Episode Details

In this episode, host Lara Silverman continues the Faith in the Furnace series on Singing Through Fire with guest Lori Ann Wood, an award-winning author and speaker whose life was suddenly upended by a diagnosis of severe heart failure. After years of uncertainty, unexpected turns, and unanswered prayers, Lori Ann shares how suffering transformed the way she understood faith, prayer, and the character of God.

Lori Ann describes how she stopped “bubble-wrapping” the faith she had inherited, learned to embrace lament and hard questions, and discovered that wrestling with God could actually strengthen her faith rather than destroy it. She shares how learning to surrender the outcome through “prayers of relinquishment” ultimately opened the door to peace and joy.

Together, Lara and Lori Ann explore what it means to trust God when healing doesn't come as expected, recognize His presence when He feels silent, respond to the pain of invisible illness, lean on the faith of community, and hold onto the hope of eternity.

Chapters
01:47 A Diagnosis Out of Nowhere
03:41 An Unexpected Turn
04:47 Learning to Live With Uncertainty
08:38 Divine Detour and Shaken Faith
10:49 Silent Treatment With God
11:40 Permission to Ask Why
13:38 Doubt Versus Indifference
14:30 Relinquishing the Ending
17:01 God’s Purposes in Suffering
18:30 Size of Loss and Mystery
21:49 Signs God Hasn’t Forgotten
24:20 When God Feels Silent
25:44 Clinging When Prayers Fail
26:24 Finding Threads of Faith
27:35 Wrestling With Scripture
29:16 Prayer Beyond Transactions
30:22 Weakness Into Witness
32:08 Sustained Through Crisis
34:49 Eternity and Letting Go
36:37 Verses to Hold Onto
38:43 Peace Before Joy
42:10 Relinquishment and Trust
43:57 Invisible Illness Misunderstood
47:03 Redemption and Final Takeaway

Resources and Links:
Lori Ann's Website
Lori Ann's Instagram
Lori Ann's Facebook

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PODCAST DESCRIPTION:

Welcome to the Singing Through Fire podcast! I’m your host Lara Silverman, and this is where we:

• Worship when it hurts
• Discuss hot takes from the furnace of affliction
• Explore a biblical theology of suffering with a side of sass and sarcasm 

From lamentations to laughter, this podcast is for anyone desperate for hope who has ever asked, "Why, Lord, why?”

Don’t forget to follow/subscribe because I upload content every Tuesday and Friday! 

"For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." 2nd Corinthians 4:17.