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In 2025, I found myself
wrestling with frustration that

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God was not giving me joy.
And then God very patiently told

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me what was actually happening.
It wasn’t that he was

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withholding joy, it was that I
was rejecting it.

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What followed was an invitation
to spend 30 days looking at 30

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passages on Joy and turning it
into a devotional called

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Rejecting Joy No longer.
You’d think I would have learned

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that coming into 2026, I was
wrestling with hope.

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God, why are you making me so
hopeless?

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And God very patiently let me
know the reality.

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He wasn’t withholding hope.
I was rejecting it.

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And so now here I am, spending
30 days looking at 30 passages

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on hope.
And my hope is that this

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encourages you.
One thing that’s different this

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year is I felt like God was
inviting me to be publicly

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transparent with my processing.
To actually go live on social

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media, pull out a random verse,
and then read and process

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through it on camera.
This isn’t me coming to you as

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an expert on hope, but me coming
to you honestly as someone

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wrestling with hope.
And by witnessing that some of

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you might feel less alone, may
feel seen and understood, may

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end up being encouraged in a way
that is far deeper than the best

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platitude.
So join me as I spend 30 days

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navigating 30 passages on Hope.
This is day four.

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You’re listening to episode 211
of the Where Did You See God

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podcast.
I did not sleep well I’m I’m

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tired so I had to be in a new
location.

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So I’ve already drawn the verse
out don’t know what it is.

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I’m going to pray before I read
it them Finally, God is just

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thinking that you are a guy and
you are good and for the ways

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that you work and move.
And so Holy Spirit, I invite you

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to move in this space in this
moment in my processing of this

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verse.
I pray for whoever sees this

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that they would experience you.
Not my words.

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Famously name.
Amen.

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All right, three for three,
laughing at the verse, not at

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the verse, but something in the
verse just really convicted me.

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This is a long 1, so there’s
bound to be something in it.

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This is this is much longer than
the ones we’ve done.

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You might have to shorten it for
the devotional.

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Romans 5, two through 5.
Through Him we have also

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obtained access by faith into
this grace in which we stand,

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and we rejoice in hope of the
glory of God.

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Not only that, but we rejoice.
See.

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I saw the first rejoice and I
was like, I’m not going to laugh

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at rejoice in hope I’m good.
I got this and.

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Then and then, here we go.
Not only that, but we rejoice in

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our sufferings, knowing that
suffering produces endurance,

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and endurance produces
character, and character

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produces hope, and hope does not
put us to shame because God’s

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love has been poured out into
our hearts through the Holy

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Spirit who has been given to us.
Man oh man, there’s a lot in

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this.
I’m going to read it again,

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partly because I interrupted it,
but mostly because there’s so

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much in here.
Through Him we have also

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obtained access by faith into
this grace in which we stand,

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and we rejoice in hope of the
glory of God.

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Not only that, but we rejoice in
our sufferings, knowing that

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suffering produces endurance.
Endurance produces character,

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Character produces hope, and
hope does not put us to shame

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because God’s love has been
poured into our hearts through

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the Holy Spirit who has been
given to us.

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So we have been given, given
this Holy Spirit, and this Holy

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Spirit is pouring God’s love
into our hearts.

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And this is happening in the
midst of suffering.

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And this suffering is in
addition to being able to

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rejoice in hope of the glory of
God, something outside of our

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situations, contexts, even
ourselves.

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But there’s this invitation,
invitation to rejoice in our

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sufferings, not understand our
sufferings, not put up with our

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sufferings, not persevere
through our sufferings.

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Rejoice.
Thank you so much, God, for my

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suffering.
Like how do you rejoice in

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suffering?
How do you rejoice in something

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that is unjust, that is hurtful?
And I think we find the answer

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here because we see here an
example of Ephesians 320 to him

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who is able to do imagine,
really more than we ask for or

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imagine.
And in our suffering, we’re

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typically asking for the
suffering to stop.

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We’re typically imagining
pathways that we can be freed

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from suffering.
The goal is to get out of the

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suffering.
That is the goal.

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And meanwhile, Romans 5, two
through 5 invites us to consider

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that maybe that isn’t the only
goal.

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Maybe that isn’t the best goal.
Maybe God’s goal, in addition to

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pouring His love out into us
through the Spirit, is to create

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something that could not have
been created otherwise.

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Namely, He wants to produce
hope, and what He knows is in

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order for hope to be produced in
US, there has to be character,

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and in order for character to be
developed, there has to be

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endurance.
It’s not just a mask you throw

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on.
And when else does endurance

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occur?
But in suffering, if things are

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going well, you don’t need
endurance.

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If you’re not having to worry
about who you are, what you’re

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doing, you don’t need to build
out character.

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There’s nothing to hope for.
Then why do you need hope?

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So suffering produces endurance,
endurance produces character.

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Character produces hope, and
hope does not put us to shame.

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So the invitation when we are in
suffering is not to cry out to

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get out of the suffering.
The invitation is to say God is

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aware of our suffering and if he
has permitted it to exist, then

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maybe he is building something
greater than comfort or

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understanding or peace as we
know it.

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And hope does not put us to
shame because God’s love has

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been poured into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit who has

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been given to us.
And this is where we got to be

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honest, folks, because we could
read this verse in a Bible study

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and say, yeah, sure, I’m, I’m
suffering.

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But yes, suffering produces
endurance and endurance

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character and character, hope,
and hope shares God’s love.

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And yes, and I want God’s love.
OK, great.

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But what we can say in a Bible
study is not often what we want

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to say when we wake up
miserable, when we have tried

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and tried and tried and hit
another wall.

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We’ll hit another trap when the
suffering goes on longer than we

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feel like it should have or ever
could have.

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Those are the moments where our
resolve to hold this theology,

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our resolve to have this
idealistic spiritual

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understanding of the deeper
thing God is doing, that’s

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that’s when that resolve really,
really falls apart.

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But for this ending line, you
know, it’s got this past tense

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has been God’s love has been
poured into our hearts through

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the Holy Spirit who has been
given to us.

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So you have these things that
are looking ahead, right?

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I’m suffering, God, Get Me Out
of my suffering.

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God, I keep praying you won’t
free me from my suffering.

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Perhaps God is allowing the
suffering to produce endurance,

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and endurance to produce
character, and character to

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produce hope, which is
ultimately what we’re grasping

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for as we’re crying to get out
of our suffering.

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And kind of saying, I’m trying
to give you the very thing that

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your heart is longing for, but
you’re trying to get out of the

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space in which that thing is
going to be produced, right?

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But, but the good news is, is
that all that is looking

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forward, right?
But you have this past tense.

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God’s love has been poured into
our hearts through the Holy

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Spirit who has been given to us.
That proceeds the suffering

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before the suffering even
begins.

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God’s love is before we are even
wrestling with how to navigate

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hardship.
The Spirit has been given to us.

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In other words, we don’t have to
muster the ability and

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understanding to navigate
suffering.

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And we don’t have to feel
ashamed when we hit our lowest

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low and don’t want to keep on
going.

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Because when we find that we
somehow do, whether we fully

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realize it or not, it becomes
evidence of this love and spirit

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that sustains us beyond
ourselves.

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Because God is trying to do
immeasurably more than what we

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asked for.
Imagine, because of the power at

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work within us.
He’s trying to do more than free

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us from our suffering.
So Romans 52525 again, I told

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you I’m tired.
Romans 5235 Through Him we have

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also so your your homework is to
go back to the previous verses

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and find out what else we got,
because we have also obtained

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access by faith into this grace
in which we stand, and we

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rejoice in hope of the glory of
God.

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Not only that, I mean, that’s
good, but not only that, but we

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rejoice in our sufferings
knowing that suffering produces

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endurance and endurance produces
character and character produces

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hope and hope does not put us to
shame because God’s love has

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been poured out into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit who has

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been given to us.
So I might encourage you to do,

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which is what I am trying to
tell myself to do really is I’ve

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heard this verse so many times
that it just is a verse that

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I’ve heard versus something to
really sit with those pieces

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suffering, endurance, character
and hope.

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What is God really trying to
communicate to me in this and

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what might he be communicating
to you?

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All right, I’m going to go get
some coffee.

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But first I’m going to pray for
you.

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Father God, I just thank you
that you are God and you are

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good.
Thank you for this verse.

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And I acknowledge that I don’t
press in as deeply as I should

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into these different elements,
and that I frequently would much

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rather get out of suffering
rather than gain the greater

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thing that you are offering.
I thank you that your love has

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already been poured out, that
your spirit has already been

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given.
But I acknowledge that I do not

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always either see it or want to
receive it, because I just want

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the suffering to end.
But you are trying to do

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immeasurably more than I asked
for.

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Imagine.
So I pray this for the person

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that is listening these same
things, whatever they’re

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navigating, however broken they
feel, I thank you that your love

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has already been poured out into
their hearts, that your spirit

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has already been given to them.
That it’s not about them being

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good enough or knowing what’s
going on or having a plan or

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being strong enough or anything.
It’s simply receiving that gift

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of the Spirit, receiving that
love that’s been poured into our

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hearts.
And so I pray that they would

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catch a glimpse of that reality
today in the midst of their

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struggle, and that you would
also reveal to them this

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endurance, this character, this
hope that comes through

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something that we think is bad.
But what man intends for evil,

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you can use for good.
That’s Grandma’s only name.

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Amen.