Dr. Tabatha Barber suggests reframing prayer during hardship. Instead of asking God to end suffering, ask what He is doing right now. She argues that God works good in the present moment, not just at the end of the tunnel, and that recognizing His light amid pain reveals divine purpose already at work.
long as I called out to him and invited him in and asked him, God, what is going on here and what do you want to do here? I think the question that we often ask God is, can this be over? Can you like finish this? Can you just like stitch this up real quick so I can keep playing, so I can go back outside? Um, but I think the more important question is, God, what are you doing right here, right now, that maybe I'm not seeing? What is the real work that you want to do in this moment, even if it doesn't feel complete yet, or like, like this is the end of the story yet? So I think we need to reframe the fact that what we're going through, if we're really going through something, that doesn't omit God from, from doing something good in the middle of something that we would deem bad. He can actually interrupt and begin the good work right here, right now. And it doesn't just have to be the light at the end of the tunnel. The light is here with us right now, and he can light it up.
