2025.08.03 | Faithfulness When It Hurts
This blog is based on the sermon from August 3, 2025.
There are days I feel like love is leaving bruises…not visible ones, but deep ones.
These days, I’m stretched thin. Caring for my mom as her health declines has been both a privilege and a weight. She’s appreciative, but often negative. And the environment around her doesn’t help. My father is toxic, and my siblings make everything harder. Trying to care for her while navigating all of that has been painful. It’s a strange tension… wanting to love well, but needing to protect your peace. I’ve already started creating some distance.
And then there’s home… raising my own kids, showing up for them emotionally and spiritually, even when I feel like I have nothing left. There are days I ask God, “Is this what faithfulness looks like?”
When the sermon focused on Paul and Silas… how they helped a hurting girl and ended up beaten and jailed for it, I felt that. The hurt that comes from doing good. It stayed with me so deeply that I opened up Acts 16 again later that night.
What they endured… and how they responded with prayer and worship in the middle of it… that moved me. They didn’t let pain make them bitter. They stayed faithful. They still believed Jesus was worth it.
That’s the kind of faith I want. Not a faith that’s only strong when life is easy, but one that holds on even when love is exhausting, when it costs more than I wanted to give.
Jesus never avoided pain. He entered it. And He promises to be with us in ours. That’s enough to keep going.
These days, I’m stretched thin. Caring for my mom as her health declines has been both a privilege and a weight. She’s appreciative, but often negative. And the environment around her doesn’t help. My father is toxic, and my siblings make everything harder. Trying to care for her while navigating all of that has been painful. It’s a strange tension… wanting to love well, but needing to protect your peace. I’ve already started creating some distance.
And then there’s home… raising my own kids, showing up for them emotionally and spiritually, even when I feel like I have nothing left. There are days I ask God, “Is this what faithfulness looks like?”
When the sermon focused on Paul and Silas… how they helped a hurting girl and ended up beaten and jailed for it, I felt that. The hurt that comes from doing good. It stayed with me so deeply that I opened up Acts 16 again later that night.
What they endured… and how they responded with prayer and worship in the middle of it… that moved me. They didn’t let pain make them bitter. They stayed faithful. They still believed Jesus was worth it.
That’s the kind of faith I want. Not a faith that’s only strong when life is easy, but one that holds on even when love is exhausting, when it costs more than I wanted to give.
Jesus never avoided pain. He entered it. And He promises to be with us in ours. That’s enough to keep going.
“Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows…
He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities;
upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with His wounds we are healed.”
— Isaiah 53:4–5
He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities;
upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with His wounds we are healed.”
— Isaiah 53:4–5
Missed the message? Watch it here:
Posted in Sunday Sermon
Posted in Jeff Potts, Paul, Book of Acts, Faith in Difficult Times, Prayer, Worship
Posted in Jeff Potts, Paul, Book of Acts, Faith in Difficult Times, Prayer, Worship
Recent
2025.09.21 | Who Do You Say Jesus Is?
September 23rd, 2025
2025.09.14 | When the Headlines Overwhelm, Remember God’s Track Record
September 23rd, 2025
2025.09.07 | The Sign That’s Already Enough
September 23rd, 2025
2025.08.31 | Grace That Gathers Us
September 23rd, 2025
2025.08.24 | Childlike Faith, Public Love: Ryder and Brady’s Baptism at Hope
September 23rd, 2025
Archive
2025
August
2025.01.26 | The Sower, the Seed, and the Soil2025.02.02 | Growing in God’s Kingdom2025.02.09 | When Small Things Become Something Big2025.02.16 | A Call to Faith and Hope2025.02.23 | Finding the Ultimate Treasure2025.03.02 | Finding My Worth in Christ2025.03.09 | Are You Living with Eternity in Mind?2025.03.16 | Are We Missing What’s Right in Front of Us?2025.03.23 | What If Following Jesus Cost You Everything?2025.03.30 | When What You Have Feels Like Not Enough2025.04.06 | When the Storm Feels Bigger Than Your Savior
September
2025.05.18 | Faith That Won’t Let Go: At Home and Around the World2025.05.11 | When Jesus Shows You Your Heart2025.05.04 | When Jesus Wants More Than Just Our Sundays2025.04.27 | When Following Rules Isn't Enough2025.04.20 | Alive. Free. Loved. With Jesus.2025.04.13 | When the Wind Hit My Face2025.05.25 | Loaves, Fish, and a Full Calendar: Why I’m Still Saying Yes to Jesus2025.08.03 | Faithfulness When It Hurts2025.07.20 | You Were Made for This2025.08.10 | Finding Freedom in the Midnight Hour: A Journey Through Fear and Faith2025.07.27 | When God Redirects You, Trust Him2025.09.21 | Who Do You Say Jesus Is?2025.08.24 | Hope in Hard Seasons2025.08.31 | Grace That Gathers Us2025.09.07 | The Sign That’s Already Enough2025.08.24 | Childlike Faith, Public Love: Ryder and Brady’s Baptism at Hope2025.09.14 | When the Headlines Overwhelm, Remember God’s Track Record2025.07.13 | I Thought I Wasn’t Ready… Until I Realized Jesus Already Called Me2025.07.06 | Not Flashy, But Faithful: A Tribute to the Barnabases at Hope2025.06.29 | Learning to Just Point to Jesus2025.06.22 | The Church Is Full of People Who Don’t Belong — And That’s the Point2025.06.15 | Living Faith That Puts Others First2025.06.08 | When Obedience Makes Things Awkward... Not Easier2025.06.01 | When Bold Faith Feels Costly2025.08.17 | What Must I Do to Be Saved?
No Comments