OM DENNE EPISODE
Join Paris live for Seen in the Wilderness, August 27–28 at 3pm PST.
The Song: God Moves in Mysterious Ways
Some suffering does not have a clean ending. In this episode, Paris sits with William Cowper, who wrote one of the most beloved hymns in the English language from inside a breakdown, and with Hannah Coulter, whose faithfulness accumulated quietly across an entire lifetime of ordinary loss. Together, their stories refuse two common lies about suffering: that God simply ordains it and expects silent endurance, or that enough faith will always pray it away. Paris walks through Romans 8 and Second Corinthians 4 to offer a truer, more durable frame, and reflects on why Between Grief & Glory exists in the first place.
In this episode:
• The two lies most Christians are taught about long-term suffering
• William Cowper and John Newton's friendship through decades of depression
• Hannah Coulter and the faithfulness of staying through accumulated, ordinary loss
• Romans 8:18–29 and Second Corinthians 4:16–18, held together honestly
• Why self-compassion and receiving empathy from others is not a failure of faith
• The invisible shape this whole summer series has followed, named for the first time
On empathy by Bill & Kristi Deeply Loved: Receiving and Reflecting God's Great Empathy for You