Where is God When I’m Hurting?
Wondering, "Where is God in my pain?" Maybe He's closer than you think. Author Dane Ortlund digs deep into what God tells us about Himself—and what that means for our lowest, messiest, most desperate moments.
Show Notes
About the Host
About the Guest
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Dave and Ann Wilson
Dave and Ann Wilson are hosts of FamilyLife Today®, FamilyLife’s nationally-syndicated radio program. Dave and Ann have been married for more than 38 years and have spent the last 33 teaching and mentoring couples and parents across the country. They have been featured speakers at FamilyLife’s Weekend to Remember® marriage getaway since 1993 and have also hosted their own marriage conferences across the country. Cofounders of Kensington Church—a national, multicampus church that hosts more than 14,000 visitors every weekend—the Wilsons are the creative force behind DVD teaching series Rock Your Marriage and The Survival Guide To Parenting, as well as authors of the recently released book Vertical Marriage (Zondervan, 2019). Dave is a graduate of the International School of Theology, where he received a Master of Divinity degree. A Ball State University Hall of Fame quarterback, Dave served the Detroit Lions as chaplain for 33 years. Ann attended the University of Kentucky. She has been active alongside Dave in ministry as a speaker, writer, small-group leader, and mentor to countless wives of professional athletes. The Wilsons live in the Detroit area. They have three grown sons, CJ, Austin, and Cody, three daughters-in-law, and a growing number of grandchildren.
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Dane Ortlund
Dane C. Ortlund (PhD, Wheaton College) serves as senior pastor of Naperville Presbyterian Church in Naperville, Illinois. He is the author of Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers and Deeper: Real Change for Real Sinners. Dane and his wife, Stacey, have five children.
Wondering, “Where is God in my pain?” Maybe He’s closer than you think. Author Dane Ortlund digs deep into what God tells us about Himself—and what that means for our lowest, messiest, most desperate moments.
Bob: For so many of us, our picture of who God is has been shaped by our relationship with our earthly father or by something we heard, in childhood, that may or may not have been accurate.
What we’ve been hearing this week—as Dave and Ann Wilson have talked with Dane Ortlund—is that our picture of who God is should be shaped, first and foremost, by what we see in His Son, Jesus, who describes Himself as being gentle and lowly. And when we start to see that this is the God who we serve/the God who has saved us, it changes everything for us.
Dane’s book, which is called Gentle and Lowly, has been a best-seller. We’ve got copies of it in our FamilyLife Today Resource Center. I think there are probably people you know—you may be on this list as well—people who need this book. Especially during the Christmas season, you may want to get several copies to be able to give Dane’s book as a gift to others.
You can go to our website, FamilyLifeToday.com to request your copy; or you can call
1-800-FL-TODAY. Again, the title of the book is Gentle and Lowly by Dane Ortlund. Order it online at FamilyLifeToday.com, or order by calling 1-800-358-6329; that’s 1-800-“F” as in family, “L” as in life, and then the word, “TODAY.”
Now, today is the first day of December. December’s an important month for all of us. It’s a significant month for us, here, at FamilyLife; and we’ve got the president of FamilyLife, David Robbins, here with us today. David, help our listeners understand why December is such a significant month for this ministry.
David: Forty percent of the donations that come in, to help fuel ministry at FamilyLife, come in during this month. And the reason it’s so important is, certainly, to help us fuel more ministry; but it fuels more ministry to people like Steven and Rachel. They were—like many couples in this past 18 months—at the end of themselves when they were thinking about their marriage and struggling. The pressure was beginning to build and become overwhelming in their home.
Out of desperation, they decided to reach out to FamilyLife, and go to their first-ever Weekend to Remember® marriage getaway. In sharing with us, they were doubting whether or not their marriage could be restored at all. But as they went, God met them in that place/began to find some peace. And today, Steven and Rachel continue working on their marriage, and have shared their new-found strength with friends and neighbors by building community around them and have actually formed an outreach ministry to other marriages.
Their amazing transformation and transition into pouring into other marriages came because of generous partners, just like you, who helped fuel the ministry of FamilyLife and minister to them in their great time of need.
Bob: Well, and I think our listeners need to know that, when you give, you’re helping us reach and equip more people like Steven and Rachel—more ministry happens as a result—it grows exponentially. That’s why it’s so critical that we hear from you during the month of December. As you said David, this is an important month for us. And the good news is every donation we receive this month is going to be matched, dollar for dollar, up to a total of $1.5 million, thanks to some generous friends, who have put that matching-gift fund together for us.
Your donation will be matched; and we’ll say, “Thank you for your gift,” by sending you a copy of Dane Ortlund’s new devotional book from the book of Psalms, a 150 daily devotions from the book of Psalms. The book is called In the Lord, I Take Refuge. This is a beautiful hard-cover book that we want to send you, as a thank-you gift, when you donate today.
We will also send you a deck of playing cards so that, as you play a card game, on each card there are some conversation starters to get you talking about meaningful things while you have fun together. Those gifts are our way of saying, “Thank you,” when you support this ministry, here at yearend. Make an online donation at FamilyLifeToday.com, or call to donate at 1-800-FL-TODAY. And again, we want to say, “Thank you for your support; and pray for us that we’ll be able to take full advantage of this matching-gift opportunity, here during the month of December.”
And we hope you can join us back tomorrow. How many times do people say to you: “How are you doin’?” and you say, “I’m doin’ okay.” And the question is: “Are you really doing okay? Do you know what that means? Do you know how to tell how you are doing?” Debra Fileta is going to join us tomorrow to talk about how we’re doing and how we can know how we’re doing. I hope you can be with us for that.
On behalf of our hosts, Dave and Ann Wilson, I’m Bob Lepine. We will see you back next time for another edition of FamilyLife Today.
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