Vaneetha Rendall Risner Photo

Vaneetha Rendall Risner

Vaneetha Rendall Risner is the author of Desperate for Hope, a 7-week study on suffering. Vaneetha and her husband Joel live in Raleigh, NC, where she writes at her website, encouraging readers to turn to Christ in their pain.

What Only Suffering Can Say: How Trials Feed the Flame of Witness

What Only Suffering Can Say

How Trials Feed the Flame of Witness

When fires of suffering rise, and storms of sorrow fall, the people around you will see all the more clearly what it means to belong to Jesus.

Nothing Is for Nothing: Accepting Loss and Finding Peace

Nothing Is for Nothing

Accepting Loss and Finding Peace

Anyone who has lost much has longed for peace. Those who have found it know that it comes only through acceptance.

The Lord Gave and Took Away: Lessons on Suffering from Job

The Lord Gave and Took Away

Lessons on Suffering from Job

You may not know why you are suffering like you are, but if you belong to Jesus, you can know that God has his why for you.

To Anyone Who Has Lost a Child

To Anyone Who Has Lost a Child

If you have lost a child, you carry a pain many around you do not know. But if you know Christ, you’re not as alone as you feel.

No One Knows My Pain: How Pride Hides in Suffering

No One Knows My Pain

How Pride Hides in Suffering

One of Satan’s favorite ways to isolate weak and vulnerable sheep is to convince us that no one understands what we’re going through.

Delivered by Affliction: How Trials Awaken Us to God

Delivered by Affliction

How Trials Awaken Us to God

Sometimes, God shows his mercy to us by delivering us from affliction. And sometimes, he shows his mercy by delivering us by affliction.

S.L.O.W.: How to Love Suffering People

S.L.O.W.

How to Love Suffering People

When a friend loses a loved one or goes through some severe trial, it can feel hard to know what to do or give or say. So what can we do to love hurting people well?

Will You Lose Your Faith in College?

Will You Lose Your Faith in College?

When you head to school this fall, don’t assume you won’t drift away from Christ. Faithfulness will require diligence.

Finding Joy in the Clouds

Finding Joy in the Clouds

It doesn’t feel like God draws as near without the clouds. There is an intimacy with him I have only experienced in the raging storm.

God Never Makes a Mistake

God Never Makes a Mistake

“God never makes a mistake.” How you respond to that sentence will change everything about how you experience suffering.

He Has Not Failed Me Yet: Lessons from Long Suffering

He Has Not Failed Me Yet

Lessons from Long Suffering

When you cannot see the faithfulness of God in your suffering or loss, ask him to help you remember a time when you could.

How to Harm a Heavy Heart: Loving Sufferers Begins with Listening

How to Harm a Heavy Heart

Loving Sufferers Begins with Listening

We often worry about what to say to the suffering, but often the most effective ministry in the moment is to sit, weep, and listen well.

The Unwelcome Gift of Suffering

The Unwelcome Gift of Suffering

We would never ask for suffering, but sometimes suffering is the painful, precious gift we need.

Seven Things That Transform Suffering

Seven Things That Transform Suffering

I can’t carry my plate to the table. Last month I could do it easily. But with post-polio, things deteriorate rapidly. Every week, I face new challenges, discover things I can no longer do, give up more things I love. …

Lament Helps Us Hold on to Him

Lament Helps Us Hold on to Him

I have learned the beauty of lament in my suffering. Lament highlights the gospel more than stoicism ever could. I first found the power in the book of Ruth.

When Praying Hurts: How to Go to God in Suffering

When Praying Hurts

How to Go to God in Suffering

Suffering can make prayer seem futile, if not impossible. How can we overcome resistance when our hearts lean away from God?

Look Through the Lens of Thanksgiving

Look Through the Lens of Thanksgiving

Gratitude opens space in hurting hearts. When we choose to focus on what we have been given, rather than linger over what we’re missing, we find joy and peace.

The Sight That Changes Suffering

The Sight That Changes Suffering

The pain we face in suffering may feel intense, and our own strength may feel small. But if we look to the God who is with us, he will revive us and carry us through.

Why Might God Wait? What Grief Taught Me About Love

Why Might God Wait?

What Grief Taught Me About Love

We expect love to run and rescue, answer and save. But sometimes, love waits, love lingers, and then love shows up in ways we never expected.

The Voices We Hear in Suffering

The Voices We Hear in Suffering

Often the voices that are loudest in our suffering are the least helpful ones. The power to keep going lies in our ability to hear God.

You Don’t Have to Suffer Alone

You Don’t Have to Suffer Alone

Most suffering is lonely. But often, the loneliest suffering is the suffering we try to carry apart from the church.

What the Manger Says to the Suffering

What the Manger Says to the Suffering

From the beginning of his life, Jesus became the living evidence that the hope of God is for the suffering.

Living Well Among Thorns: Finding Strength in Physical Weakness

Living Well Among Thorns

Finding Strength in Physical Weakness

Sometimes God delivers us from physical suffering. Other times he chooses to sustain us through pain to show us more of his power and grace.

Comforting Lies About Suffering: How the Prosperity Gospel Hurts People

Comforting Lies About Suffering

How the Prosperity Gospel Hurts People

Only a false gospel would claim it’s never God’s will for us to suffer. Consider Christ, who suffered to the point of death, even death on a cross.

God Turned My ‘What If’ to ‘Even If’

God Turned My ‘What If’ to ‘Even If’

Many of us live in fear, wondering whether the worst might happen. Replacing ‘what if’ with ‘even if’ is one of the most liberating exchanges we can ever make.

New Resources
in Your Inbox

A digest from Desiring God

An Invitation from John Piper

Watch →