Here on the show we do not shy away from the tough questions and today we are diving into a topic that can be really challenging for both Christ followers and non-believers:

 

The question we are answering is - 

 

How Do I Deal With it when bad things keep happening to good people and for parents listening, how can we even begin to explain this to our children when we as adults don’t have the answer…

 

Joining me to speak to this topic is my friend, Rebecca George.

 

Rebecca is an author, speaker, career coach and host of the Radical Radiance podcast. Her ministry seeks to encourage Christian women to radiate the heart of Jesus in everything they do.

 

In this episode Rebecca and I discuss:

 

Wrestling with God on why bad things happen to good people

Leaning into His character when we just don’t understand

How to guide your children in the hard questions they face

What it looks like to seek the Comforter over the comfort

The wisdom of when to speak and when to reflect the ministry of presence

 

This conversation was such a blessing to me and really caused me to think differently in my approach to this question - why do bad things happen to good people - and perhaps consider a different question altogether.

 

As Rebecca says, let’s go girls…

 

Connect with Rebecca on Instagram, Facebook and find all of her resources at radianceadicalradiance.live and lastly, be sure to listen to the Radical Radiance podcast 

 

Connect with Somer on Instagram, Facebook and at somercolbert.com

 

To join Somer’s Ahavah Community click HERE!

 

FAVORITE TAKEAWAYS:

We’re scared to say the hard thing to our people and we’re scared to say the hard thing to God but what we forget about His character in that is He so intimately knows our hearts 

 

Isaiah 53:3-5 “He is one acquainted with grief”

 

John 14

 

Keep in mind as we seek to honor Jesus: We have the Holy Spirit in us as we walk through hard things

 

Suffering is such a mystery on this side of heaven

 

It takes such a great deal of humility to acknowledge we do not have all the answers but we do know a lot about about our God

 

We live under the effects of a broken, fallen, sin-stained world and some of the effects of that include hardship and suffering

 

What do I know to be true about God?

How do I see His purpose in and through that?

 

When we try to make sense of it, we are starting from the wrong place

 

The immutability of God - the unchanging nature of God

 

Surrender our thoughts, day by day and minute by minute

 

Remember: You have the mind of Christ, take your thoughts captive

 

I may not know why, I may not see the fruit of what God is doing through this to bring Himself glory, to further His kingdom but I have an opportunity to show Christ in that daily by my thought life that precedes my actions by the conversations and the way I attempt to honor God in that and see His purposes in it.

 

We are able to comfort others with the comfort we have received from Him - 2 Corinthians 1:4

 

Our feelings are real but they’re not always reliable

 

It’s not about achieving the answers, it’s not about achieving understanding - it’s about walking alongside the One who had the answers from the get go, who allowed these situations to sift through His hand….

 

The lesson does not come with answers, the lesson comes with trusting the One who is writing our story and guiding us on the journey

 

If God felt it necessary for us to totally understand suffering and hardship and ‘why do bad things happen to good people’ on this side of eternity, He would have told us.

 

We know a lot about what we will experience and we know about the promises of God and we have to take those things and hold those things alongside what we experience and say, God I trust you.

 

Romans 8:18

 

Questions like these create an opportunity to introduce your child to the mysteries of the Kingdom of God

 

We don’t have all the answers but we have His Word

 

Either we teach our children or the world will

 

It is a gift to teach your children not to rely on answers, not to rely on understanding but to rely on God

 

That person walking through hard things may not have capacity to carry their story and yours

 

We take for granted how powerful the ministry of presence can be

 

Sometimes the most helpful thing you can do is be there

 

It’s harder to sit and be than it is to get up and do