Welcome to the Gospel Coalition podcast, where we help to renew and unify the contemporary church in the ancient gospel.

Today's podcast is a talk by Vanitha Rendell Reisner called Finding Hope When Life Falls Apart.

It was recorded at our 2024 Women's Conference.

I was seven years old when I decided that life wasn't fair, that I couldn't trust anyone, and that God was not good.

You see, when I was seven, a group of boys threw stones at me when they saw me walking alone.

They laughed as they imitated the way that I walked, and they screamed out, you're a cripple.

Then one of the boys knocked me down, and they ran away.

I crawled over to a nearby rock, pulled myself up, and walked the short distance home.

I didn't tell anyone what happened that day.

I was too embarrassed.

But that day, I decided that I couldn't trust anyone to protect me,

especially God.

Maybe today you feel that way too.

I felt that way for a long time that I couldn't trust God, even after I met Jesus.

Because I thought knowing Jesus would protect me from tragedy.

And it didn't.

And yet in my deepest pain, God met me.

I felt his love and his presence in ways that I hadn't before, which is why I write and

speak about suffering, because I want others to experience that too.

And my prayer is that you will meet God in your suffering and

discover that He is faithful. Today I'm going to tell you a little bit of my story and then talk about three anchors that I claim to when life falls apart.

These anchors have grounded my faith,

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