storms well no we don’t and uh we
had a bad one and pipes are bursting and
all these things that are happening and
I literally went into my room into my
closet into the back corner and I called
Priscilla and I mean I just hollered for
a second you said you were worried about
me for a minute I need to come get you
back yeah yeah but I mean it had just
been a series of things and now
everybody’s gonna be like oh she yells
when she gets upset but
we have to give ourselves the freedom to
just be present yeah if that’s all we
have to give right and then we have to
give ourselves the freedom to process
however and whenever that time comes but
just to accept that sometimes with
suffering there’s nothing to do but go
through it right we cannot live and not
have any suffering any painful times any
Seasons that we wouldn’t prefer you’re
going to right
um it’s guaranteed just by virtue that
we’re alive and man I can remember there
were three women that were each going
through separate hard times this is
maybe three years ago and during that
year there were three women in my life
that were all going through I mean hard
stuff illness uh trauma
and each of them were at such a low
point a hard point with their
physicality that they either didn’t have
the strength to literally pick up their
Bible and read or they couldn’t attend
church anymore because of their health
issues they literally could not function
in the way they usually would because of
what was happening in their life and
each of them independently of each other
they don’t even know each other but as I
was talking to them individually and
spending time with them they each said
something similar they said I’m so glad
that me and the Lord already had a thing
going on because now that I’m in the
midst of this where maybe I can’t even
get out of the bed there are scripture
verses that will come to my mind or
there’s hymns right mom was one of them
there are hymns that Mom would just
start singing when she couldn’t even
move anymore she would just start
singing these little hymns that that
were buried on the inside of her she
would be encouraged by it these women
were encouraged by things that the Holy
Spirit would bring to their mind about
their friendship with the Lord they were
so so glad that they had stabilized
themselves in Good Times in preparation
for bad times and so I think that’s so
critical for all of us knowing that
we’re going to walk through suffering
they’re going to be things that come in
our lives that we do not prefer well
then when things are pretty steady we
better be using that time to cultivate a
friendship and a stability with the Lord
one of my mother’s
statements when she was really really
sick she started crying and she said
because we had people from our church
that would come and walk around our
house every day at 12.
um and she said all of these people
praying for me around the house and
cards were coming from all over the
world all of these people all over the
world praying for me
and she started crying and she said I
don’t want them to lose faith
whether or not God heals me or not I
don’t want my suffering or my death to
cause them to lose faith
and so I think just as she was praying
for the many people who were praying for
her I want to pray for those who are
watching because we don’t want
your current suffering to cause you to
lose Faith you know Lord Jesus I just am
so grateful for this discussion that we
can have because
we know that we all will go through
difficult times you said in your word in
this world you will have trouble but you
have overcome the world and overcoming
often means that we get to see your
other overcoming Grace and power as you
come through and are answered prayers as
we speak healing over our lives and
speak Deliverance over our lives and see
you make a way out of no way covering us
protecting us being a banner over us
that spells love and then sometimes we
pray and we move forward and it’s just
still hard so Lord I just pray to the
power of the holy spirit that those who
are right now not in a suffering
circumstance that you would not allow
this session to release them that you
would cause this session of our talk
today to arrest them to the point where
they are motivated more than they ever
have been before to study your word
learn your word commune with you connect
with you to get full of you so that when
those time comes they are ready but I
don’t want to forget those who are
struggling now even tempted to lose
faith
because you’re not answering the way
they’d hoped or you’re not answering as
soon as they’d hoped or it’s still hard
very painful physically emotionally
spiritually and they’re tempted right
now to walk away from the faith because
what good God would allow this difficult
suffering
pray for that person who’s watching
would you now holy spirit the same way
that you can arrest us and cause us to
be motivated inspired and convicted to
pick up your word which you simply Lord
love Holy Spirit on those who just need
to know that you care despite the
hardship on those that just need to know
that you are with them through the
suffering and on those that need to know
that even in the darkest of times that
you were always thinking about their
future their future with you on this
Earth and in eternity and that there is
Joy set before them so that they would
be encouraged to hold on even through
the difficult time Holy Spirit we know
you can do both and I pray for each
person watching that they would be
strong in the faith that they would go
the distance with you and that they
would know that even in suffering that
you are still Lord God in Jesus name we
pray amen
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[Music]