Encouragement & Healing Articles
Accept healing for your life when faced with discouragement, pain, despondency and other daily challenges.
- A Balanced View of Shame
- A Clean Slate: How to Forgive Someone Who Has Hurt You We’ve all needed to extend forgiveness to people who have hurt us. This article offers practical, biblical suggestions on how to cultivate the kind of forgiveness demonstrated by God. It also addresses what to do when we can no longer obtain forgiveness from someone we have wronged.
- A Hope Transfusion Chuck Swindoll reminds us in this article why the resurrection of Jesus is so pivotal to the Christian faith and such a strong source of hope—not only from a doctrinal standpoint but in the here-and-now of everyday grievances and setbacks. May we never forget the unique benefits of serving a risen Lord!
- A Joyful Heart . . . It's Good Medicine! Chuck Swindoll recognizes the ability to laugh and to find the humor in things as a gift from God to every believer. Even though life brings tragic occurrences our way now and then, God desires that we find joy as we rest in His sovereignty over all things. According to Chuck, a Christian who doesn’t laugh much is not taking God’s divine prescription for spiritual health.
- An Anniversary America Will Never Forget
- Asking Why When unexpected and painful tragedies strike, our first inclination is to ask God why this has happened to us. Chuck Swindoll quotes a statement from Job in order to present another statement of acceptance that we ourselves can make during our own agonizing times. When we focus on who God is, our questions take on lesser importance.
- Breaking Point: One Pastor’s Story of Pain, Porn, Addiction, and Redemption
- Caves
- Changing Our Minds, Changing Our Lives
- Committing to the Road Less Traveled
- Creativity and Tenacity
- Daily Tests
- Dependence
- Depression: Hope for the Gray Days The writer states that depression of some sort will be experienced by many of us, even by Christians. She gives practical suggestions to help us through those times in the valley, so we can begin an undercurrent of trust in God and commitment to doing activities that can help shorten our times of lowness. We can gain great value from these phases of life if we recognize how God continues to work in us and we deepen our roots in Him.
- Depression: Part of the Journey
- Despite Your Circumstances
- Does God Care about Our Suffering? Hardships and trials in the Christian life are mostly unavoidable, but this article helps us to classify and understand the sources of our trials. Sometimes our own sin and foolishness get us into trouble; other times we’re the victim of someone else’s sin or we suffer merely from living in a fallen world where Satan is alive and active. But at all times, God is by our side hoping our hurts will draw us to Him.
- Everything Is Under Control
- Facing the Tough Stuff of Inadequacy: When the Truth Comes Out The authors tackle a subject that has plagued all men and women at one time or another: the fear of not measuring up to what is required—not making the grade. They assure us that only fully recognizing our weaknesses and shortcomings can put us into the state of humility necessary to depend wholly on God’s power and all-sufficiency. From that state, God can do His very best work in us.
- For the Sake of the Children
- Getting Past Guilt: Overcoming Barriers to Feeling Forgiven As believers in Christ, we all know we have forgiveness through His shed blood. But, in reality, transferring that knowledge from our head to our heart sometimes requires heavy, earth-moving equipment. Five barriers exist that can keep us from dealing properly with guilt caused by poor choices we’ve made. Overcoming these barriers allows us to experience the peace made possible by Christ’s death and resurrection. Godly sorrow and repentance leads us straight into the accepting arms of our Savior.
- God Doesn’t Waste Our Suffering
- God Knows Your Ways
- God's Unusual Leading When certain Bible stories, such as the events surrounding Jesus’s birth, become too familiar to us, we can forget how strange and incomprehensible God’s directives must have sounded to the recipients. But if we remind ourselves of how mysterious God’s ways seemed way back then, it can help us to keep following God and moving ahead now when His leading has us shaking our heads in bewilderment. Wayne Stiles reminds us that it’s not necessary to understand the whys of God’s leading in order to move when He says move.
- God’s Holiness—the Exacting Standard That Condemns Sexual Abuse
- God’s Wonderful Work When We Are Weak If the demands of your everyday life are leaving you weary to the bone and questioning God’s presence, you will relate to this heartfelt prayer. Draw strength from its honesty and hopeful reminders.
- Hope Beyond Failure We’ve all experienced failure and the guilt and regret that accompany it. But can you imagine how Peter must have felt after denying the Lord he loved three times? Chuck Swindoll reminds us of how Jesus reached out to Peter specifically with grace and forgiveness, in order to strengthen him to get past his failure and to go on to be a powerful leader of the early church. We can find hope from his example of having a second chance.
- Hope Beyond the Hurt Reflecting upon his father’s lingering grief after his mother’s death, Chuck Swindoll gives valuable suggestions on how to help someone walk through the stages of grief and see beyond it to a hopeful future. If you have lost someone dear or know of someone who has recently suffered loss, this article gives perspective to help you grieve in a healthy manner by seeing both the past and the future appropriately.
- How Can I Deal with My Fear? We all have moments when our fear and anxiety get the best of us and dominate our thoughts. This article gives very practical and specific suggestions on how to replace your hurtful, destructive thoughts with the truths from God’s Word. It also gives helpful advice on how to overcome isolation and start healthy habits.
- How Can I Manage My Anger? Anger is a normal, common, and easily expressed emotion. But it can be difficult to discern what causes us to react to a situation in anger. This article helps those who struggle with anger to explore the patterns and motives behind the outbursts, so it can be dealt with at the source. Sometimes anger is justified, but at other times it’s just an outlet for selfishness and pride.
- How Do I Overcome Anxiety? This article addresses the type of anxiety that is great enough to affect us with physical symptoms we may not understand. Specific suggestions are given to benefit us spiritually, physically, mentally, and emotionally. When all four of these components are addressed, we can begin to see a way out of the fear and find God’s purposes behind our pain.
- How Do I Respond to Someone Who Has Hurt Me? We’ve all felt the sting of hurt and anger when someone we thought we could trust betrays a confidence or says something insensitive about us. This article helps us process our emotions and work toward a proper response before our anger turns to bitterness and retaliation. Forgiveness doesn’t come naturally, but the peace that follows makes it well worth the effort.
- How Do I Survive Losing a Loved One? This article points out that grieving the loss of a loved one is a journey that cannot be shortened or shared with another. It’s deeply personal and can seem overwhelming at times. But with great wisdom and empathy, this article presents some time-tested principles for helping a person keep his or her sorrow from turning into despair.
- How to Handle Straying Saints A backslidden Christian, who has fallen into a pattern of sin in one or more areas of his or her life, needs to be approached by just the right person in just the right way. This article gives practical suggestions on how to carry out church discipline. It has just as much to say to the one doing the confronting as it does to the one in need of correction. The attitude and motive of the one correcting is a key component to determining the success of the encounter.
- How to Trust When You're Troubled Chuck Swindoll writes this article for those who have been carrying a burden for some time and see no relief ahead. He invites them to learn from Job, who, after suffering more loss than most of us will ever suffer, decided not to waver from his belief in God’s control over his life. Job refused to forget God’s unchanging love for His children. He accepted from God’s hand whatever tool God chose to use to shape Job and teach him about Himself, just as we can today.
- In Defense of the Helpless
- Is God Really in Control? We've all gone through times in our lives that don't make sense to us—when God doesn't seem to have a plan in operation. Greg Smith reminds us of times in Scripture where events seemed to be happening outside of God's control. But, of course, God was working His will behind the scenes the whole time. Greg gives three suggestions to help remind us of God's sovereignty during those times when God's purposes are veiled from our sight.
- It Takes Courage
- Letting Go, Looking Up
- Painful Days
- Reality Check Living in our permissive culture, it’s sometimes hard for Christians to confront a person who is not honoring his or her marriage vows and who isn’t being faithful to his or her spouse. Chuck encourages pastors and all of us to take the risk and call sin, sin, regardless of the response we receive. Jesus was unafraid and uncompromising when confronting those caught up in sin, and we need to follow His example.
- Sanctity of Life
- Songless Saints Chuck Swindoll expounds upon the admonishment in Scripture that we are to sing and to make a melody to the Lord. Christians have the most to sing about, yet many believers never sing a note outside of a church building. Chuck suggests ways to let the joy of the Lord take over and spill out into song, any time of the day or night.
- Suffering For those who have questioned why God allows certain hardships in the life of a Christian and what He is trying to teach us through these experiences, this article is both educational and reassuring. Drawing from the apostle Paul’s life experiences, Chuck Swindoll helps us make sure that the pain and trials of life are not endured in vain. Our suffering can better equip us to minister to others during their times of suffering. Our suffering can also teach us what areas of our lives we still need to relinquish to God, and it can teach us the healing power of gratitude.
- That Subtle Sin
- The Dos and Don’ts of Dealing with Sexual Abuse of a Loved One
- The Freedom of Forgiving If you’ve been deeply wronged by another and are having trouble putting it behind you, this is the article for you. Although Chuck identifies with the pain and anger that results from injustice, he gently reminds the reader that forgiveness is a command of God and, therefore, it is possible to put into practice. God has provided the perfect example of forgiveness, and His Spirit gives us the supernatural means to carry it out.
- The Fruit of Forgiveness Charissa Swindoll Gaither traces the prodigal path of rebellion that she chose earlier in life. Through the power of unconditional love shown her by one couple, God wooed her back and convicted her of the need to take responsibility for her own choices and to show forgiveness for those who had harmed her in the past. This article encourages us not to give up praying for the prodigals in our lives, because God knows how and when to reach them and bring them back into His shelter.
- The Gift for the Person Who Has Everything Christians should naturally be known for their selfless acts of service and compassion to others but, as Chuck Swindoll points out, believers can get just as caught up in the distractions of our material world as anyone else. The list of suggested ways to give of yourself to others is a refreshing reminder of what really ministers to people and of what exhibits God’s supernatural love in ways that are becoming increasingly rare.
- The Holy Spirit’s Power and Presence in Times of Crisis
- The Source of Hope and Strength What happens when the bottom drops out of your life? Colleen Swindoll points you to the words of Jeremiah to find the answer. The prophet was surely a man in crisis, having to watch his beloved nation carried away to captivity, despite his best efforts and pleas for change. Draw comfort from his words and example as he chose to look to the Lord for strength.
- Thick Glass
- Think Theologically, Not Logically Sometimes life hits us so hard that we begin to doubt all we’ve learned about God and the Bible. At those times, this is a very practical and helpful article to read. Chuck Swindoll encourages us to remain hopeful by relying on our all-powerful, loving, and never-changing God.
- Unquenchable Hope Throughout his more than forty years as a pastor, Chuck Swindoll has seen many believers who have started out strong in their faith but who have been beaten down over time through difficult circumstances and life events that didn’t turn out as expected. Using Scripture, he reminds us of how the promises in the Bible are not just for the future but of great benefit to us right here in the present. Whatever hardships we may be facing now, the growth we can experience as we face them with patience will bring fruit for eternity.
- Unwise Cracks This article reminds us that few people fall directly from an upright life into a life of gross sin. Instead, we start by making small exceptions to God’s standard of behavior rather than quickly repenting to ensure our relationship with God stays close. Wayne Stiles gives some practical suggestions on how to make sure that God remains our highest priority and greatest delight.
- What Can Help Me Beat the Blues? Christians should not be expected to be “up” and happy at all times. We will inevitably have periods of feeling down just because of the fallen world we live in. But God has given us lots of practical tools that we can use during those times. This article helps us identify which ones we need to try and which ones we may have been avoiding.
- What Do I Do When I Feel Lonely? This article gives valuable tips to those who find themselves in a period of loneliness, devoid of meaningful relationships. Though the tendency in these times is to seek out any relationship that keeps you from being alone, this article points out that you must first be at peace with yourself and with being alone before you can contribute to a healthy relationship. And, of course, with Jesus in his or her life a person is never truly alone.
- What Does “Trusting God” Mean?
- What Should I Say to Hurting People?
- What We Need to Help Us through Trials
- When God Says “No” . . . Pray
- When Hope Returns
- When Jesus Fails Your Expectations
- When the Unimaginable Happens
- “Believe”: Sometimes Found in Stars over the Porch