Transcript

Dr. Jessica Peck discusses devastating floods in Texas on American Family Radio

>> Jeff Chamblee: Hello and welcome to the Dr. Nurse Mama show prescribing Hope for Healthy Families here on American Family Radio. Here's your host, professor, pediatric nurse practitioner and mom of four, Dr. Jessica Peck.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, hey there friends and welcome to my favorite time of the afternoon, getting to spend time with you, prescribing Hope for Healthy Families. And listen in the morning in the lineup for American Family Radio, we have a lot of hard hitting news shows and shows that tell you what is going on in the world. And as you've been listening today, as I've been listening, I've just been hearing all over the news. I've actually been traveling everywhere I go. I've gotten text messages, I've gotten emails, I've gotten phone calls and just seen the news covered with what's going on in Texas. And anytime we have disasters, like we see fires or flooding or anything like that, it always just makes us collectively heavy hearted as a nation. And today I feel feeling that way. And to be honest, I've honestly found it difficult to concentrate. I've had some trouble sleeping just thinking about those people who are suffering. And the truth is that Texas in particular is grieving and our great state so full of summer life and laughter, we've really been struck by devastating floods that have just taken too much too soon. And among those heartbreaking losses are children. And for me as a mom, as a pediatric nurse, the pain of losing children, an unexpected tragedy, is honestly nearly too much to speak out loud. It just is something that cuts so deep into our soul. And I know that my grief in that pales in comparison to those who have lost loved ones. And as someone who has spent over a decade serving in Texas summer camps year after year, I do that. I know the joy that they bring. I know the late night giggles that come from bunk beds and wild dares to jump in a cold lake or fly from the big swing or friendships that are formed over campfire songs and really those still moments of spiritual awakening that are far from the noise of the world. These camps are more than just fun. They are sacred spaces. They are supposed to be safe havens where kids grow closer to God and.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: To nature and to themselves.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: And that's what I feel like makes this tragedy feel so much more personal to me. I know these towns. I know these people, the people I don't know. I feel like I know them because they are my fellow Texans. And I know that summer days are supposed to hold joy. And I know what's been lost. And for me, having lived through Hurricane Harvey I know how sudden and overwhelming water can be, something seemingly so innocuous. But even with all our technology, all our forecasting, sometimes we just don't see that storm coming in time. And sometimes even the safest places just can't escape the brokenness of this world. Jesus told us himself very plainly in John 16:33, which I quote, often in this world, we will have trouble, but.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: We can take heart, because he has overcome the world.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: And it doesn't make it easier to explain the pain, but it reminds us that even when we don't understand that we don't grieve alone. And nothing is wasted. Not one life, not one tear. And we are grieving for every family. Every mom, every dad, every brother, every sister, every neighbor, every friend, everyone who is facing a loss that is too deep for words. We are mourning with you.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: We hold you in our hearts.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: All life is precious. Every life matters. And every loss, especially the loss of a child, is just a tragedy beyond measure. So today, we are pausing, remembering, lamenting, mourning, grieving. But most of all, we are praying. And Sunday was an official day of prayer for Texas. But that has not ended, and we continue to pray. And right now, wherever you are, if you're delivering mail, if you are watching kids play, if you're at work, if you're at home, I. I just invite you to lift up a prayer with me. So, God, we just lift up every grieving, broken, and shattered heart to you. We ask you to comfort those who are mourning with the kind of peace that only you can give. We ask you to be near to the brokenhearted. We ask you to surround the rescue workers, the communities, the camp staff, the countless volunteers with strength and courage. We thank you for every child, every life, every memory. And we ask you to help us all honor them and how we live and love. And we ask you to be with those who are walking through the literal valley of the shadow of death, God, that they would fear no evil, that your rod and your staff would comfort them, that you would prepare a table before them in the presence of their enemy. And we ask that goodness and mercy follow them all the days of their life, and that they may know you to dwell in your house forever. Amen.

There are many ways that you can help after hurricane Harvey

Thank you for taking a moment to pray. Continue to pray, and there are ways that you can help. You can give financially. We'll link some of these, places that we vetted on our Facebook page. But the most immediate and flexible way to help is just to give money. So donate to a trusted relief organization. Some of those that we know have already been deployed. Here are Texans on mission, that is formerly known as Texas Baptist Men. Some of you may know them as that. Texans on mission. They are mobilized. They are there. Samaritan's purse, Mercy chefs, which is an organization that I encountered actually after hurricane Harvey. They give hot meals for free. And it was amazing. After hurricane Harvey, my sister's house had flooded. She had a house full of volunteers show up to help, but we had no food to give them nothing. And we showed up. Somebody showed up with mercy chefs and just had a delicious hot meal. It was such a measure of grace. For those of you who are familiar with H E B grocery stores, they actually were born in kerrville, Texas, and they have really mobilized to help provide food. And so H E B is coordinating those donations. But just consider a local church, our community foundations. Vet them yourself. Ask for recommendations for people you know who live there. Look for the local churches who are on the ground there and they may want physical donations. But always check with the local shelters or the disaster relief coordinators before you send anything. Make sure that it is what they need, that they're not burdened by storing things that they don't need. But those most, things they most need are hygiene kits, new underwear and socks, cleaning supplies, bottled water, non perishable food. Those are the things they need. If you are able to travel, then volunteer. I would encourage you to do that and pray for you as you do, but continually plan. Please do continue to pray for those grieving families, for the rescue and recovery workers, for camp leaders, for counselors, for churches offering shelter, and wisdom and compassion for officials who are coordinating the response and really looking at what we're talking about on the show today. We are talking about strength and surrender. Our guest today is Bible teacher and author Christine Hoover. And we're going to talk about her new Bible study, More than enough that dives into second corinthians to show us that God's grace doesn't just meet us in our need, it overwhelms it. And if you've ever felt weary or inadequate or afraid, stay with us.

Christine is from the Austin area and is praying for flood victims

This conversation is for you. And Christine is from the Austin area. So, Christine, I know that you have, along with me, been watching all of these reports.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: What has been your experience?

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: How would you inform our listeners and encourage them to encourage those who. Who are brokenhearted by all of these tragedies that we've seen?

>> Christine Hoover: Thanks for having me and for opening the show that way. I just join you in praying for the victims of the Floods, the families. It has been quite a somber few days in the Austin area. the area that was hit is south of our town, but we also had flooding and people who died in our city and in Georgetown, which is very close to Austin. And so as you can imagine, we are connected to many people who have been impacted by this and also who are serving there and who volunteering their time and to help with rescue efforts. And so we just ask, I ask for prayers for those who are, there on the ground seeking to meet the needs of families and, people who've lost everything. so, yeah, I join you in praying for them and I, want to highlight again mercy chefs that you mentioned. Also. Austin Disaster Relief Network is a network of churches in Austin that have banded together to meet needs, and including the needs in the hill Country. but you know, Texans, as you know, you're from Texas. We, we are, we are for one another. We stand with one another. And so I think there's also a sense not just of somberness, but of solidarity that we are, we're going to take care of our people and the families who have lost their loved ones. And so would you just pray for our state, those who are listening, pray for our people, especially believers, that we would use this opportunity to love and to care for our neighbors who are hurting and asking big questions of, you know, God and these things happening.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, amen, Amen and amen to all the things. Christine, I am an obnoxious Texan, I will clearly say that. But you know, I am braggadocious. I, love being from Texas and I, and my family has been in Texas for generations. But you're right, there is something really resilient about our spirit. And Texans are. They may have big egos, but they also have big hearts. Their hearts match that and it is always encouraging. Just as I was sharing, you know, when we had Hurricane Harvey to be at my sister's house, she had lost everything. Her home was really destroyed during Hurricane Harvey. And just to see strangers coming just because they heard there was a need and they're there and they're sweaty and they're dirty and they are hungry and. But they're there because they're there to help.

Christine Hoover: Second Corinthians is perhaps one of my favorite Bible letters

And you know, Christine, it's not lost on me that you and I are going to talk about Second Corinthians. And I think that a lot of times when people think about Bible study, they may think, what can we learn from an, a 2,000 year old letter from that came from A city in Corinth from a man named Paul. What can we learn about that? But there are lessons that we can learn from this ancient letter from timeless truth that help us to face today's challenges, whether that is natural disaster, losing a loved one, or struggles in a relationship, or maybe it's a job struggle. It's any struggle that we know we do go through in this world. What does this ancient letter. What. What truths does this ancient letter provide for to help us give encouragement today?

>> Christine Hoover: second Corinthians is perhaps one of my favorite letters. And part of that is because Paul touches on so many different things that we face in our modern day, every single day. He speaks very personally, very vulnerably about what he experienced. And he draws our eyes to God to show us that in that circumstance, God is more than enough for us. So he talks about suffering. He talks about serving, ministering to others. He talks about being steadfast and enduring in the faith, despite hardships and criticism. He talks about broken relationships in the church and, how we can reconcile with one another and we can bring others to reconciliation with God. he talks about financial giving, generosity, and he talks about, weakness. And if there's anything that stands out to me in Second Corinthians, it is his focus on suffering and weakness. And he associates himself with suffering, suffering and weakness. Whereas I think we so much want to associate ourselves with strength, with our ability. Paul says, you know what? I don't mind being associated with weakness because it associates me with Christ. It is how his power is best demonstrated in me. And so for today's reader, for me, as I studied this, it was so applicable to me and reminding me, there's no circumstance, there's no situation that I can face where God cannot handle that thing, that he cannot be what I need for him to be in that situation. And in fact, he's not asking me to have the capacity and ability. He's saying to depend upon him for that capacity and ability, whether it is suffering, whether it is service, whether it is frailty and weakness. And so I think it is highly, highly applicable to today's reader.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, you're so right. As you're going through that list, looking at financial problems, looking at strained relationships, looking at suffering while serving others, I mean, these are all things that we are still doing. And, you know, just recently, I had the opportunity to travel some through some ancient places. And really, when I was there, the thing that struck me was that I remember our tour guides, one of our tour guides saying ancient People are just like modern people. They had the same kinds of struggles. And so looking at what they were doing, and actually we were in Pompeii and we were looking at the gladiator arena and what was all around it. Well, it was food. It was fast food to go, food that people would get and take into the arena. And I thought, yes, there are things that we can relate. And especially looking at what Paul did. And, you know, Christine, I've got a lot more questions for you when we come up, because when we come back. Because you are so right in that, people want to affiliate themselves with strength, not suffering, not weakness. It's all about self help and how we can be self resilient, self reliant. Let me tell you, I know myself. I do not need any more help from myself. Myself gets myself in trouble all the time. So I am really looking forward, Christine, to diving in to see how do we counter these cultural messages of self sufficiency and just lay that down and say, you know what? There's freedom in saying, I'm not enough. But he is enough. And not only is God enough, he is more than enough. We will be right back with more about these ancient truths. We will be back with more than enough. Christine Hoover, the author of this Bible study. See you on the other side of this break. My plan is on Saturday to set up the video equipment that you sent us home with. So I was in Nashville all last week. I just got back really late, yesterday. Okay. And. Or Saturday night, I guess. And so I'll. I'll work on that this weekend.

>> Speaker E: Okay. Sounds good. All right. And let's see if you can turn your mic down just a little bit. Just a little bit.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Yep. Okay. Testing, testing. One, two.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Is that better?

>> Speaker E: Perfect. Perfect.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Great.

>> Speaker E: All right. And whenever you're ready.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Okay.

Preborn provides ultrasounds for clinics in the highest abortion areas

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: A recent study reports that the rapidly declining global birth rate will lead to a major population crisis if birth rates continue to decline. Their massive support for Planned Parenthood is all part of their plan. While we may feel hopeless in the constant attack on life, there is an amazing way to fight back. When they shout abortion, we shout life. PreBorn is leading the way. Every day, their network rescues 200 babies. You see, when a mother meets her baby on, ultrasound and hears the heartbeat, a baby's chance at life doubles. The ultrasound is the secret weapon that joins a mother's heart to her child. PreBorn provides ultrasounds for clinics in the highest abortion areas. Can we join hands nationwide for life one ultrasound is just $28, but any gift will help. $5,000 will underwrite ultrasounds for the entire network for a day. All gifts are tax deductible. To donate, dial £250 and say the keyword baby. That's £250, baby. Or visit preborn.com afr that's preborn.com afr.

>> Speaker E: All right, that sounds good. I want to do it one more time.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: And.

>> Speaker E: Okay, if you can. Let, me see. because that. Take it. It sounded. It sounded good. Ah, it just kind of sounded like you were reading it. And, of course, you're obviously reading it, but, if you could make it sound.

>> Christine Hoover: I am.

>> Speaker E: A little bit more. A little bit. A little bit more natural.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Okay. All right.

>> Speaker E: All right. And whenever you're ready.

Preborn provides ultrasounds for clinics in the highest abortion areas

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Okay.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: A recent study reports that the rapidly declining global birth rate will lead to a major population crisis if birth rates continue to decline. Their massive support for Planned Parenthood is all part of their plan. While we may feel hopeless in the constant attack on life, there's an amazing.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Way to fight back.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: When they shout abortion, we shout life. PreBorn is leading the way. Every day, their network rescues 200BAB. You see, when a mother meets her baby on ultrasound and hears the heartbeat, a baby's chance at life doubles. The ultrasound is the secret weapon that joins a mother's heart to her child. PreBorn provides ultrasounds for clinics in the highest abortion areas. Can we join hands nationwide for life? One ultrasound is just $28, but any gift will help. $5,000 underwrites ultrasounds for the entire network. For a day, all gifts are tax deductible. To donate, dial £250 and say the keyword baby. That's £250, baby. Or visit preborn.com afr that's preborn.com afr that was perfect.

>> Speaker E: Sounds good.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Okay, great.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: All right.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: You know I never know.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: It's helpful for me to tell me like what you want and then I can give you that.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: She was softly praying as the storm was bearing down now everything's in ruins and scattered on the ground she cries I don't even know hell make it through today but deep down she has something the rain can't wash away when there's faith in the water.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: In these.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Streets Worry on the faces of the people I meet oh, there's a resurrection coming for the world to see there's faith in the water and love in.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: These streams welcome back, friends. That's Faith in the Water by Texas Red Dirt Choir. This is actually a song that was written in response to devastating Hurricane Harvey that happened in Texas in 2017. I was here and lived to see that disaster and to see the response of the people of God coming together and m ministering and working. And we are seeing that now here in Texas. And you know, we live in a culture though, that is obsessed with independence and hustle and stuff, self reliance. But what happens when those things aren't enough? Just as we've seen happen in the Texas floods this week, when the bottom falls out, when we can't fix it, when we are too weak to rescue people, to keep going.

Christine Hoover writes about how weaknesses can be where God's strength shines brightest

Well, this is sort of where Christine Hoover found herself, my guest today, and where God met her. And in her latest Bible study, More Than Enough, she is inviting women and anyone into the raw honesty of, Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, reminding us God's power is made perfect not in strength, but in surrender. And Christine is here today to share how weaknesses can be the very place where God's strength shines brightest. And Christine, we were talking about this before the break, how the culture is really obsessed with self help and strength. We all want to be strong and successful. But here was Paul, who was really successful by ancient terms. He was well educated, he spoke several languages, he had been tutored by, you know, the best. He, he knew Jewish law. And yet here he is saying, here are my weaknesses. What, what have your life experiences led you to writing this study? Because I know God always leads you through it and then leads you to tell your testimony and to share your story. So what it, what was that like for you?

>> Christine Hoover: that's exactly right. I do think that God has taken me through some things and given me a story to steward. And that story is a story of suffering. when I started writing this Bible study, though I wasn't suffering. I had an idea and I had started to flesh it out and I'd always, as I said, I'd always loved this letter Second Corinthians, and primarily because I've been in vocational ministry for over two decades. And Paul talked so much about his ministry that it had been a foundation for me in my own. And so that's the direction I was going to go with it. And soon after I said yes to writing it, we, my husband and I got a phone call late at night from an ER doctor in California. We live in Austin, Texas and our son is a college student in California and he had gone to the emergency room. we knew that and we were waiting for a phone call from, from him. Hm to tell us what was going on. And we. We heard, from the doctor that our son was diagnosed with cancer, that he had cancer all over his body, that it was in his brain, his heart, his lungs, his stomach, everywhere, had spread everywhere. And this was shocking, of course, because he is a college athlete. He was healthy and strong just a few weeks before. And we received this news, and, of course, it just turned our whole life upside down. We went to get him, he had to have surgery, and we had to bring him home, withdrawn from school for rounds and rounds of chemo. And here I am with this Bible study plan in my mind. And I had the opportunity to set it aside, but I said, no, I want to keep going, because I want to be in this book, not with the ministry focus, but with the focus of suffering, and the focus of seeing God, his power being made perfect. In my weakness. I want to understand what that means in experience. And I want to be in these words while I am experiencing such difficult and uncertain days. And so. So that really, the experience that I was going through formed the scaffolding of the study. And the study is not about my experience. It is about 2 Corinthians. But I do feel like, experiencing the truth in second Corinthians played out in my life really gave me a perspective on what Paul was writing when he wrote to the Corinthians about such things. So that's where the study was birthed.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Oh, my goodness, Christine, I can't imagine. That is just a parent's nightmare. And much like what we've been talking about, just unexpected, where you feel like your world is turned upside down. And, you know, I was watching a show with my daughter the other day, and the character and the. In the show, and. Hang on just a second. I think we've lost Christine. We'll get her right back. But a character in the show said they were having some problems. but he. The character said, there's nothing that money can't fix. And I thought about that. As Americans, we think of self sufficiency, how it is. We can just do it. We can pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. We can earn more money. We can meet more people. We can rise to influences of power. I mean, self sufficiency is really the cultural air that we breathe. And we often misunderstand, and we mistake weakness as a flaw, something that we should overcome, something that we should be ashamed of, something to hide from other people. And when we face that crippling suffering or hardship or life hasn't turned out the way that we thought it would. We don't know what to do with that need, with our uncertainty, with our questions. And you know, I recall when I was early in my leadership training, we did, an exercise called Gallop Strength Finders. And, and we we were supposed to find what our strengths were and lead from our strengths. And so I discovered about my strengths. I, I'm very strategic in thinking. I very much value input from others. I have the desire to collect and curate things and history. And when we are looking at your weaknesses, I think how we're trained is okay, well then find your weaknesses and make those better. But you know, what I discovered about that was that I didn't need necessarily to make those weaknesses better. I needed to find people around me who had strengths that I did not have. And that, and I thought, here I am in Gallup Strength Finders and you don't even know you're modeling this after the body of Christ. That is how we serve. Because not all of us can be good at everything. And, and we have to we that self sufficiency, the, the burden to do it all, to be, be it all, especially in a day and age of social media, is just not sustainable. So Christine, I know we have you back now.

Talk to us about how these cultural messages of self sufficiency are harmful

Talk to us about how these cultural messages of self sufficiency are really kind of harmful. Are not even kind of harmful. They're really harmful to us, aren't they?

>> Christine Hoover: Absolutely. They're harmful to us because it's not how we are intended to live as believers. Self sufficiency is, you know, self explanatory. It's depending on ourselves. And I do think it's the air we breathe in our culture. It's the fleshly way of living. And so I think we often, because of that, misunderstand weakness. We think weakness is a flaw, it's something to overcome or that we are to be ashamed of it or to hide it from God. And to others we try to white knuckle our way through. And as believers, we are intended to be so, dependent to depend upon God not to. And when I was going through these things with my son, I would think every day, you know, I need to be strong for my family, for my son, for my other kids. I need to be strong for my, for myself. And really I didn't have that. And every day God would remind me, I'm not asking you to be strong, I'm asking you to depend upon my strength. And that's a really hard thing to do when you're used to being so self sufficient, self dependent, in kind of breathing that cultural air. And so it really taught me in those months and months when I just did not have what it took, and I am a high capacity person, but I did not have, I did not have it during those, those days. And I learned what it meant to every day wake up and say, you know what? I, I can't do it. But God, you can do it in me and through me. Help me to do this day, help me to do this hour or this minute. Be with me when the roller coaster of emotions, when I'm riding that roller coaster. Would you help me? And he did that. I think, to be honest, I think a lot of times we, we look at someone else we know who's received hard news like what happened with us, and we think, I could never do that. I don't think I could make it through that. I'm not sure that my faith would endure. But what I experienced during I got that news, I got that word cancer, for one of my children. And what happened was I experienced God being faithful to me and to give, giving me what I needed each day and helping us to endure. Not just to endure, but to, find that there are gifts in that even. And so I'm standing on the other side of it, saying, whoever is listening, whatever you most fear, you can trust that God will be with you in that moment that you need. You need it. He will be strong in your weakness.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: You know, I just got chills when you said that because it's so easy to say, but it's so hard to live that out and to hear your testimony and say, I've been there and I've done that. And to look at what is available to you in self sufficiency, like, how are you going to, oh, okay, let me have, grief support. Let me have, you know, financial supports for insurance and those kinds of things and seeking that. How does that compare? You said God gives gifts during this time. And I think it's so hard to reconcile with, okay, well, if God's giving gifts, then I want him to give them the. Give me the gift of a cure. You know, give the gift in the way that I want it to be. What did you find that God has available? What were those gifts that you saw that meant met you and provided for you in the middle of your suffering?

>> Christine Hoover: I think one of the gifts is being very attuned to, to God himself. When you know that you have nothing in the tank and you cannot control the situation. And all you have is fear or faith in God. I think that it's against. I think it's a gift to be in that place and to realize that faith works, that God is real, that he is dependable, and that he really is present and powerful in moments that you imagine and think. I can't even imagine being in that spot and living, you know, continuing live or continuing to be. Experience peace. And so that was a gift is being attuned to his presence and his power every single day, because I was so desperate for it. But I think also there are gifts in it. I mean, I can name a million of them. But another one, a big one, was recognizing God's comfort through his people, that He. He provided comfort through his spirit, his presence, but he also provided comfort and help through his people. And we talked earlier about the flood, the flooding, and people coming to help. And that I experienced. That I experienced people, their care, their physical meeting physical needs, financial needs, that kind of thing. And so it was a gift to be on the receiving end m of that kind of care at a time when. When you cannot give anything to anyone else. And yet they are there. And it was a picture to me of God's presence with me. So those are two big ones that stand out. But. But there are countless others that I could go into.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: That's encouraging. And I'm sure you do unpack those in your study on. On Corinthians here that we're talking about more than enough. And I encourage you to get, if you're listening, to get a copy of it, especially if you're walking through something like we're talking about.

Christine says Christians will never fail grief without the hope of Christ

Christine, it's really amazing to hear you talk about your journey. And there are people in unimaginable grief. And I, I know there's a lot of other people who are not believers who look from the outside and they say, how can you believe in a God who would let this happen? And we live in a broken world. And it doesn't mean that because we believe in God, because we are Christians, we will never fail grief, but it does mean that we will never, ever face grief alone. And we will never face grief without the, eternal hope that is provided in Christ. And if I'm looking at this comparison of having grieving with the supports that I can find based on myself, my own self reliance, self intuition, self help, or if I'm looking at the grief based on what is provided to me in the comfort of God, I feel like that makes it easier to do. And there May be some people listening, thinking, yes, okay, I want to be in that place. What does it mean? Practically, you talked about waking up in the morning and saying, God, I can't do this. What is that? Minute by minute, hour by hour. Just the nitty gritty of walking through that. What does it look like practically every day?

>> Christine Hoover: Mm, I have described the experiences riding a roller coaster. I, don't want to give off the impression that I was just, you know, walking around with complete peace all the time. I. We would get a test result and I would immediately panic and, you know, reading words I didn't necessarily understand, medical words, and I would panic and I would, There were. I remember one night where I couldn't sleep and I just would. Filled with anxiety. And I don't think that either, either one of those responses is sinful. I think it's what we do in that moment that is. I can turn to. I could Google this and see what the chances are of his survival, or I can turn to the Lord right now and ask him to calm my heart, to help me, to trust him, to help me to get back down to an, even, you know, that peaceful trust when I don't feel it. And so I think that's what it looks like. It's just, we recognize that we are panicking or we are fearful, or we are anxious or we're despairing. And we take that to God and say, God, I know that you say, do not worry, but that I can bring my cares to you, and so I want to bring that to you now. Please fill my heart with peace. Help me to trust you. I think that's what it looks like.

Christine Hoover writes about suffering in a new book called More Than Enough

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, Christine, you've walked that path and you're here to testify to your experience. And it is always amazing to me to hear people who have gone through great times of suffering and they can say, but God is still good. If you are wondering what is this hope that you can get for yourself? The book is called More Than Enough. God's Strength and Our Weaknesses in Second Corinthians. It's by Christine Hoover. We have so much more to talk about. When we come back, we'll talk about how suffering changes us and how God equips us, to endure suffering. We'll see you on the other side of this break.

>> Jeff Chamblee: Hey, have you considered becoming a Great Commission Partner? If you do, you'll be joining others who believe like you and are determined to defend against those who want to destroy God's institution of the family. You'll also receive some great benefits like full access to AFA Stream, a monthly subscription to our magazine, access to exclusive donor events, and more. As our thanks for your support, please stop by afr.net donate today for all the details.

Forest Frank's viral song says God's way is better than your way

Afr.net donate oh Lord, I need you.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Now more than ever. Would you put huh? Just to find out your ways better? Oh, you're ways better. Oh Lord, you're ways better Jesus, you're ways better.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Welcome back, friends. That is your ways Better by Forest Frank. If you have any young people, anywhere around you, you may have found it hard not to to do the little dance that goes with that song. I know you know, there's so many viral things that if I'm really honest, they're just cringy. But if there is a viral song that talks about a search the world. So my head hurts to find that, your way is better and they're saying your way is better, then I'm all in favor of that. And God's way is better. His power is greater than our weakness. That's what we're talking about today. We're talking to Christine Hoover, who is the author of the Bible study More Than Enough and it is God. Strengthen our weaknesses in Second Corinthians. It's a study of Second Corinthians. Again, that's by Christine Hoover. You can go to Christine Hoover.net or see our show Notes for more information about that.

Many of us are walking through seasons of uncertainty right now

But really, so many of us are walking through seasons of uncertainty. We're walking through grief, through illness, through parenting challenges. We've been talking about those who are enduring the catastrophic results of the flooding that occurred in Texas last week. Or simply the quiet ache of just feeling like, I'm, not enough. And you're walking with that burden. Or maybe you're like Christine, walking with the burden of a devastating health diagnosis. And if any of this is you, you are not alone. We have Bible teacher Christine Hoover today talking about how Second Corinthians gave her a lifeline during one of the most painful chapters of her life life. And we're talking about how God's strength is not just sufficient, it is abundant. And we're reminding you today that your weakness is not a flaw. It is just an invitation to experience God more deeply. And Christine, you were talking before the break a little bit about why it's so important to walk in community, that God blesses us with his presence when we're suffering, but also the presence of presence of his people. And I'm telling you as a Texan, there is Nothing more heartwarming than when you're going through something for somebody to show up at your door with food. And I'm sure this is universal. Everybody everywhere feels that way. During COVID I had a friend sitting right across the desk for me today actually, who shared her toilet paper with me, which you get, brought me to her some of her toilet paper stash when that was in short supply. So that was so sweet. But there are ways that people can show up in our lives. How do we let them in?

>> Christine Hoover: That's important. That's an important piece of it is letting people serve you. You know, when we got this diagnosis, someone who had walked this road before us told us that. He told us a few things to expect. And one of them he said is you should expect that people will be very generous with you and you need to receive it. And I thought that was really interesting. And he was right. People were generous with us in various ways and we, we received it. Thank you. Thankfully we listened to his advice and sometimes it's hard for us to do. but that's a part of what it means to fulfill the one another's in scripture. And I think we need to give people the joy of obeying God by bearing the burdens of others. That's one of the one another's in scripture. So we're giving people. The way I think of it is we're giving people the opportunity, opportunity to love God by serving our needs. So that helps me to think of it like that.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: You know, I remember when someone I knew had experienced a tragedy and there were a lot of people that came to their house and the person who was impacted thought, I don't know, you know, how I can deal with all these people in my house. But you know what, Christine? God had equipped one person that was there who just self appointed herself as the hostess. And she just made, she said I was, will entertain everybody, I will keep everybody, you know, I will receive everyone. They can come and bring whatever they were going to bring or express their sentiments. But you know, you can feel free to come and go and do what you need to do. And I just think it's so beautiful in those moments to see how the body of Christ just responds. But letting them in is so hard. And when we are, you know, when you're receiving those things, that's something that can really change you. Maybe you have been a person in the past that's really self sufficient. No, I don't need any help. I can do it on my own. But being humbled in a place to say, I can't do it on my own, that changes you.

What are the other ways that suffering changes us, but for the better

What are the other ways that suffering changes us, but for the better?

>> Christine Hoover: M. Suffering has changed me for the better. You said it. And it has changed me for the better. I like to say it's changing for the better, not the bitter. And I think a part of that is trusting. What God's word says that if we let suffering have its full effect, that God will, he promises to do certain things in us. And one of. And when it says have its full effect, I think that's in James. I think he means by that, you know, we try to control the ending. We want to, we want the time frame and we want to be able to control when it's over and when we're in suffering that we cannot, we cannot control the ending. It can be hard to let it, let it have its full effect, but we can trust God's Word says that when we let it have its full effect, that he will produce in us character and endurance and hope. And I have seen that in my own life that it felt like God was asking me to build spiritual muscles and to stretch beyond my capacity not by my own self sufficiency, but in trust of Him. And as I trusted him each day, kind of as I talked about earlier with those roller coaster moments, I felt that my faith muscles were strengthened. And so that's one way that I've seen suffering have, a good effect in my life. But I think also, it was important for me to experience God's truth in real life, in real time. Meaning, you know, I had heard, heard other people who had gone through suffering tell me, well, God was faithful to me. He carried me through that. Or God's people showed up. But when I went through it and I actually was, it was an experiential thing where I'm experiencing the truth of God's word kind of coming off the page and it's real in my life. And I think that that really, really changed me in a way. I will say it's given me a different perspective on other people's suffering that I don't, I don't feel afraid to enter into that with other people or to bring up things or to talk about it. I don't feel fear about it because I know what it's like. God's grown not only my faith muscles, but my empathy muscles. And I will say the final thing, the good thing that God has done to me is I think suffering reveals a Lot of what's in our hearts that we don't know is there meaning idolatry. and for me, I recognized pretty quickly the things I wanted to turn to in place of God for comfort or hope. I know for some people Google is one of those places when they have a medical diagnosis. but you know, there's other things we want to numb out or we want to turn to any number of things. For me, those were my main things. but it showed me and revealed to me what I wanted to place my hope in or where I was placing my hope. I was placing my hope often in a certain outcome or a certain test result, certain time frame that I wanted to see things happen. And so God refines me through that suffering and I'm so thankful. I do feel like I'm changed through that, in multiple, multiple ways.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, I'm really convicted by your call out of modern day idolatry. I actually had a show about this a couple of weeks ago because I was really convicted about it and you said it so well, Christine. The things that we turn to for hope or comfort instead of turning to the living God and that we encounter the living God through his living word that he has led left for us. And you were quoting from James 1 and you took me right back to my eighth grade Sunday school class where my teacher had us all memorized the first chapter of James and imagining, you know, in the eighth grade I hadn't yet experienced any, significant hardships I in life at that point that I would recognize. And I just think about how God planted that word in my heart. You know, my brothers, count it all joy. When you face various trials for the testing of your faith which produces patience, let patience have its perfect work. I mean now it just rolls off my tongue, but that, that scripture has come back to me so often when I encounter suffering, when I encounter a trial, I. That word comes to me. Count it all joy. Not just some of it, but all of it. And you have found that scripture memory is really instrumental in a time of hardship in pointing you to that greater hope. Why is it so important for us to hide God's word in our heart before we experience suffering? And if not before, during our experience of suffering.

>> Christine Hoover: I included scripture memory in the Bible study. you know, Second Corinthians is full of what I call these gem passages that we all are sort of familiar with, like the jars of clay or God's powers made perfect in our weakness. but we often don't know them, know them in full. And we don't know them by heart, and we don't know them in context. But I wanted to incorporate, scripture memory into this study because I think, you know, suffering does not make an appointment in our life. It often happens in an instant. That phone call that we receive, or, you know, that accident that happens. And so we can't prepare ourselves for that moment, but we can prepare ourselves to turn to God's word. To turn to God. I will say that I don't know that I would encourage scripture memory in the middle of the deepest suffering because I don't think my brain was working very well during that time. But the things that I had put into my heart and my mind previously, God brought to mind. And he, you know, I. I didn't know what to read. I didn't know. And I'm a reader. you know, I would open my Bible and just stare at the page for 30 minutes because my brain would not turn on in the deepest part of this suffering. But the truth that I had hidden in my heart came back to me, and I could look them up. Also, what was important was with other people reminding me of God's word, that they would do it in the right moments and in the right ways. But they gave me words to think about, words to chew on, things to turn my mind to when I could not capture my thoughts and put them in order. And so I do think, putting things in our hearts and minds before we, like when we're not suffering, that's the most important time. So that God by his spirit can remind us of what's true, and we will turn to him and believe those truths.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: You know, I think that's where music plays a really important part in suffering. Because you're right, your brain can't. You stare at the page and you can't comprehend it. But sometimes just a lyric sung over you and over you and over you will penetrate your subconscious in a way that I think God has designed our brains because of the way that ear worms work and the ways that our brains respond to music. So if you can't read scripture, just play scripture and. And sometimes that can be really helpful. And you talked about looking at the page and Christine, I think that's really important because parents do need to be aware that in a day of AI and online sources, that can change really frequently. You may think that you're memorizing a scripture that was given to you by a search engine or. Or AI that's been changed I think it's really important, even in today's day and age, to have that physical copy of your Bible that you go back to. There's something so comforting to me to open those pages and to see where I physically written, you know, when I'm going through a trial and I write the date in my Bible and I write about how I'm praying, and I see that and see that scripture there, and that that's really important and such a good word.

Christine Hoover says God equips his children to endure suffering

And my last question for you, Christine, as we end our time together, which I could really talk to you for a lot longer about this, because there is so much suffering in the world. You say that God does not simply allow his children to endure suffering, but he equips us for serving. Tell us about that. Because it's not just about, okay, just grin and bear it. Get through it. It'll be awful, but you know, you'll get through it. There's greater hope than that that you have found in suffering. How do you find that?

>> Christine Hoover: Yes, one of my favorite passages is 2nd Corinthians 1:3, through where Paul says that God is the God of all comfort, and he comforts us, so that we can then go and be a comfort to other people. I. That's pretty fascinating if you think about it. He's saying one of the purposes in God allowing suffering is that we will then go and comfort other people with what we have learned about God in that suffering. And. And that's exactly what I'm doing right now. I am speaking about my suffering, stewarding. I feel like God's given me a story to steward, to go and to tell other people, hey, we went through this thing, and God was very faithful to me in it. And so you can trust him in your thing. It may be different, but I want to comfort you with the truth of who God is. He is faithful. He is good. He will be present with you. He will comfort you. He is the God of all comfort. Turn to him. He is the God of all comfort. And so I do think that God gives us stories. He gives us stories of where he's shown up for us, and often it is in our suffering. And we are to steward those stories that we can then go. Maybe you've known God's forgiveness for something in your life that you can then go and share that with someone else who has. Who has experienced that same thing or been in rebellion in the same way. You can say to them, God's grace is. Is bigger than that thing. And I want to tell you the truth about who he is. So whatever it is, God has given every believer a story, and we are to steward that story, to comfort other people as we have been comforted.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Amen. Christine, thank you so much for sharing your testimony, for sharing that hope with us. We do not grieve as a people without hope, and so often we feel like we're alone in our suffering. But we are not. God is present with us, and he has gifted us with the presence of his people. We will just accept that comfort that comes in. That's such a great word. Bible study is by Christine Hoover. It's called More Than Enough God's Strength in Our Weaknesses, A Study in Second Corinthians. Listen wherever you are. May the Lord bless you and keep you and make his face shine upon you. May he be gracious to you and I will see you right back here tomorrow.

>> Jeff Chamblee: The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.