Vaneetha Rendall Risner Photo

Vaneetha Rendall Risner

Vaneetha Rendall Risner is the author of Desperate for Hope, a 7-week study on suffering. Vaneetha and her husband Joel live in Raleigh, NC, where she writes at her website, encouraging readers to turn to Christ in their pain.

Comforting Lies About Suffering: How the Prosperity Gospel Hurts People

Comforting Lies About Suffering

How the Prosperity Gospel Hurts People

Only a false gospel would claim it’s never God’s will for us to suffer. Consider Christ, who suffered to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Living Well Among Thorns: Finding Strength in Physical Weakness

Living Well Among Thorns

Finding Strength in Physical Weakness

Sometimes God delivers us from physical suffering. Other times he chooses to sustain us through pain to show us more of his power and grace.

The Voices We Hear in Suffering

The Voices We Hear in Suffering

Often the voices that are loudest in our suffering are the least helpful ones. The power to keep going lies in our ability to hear God.

The Sight That Changes Suffering

The Sight That Changes Suffering

The pain we face in suffering may feel intense, and our own strength may feel small. But if we look to the God who is with us, he will revive us and carry us through.

Why Might God Wait? What Grief Taught Me About Love

Why Might God Wait?

What Grief Taught Me About Love

We expect love to run and rescue, answer and save. But sometimes, love waits, love lingers, and then love shows up in ways we never expected.

S.L.O.W.: How to Love Suffering People

S.L.O.W.

How to Love Suffering People

When a friend loses a loved one or goes through some severe trial, it can feel hard to know what to do or give or say. So what can we do to love hurting people well?

The Long and Lingering Tail of Suffering

The Long and Lingering Tail of Suffering

One reason God may allow suffering to linger, as it often does, is because he values our dependence more than our comfort.

When Praying Hurts: How to Go to God in Suffering

When Praying Hurts

How to Go to God in Suffering

Suffering can make prayer seem futile, if not impossible. How can we overcome resistance when our hearts lean away from God?

Someone Knows Your Pain: How Suffering Ties Us to Christ

Someone Knows Your Pain

How Suffering Ties Us to Christ

Suffering can feel isolating. No one knows what to say or how you feel. But someone knows every ounce of your pain and more.

Our Children Need to See Weakness

Our Children Need to See Weakness

Don’t hide or run from your weaknesses in parenting. Lean into them, and help your children learn to rely on God for everything.

When Suffering Doesn’t Make Sense

When Suffering Doesn’t Make Sense

We often cannot see what God is doing in the midst of our suffering. That does not mean he isn’t doing something stunningly good.

God Gives Our Waiting Purpose

God Gives Our Waiting Purpose

Silence can be uncomfortable and unsettling, especially when we are suffering. But if we are trained by it, stillness can be the best place to meet God.

No One Knows My Pain: How Pride Hides in Suffering

No One Knows My Pain

How Pride Hides in Suffering

One of Satan’s favorite ways to isolate weak and vulnerable sheep is to convince us that no one understands what we’re going through.

You Don’t Have to Suffer Alone

You Don’t Have to Suffer Alone

Most suffering is lonely. But often, the loneliest suffering is the suffering we try to carry apart from the church.

Caring for the Chronically Ill

Caring for the Chronically Ill

Chronic illness can be a long and lonely road, so how can we love hurting people around us well?

The Unwelcome Gift of Suffering

The Unwelcome Gift of Suffering

We would never ask for suffering, but sometimes suffering is the painful, precious gift we need.

The Lord Gave and Took Away: Lessons on Suffering from Job

The Lord Gave and Took Away

Lessons on Suffering from Job

You may not know why you are suffering like you are, but if you belong to Jesus, you can know that God has his why for you.

God Never Makes a Mistake

God Never Makes a Mistake

“God never makes a mistake.” How you respond to that sentence will change everything about how you experience suffering.

Delivered by Affliction: How Trials Awaken Us to God

Delivered by Affliction

How Trials Awaken Us to God

Sometimes, God shows his mercy to us by delivering us from affliction. And sometimes, he shows his mercy by delivering us by affliction.

He Has Not Failed Me Yet: Lessons from Long Suffering

He Has Not Failed Me Yet

Lessons from Long Suffering

When you cannot see the faithfulness of God in your suffering or loss, ask him to help you remember a time when you could.

God Has Not Forgotten You

God Has Not Forgotten You

Whether you are in the valley now or are waiting for yours to come, truths like these are strong enough to carry you through.

We Cannot Cling to Bitterness and God

We Cannot Cling to Bitterness and God

Part of learning to truly forgive is learning what true forgiveness is — and what it is not.

Has God Withheld Good from Me?

Has God Withheld Good from Me?

If it feels like God has withheld good from you, remember that your Father knows your needs even better than you do.

The Hardest Time of Year: Grieving Pain and Loss at Christmas

The Hardest Time of Year

Grieving Pain and Loss at Christmas

Is joy at Christmas possible in a year like ours? She lost her son, her health, and her marriage, and still believes so.

How to Harm a Heavy Heart: Loving Sufferers Begins with Listening

How to Harm a Heavy Heart

Loving Sufferers Begins with Listening

We often worry about what to say to the suffering, but often the most effective ministry in the moment is to sit, weep, and listen well.

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