Do you ever look around you at the suffering in this world and wonder, where is God in all of this?

Or maybe it's your own personal suffering that has you questioning God's goodness.

If that's the case, today's prayer is for you.

Welcome back to the Prayers of Rest podcast.

I'm your host, Asherita Chuchu, and this season we are resting in the promises of God.

Today, specifically, we are praying through God's promise of victory over suffering for those who love him and belong to him.

So as we begin, take a deep breath and quiet your heart as we become aware of God's loving presence around us and within us.

Today's passage comes from James chapter 1, verse 12.

Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because having stood the test, that person

will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. So let's

begin by reciting God's goodness.

Oh God, you are both compassionate and conquering.

You, Lord Jesus, are the one who let go of the glory of heaven and came to this earth filled with suffering and disease,

sickness, and death, and sin, and all kinds of evil. You who knew no sin became sin so that in you we might become the righteousness of God. You bore our own afflictions on

yourself. You took the sickness and disease of our own souls and of our bodies, of all of

humanity on the cross. God, I praise you that you are close to the brokenhearted,

that you know what it's like to be rejected, to be alone.

You know what it's like to thirst and to hunger and to suffer.

You know pain. you know harshness, you know what it's like to be human.

And so God, we praise you that in this time of suffering, we are not alone.

That because of Emmanuel, God, with us, we have hope.

So take a moment now to reflect on this promise that God will give you victory in the end,

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