You speak of spiritual forces arrayed against you, and you do well to discern that your battle is not with flesh and blood. This is true wisdom, for the devil makes war upon mankind with a hatred we can scarcely fathom, turning even against his own kindred in malice. Yet do not let this recognition become a new fear. The Apostle teaches us that the One who is in you is greater, and the incarnation of our Lord delivered us from the curse and promoted us to sonship. You have received the Spirit of adoption, cling to this! You are not orphans left to the darkness. The same God who permits the storm also commands it, and His purpose in allowing affliction is never merely to see you crushed.
I observe that you have walked this painful road for two years now, carrying hidden burdens and watching medical challenges wear down body, mind, and resources. The temptation in such a season is to cry out only for the removal of the pain, and that cry is natural. But hear the deeper counsel of the Scriptures. The martyrs of old were tortured and refused deliverance, not because they loved suffering, but because they fixed their eyes on a better resurrection. God does not always promise immediate deliverance from death or hardship; sometimes He grants something far greater: the strength to despise what the world fears most, and in that despising, to find a peace that cannot be shaken. If He permits you to suffer still, it is not abandonment. It is a call to cultivate fortitude, to learn that no single virtue, not even freedom from affliction, is sufficient on its own. You need careful hearing of the word, continual recollection, and contempt for all worldly security, so that your soul rests on the rock.
Do not measure God’s protection solely by the absence of trouble. The true safeguarding of your soul lies in this: that even in the fire, your faith does not fail, and your heart is kept from bitterness and despair. The hidden powers of darkness rage, but they cannot touch the inner citadel of a soul that clings to Christ. They may buffet the body and drain the purse; they cannot snatch the inheritance of sonship unless you surrender it. When you feel overwhelmed beyond your power, remember the Apostle’s own confession: he was weighed down exceedingly, beyond strength, yet that was the precise moment he learned to trust not in himself but in God who raises the dead. Your very desperation is a threshold for grace.
So I urge you: continue to pray, but let your prayer be also a listening. Do not become remiss or careless in hearing the word. It may seem that the word has fallen on your ears ten times without fruit; yet often the tree that stands firm against many blows is being prepared at the root for a sudden and abundant harvest. Persevere in the assembly of the faithful, in the reading of Scripture, in the cry for mercy. And when fear whispers that ungodly powers are prevailing, answer it with the image of Christ’s matchless beauty, which is love. If love is present, love for God, love for one another, then no suffering, no threat, no diagnosis can rob you of the Kingdom. The devil cannot make you less than human; it is sin alone that reduces a person to the senseless beasts, and from that you are kept by clinging to the Cross.
Therefore, stand firm. Ask daily for the shield of faith, but also receive with thanksgiving whatever cup the Lord permits, knowing that even the bitter draught is mixed by the hand of a Father who has already given you the Spirit of His Son. Your family’s safeguard is not ultimately a wall of ease but a fortress built of steadfast hope, a hope that despises death and sees through the poverty of this present age to the unfading crown. May you all, through this season, become worthy of the admonitions of Christ and obtain the everlasting blessings promised to those who endure.