What about traumatic situations? Here’s another one. During a difficult time in her life, my friend Rhonda, who was overcome with heart ache, asked me this:
“What is going on here?! Where is God and what is He doing to me!!!!? I have done everything He has asked of me: I have had daily bible devotions, I have been active in helping with ministries in my church, I am constantly giving of my time and my resources to meet the needs of people less fortunate than me, ...and now my daughter has leukemia and the doctors tell me she has less than six months to live! I feel like God has abandoned me. I thought He was committed to blessing me if I just had faith. I was told that God will always be faithful. I have done my part. I have done everything He has asked of me, and now He is not keeping up His end of the bargain!”

You can really hear her frustration, can’t you? Have you ever felt this way? Do you get angry at God when life stinks? I hear this sort of thing a lot. I’ve struggled with these same thoughts myself, at times. What core assumptions drive these feeling and thoughts?

Obviously, she is hurting and probably not ready to communicate too deeply about this at the moment. But when she is, what might be an approach to help Rhonda think about her situation in a more helpful way.