Grace for the Thorns

It is difficult to understand why God allows suffering, hardship, and pain to remain in our lives when we have prayed for Him to take it from us. It becomes a thorn in the flesh. God allows the thorn to pierce our hidden heart to bring us to a place where we become open to reveal to him the real person hiding within. Times of hardship, unending trials, and painful suffering bring us to a place where we become weary of life, and call out to Him to provide grace for the thorns.

We all want to understand the "Why's" of our lives. This is especially true when one's life is impacted by a long-term debilitating illness, a traumatic life experience, abuse, addiction, or the loss of a loved one. Some people live with chronic disorders like depression, crippling anxiety, an eating disorder, PTSD, obsessive compulsive issues, or a traumatic brain injury. Many others have struggled for years with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, lupus, MS, autism, learning disabilities, or visual, speech or hearing disorders.

When one lives day after day with any issue that shadows their personal quality of life, or capacity for relational intimacy, they can gradually become resentful at God for seemingly allowing such a burden for them or a loved one to carry. They can feel that others have their prayers answered, experience a desperately needed miracle, or are set free from an unknown or diagnosed "Thorn in the Flesh." 

They can begin to believe that God has abandoned them in their greatest hour of need. The Apostle Paul expressed his own struggle with seeking to understand God's purpose in allowing an affliction to remain in his life even though he repeatedly prayed for God to remove it.

“Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say,  or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me,  

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” II Cor. 12:6-10 

About the Book 

Grace for the Thorns grapples with critical life issues with keen insight, providing practical opportunities to journal along with the book as you read it. Each chapter provides a response activity with encouraging scriptures to meditate on between readings.

There is a supplementary appendix, to understand what the bible teaches about the Attributes of God, the Names of God, and how to personally apply that understanding to their prayer life and world view. 

The reader will discover in this series of studies how the word of God clearly defines from the Hebrew and Greek, the intimate meanings of the nature and heart of God, which is culminated and experienced in our walk with Jesus Christ.

“That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.” Phil. 3:10

 

 Discover how you can turn suffering from an inward struggle each day, to an upward focus as you pilgrimage your way through Grace for the Thorns. 

  
About the Author

John Krohn has worked in his career as a pastor, bible college professor, professional therapist, and more recently as a corporate executive coach. He now works as a full time author, and has published several titles including:

Healing the Wounded Heart, Grieving the Death of a Loved One, Trusting God in the midst of a Life Storm, Between the Lightning and the Thunder, Holding on to Faith when God is Silent, and now Grace for the Thorns. 

Order a copy on Amazon

myBook.to/GracefortheThorns  


The Quiet Place 

Several years ago, he created the blog, The Quiet Place which focuses on deepening spiritual communion and worship with God, especially in the midst of the difficult and painful life experiences. The Quiet Place has had approximately 200,000 visits from every continent and almost every country of the world. 

The Quiet Place can be found at:  https://www.johnkrohn.blogspot.com