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Praying in Pain: How to Know You're Heard When You Haven't Been Healed
Prayer is how we survive the grip of crushing pain.Sometimes there are no words. Buried in grief and pain, we don’t know what to say, how to pray. Glenna Marshall has been there. Suffering for over a decade with chronic pain, she has spent nights exhausted, frustrated, and, at times, prayerless.Praying in Pain is inspired by the words of the psalmists, fellow friends and saints of old, who understand loss, pain, and heartache. Taking the beautiful, honest words of the Psalms—words like, how long, hear me, heal me, help me, I trust you, I love you—Glenna composed The Sufferer’s Prayer; this prayer gives words in those moments when it feels as if there are none.As Glenna takes the reader through this rich prayer, she shares guidance on who God is, how He works in suffering, and how to pray while we wait for Him. Readers will gain understanding of why God doesn’t always heal this side of heaven, how to pray as they wait in pain, and what good purposes the Lord might bring from their ongoing suffering. This prayer serves as a springboard for learning to pray Scripture. Praying in Pain is a light in the darkness and a balm to every hurting heart.I can think of no other place or time in my life when God has most faithfully met me. In the dark. In the night. In the crucible of my deepest and hardest physical suffering. What we pray in the dark shapes our suffering, removing the sharp, bright edges of anger and softening them with trust in God’s presence and faithfulness.
- GenresNonfictionChristian
192 pages, Paperback
Published June 2, 2026
About the author
Glenna Marshall
10 books737 followersGlenna Marshall is married to her pastor, William, and lives in rural Southeast Missouri where she tries and fails to keep up with her two energetic sons. She is the author of The Promise is His Presence: Why God is Always Enough (P&R, 2019) and Everyday Faithfulness: The Beauty of Ordinary Perseverance in a Demanding World (Crossway, 2020).
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
July 19, 2026
Absolutely incredible! If you have chronic pain or know someone who struggles with it, this is the book to read. I love her vulnerability in sharing what she’s gone through, while not comparing body pains and health issues. I honestly don’t know if I’ve ever underlined inside a book more than in this one. Some of my favorite quotes are below:
“I am convinced the only way you go from grieving to singing is because you’ve remembered God has never once let you go.” Pg. 29
“To lament biblically leads to trust in God’s character and purposes for your life. Worldly complaint leads to bitterness and self-pity.” Pg. 30
A quote from her pastor: “God always heals. He heals in one of three ways: miraculous healing that can’t be explained, healing through the common grace of medication and treatment, or healing in heaven.” Pg. 57
“Rather than becoming bitter because no one seems to understand your pain, run to Christ who identifies with your suffering more than anyone else in the world.” Pg. 94
10/5: Would highly recommend. I can’t put all of my favorite quotes or my review would be as long as the book😋 I finished the book today, 24hrs post op and am so thankful I didn’t finish it before surgery haha.
Thank you, Glenna, for an amazing, relatable, uplifting book that helps those with chronic pain to process and pray in ways that are glorifying to our Loving Father.
“I am convinced the only way you go from grieving to singing is because you’ve remembered God has never once let you go.” Pg. 29
“To lament biblically leads to trust in God’s character and purposes for your life. Worldly complaint leads to bitterness and self-pity.” Pg. 30
A quote from her pastor: “God always heals. He heals in one of three ways: miraculous healing that can’t be explained, healing through the common grace of medication and treatment, or healing in heaven.” Pg. 57
“Rather than becoming bitter because no one seems to understand your pain, run to Christ who identifies with your suffering more than anyone else in the world.” Pg. 94
10/5: Would highly recommend. I can’t put all of my favorite quotes or my review would be as long as the book😋 I finished the book today, 24hrs post op and am so thankful I didn’t finish it before surgery haha.
Thank you, Glenna, for an amazing, relatable, uplifting book that helps those with chronic pain to process and pray in ways that are glorifying to our Loving Father.
June 30, 2026
A testimony—this book is a testimony. I found the discussions of how to trust God amidst chronic pain to land more deeply, given the author’s description of her years-long struggle with autoimmune disease—a disease and pain I don’t think I can really fathom enduring. I am grateful to the author for sharing her story, and for fostering in me a deeper thankfulness for pain-free days and nights.
June 8, 2026
I am currently feeling really great with the right medication but it was interesting to see her journey with same condition as me and to see how God was involved in the highs and lows of chronic pain. I wish I’d had this book in the height of my pain but happy to have it now as a companion on my journey.
June 24, 2026
[I received a review copy of this book.]
I hesitate to use “seen” to describe what I felt reading Glenna Marshall’s latest book, Praying in Pain: How to Know You’re Heard When You Haven’t Been Healed. The sentiment is overused, treacly, soft. It is, however, the closest I can come to explaining my reaction when I read Marshall’s opening chapters describing how she, as a fellow chronic pain sufferer, knows how much “we do want to be understood. We want our limitations to be acknowledged, but that requires talking about our ongoing pain…So we complain to be heard. To be seen. To be understood” (20).
The book is lived theology, the kind of God-knowledge that only comes from the depth of experience you wish you didn’t have. What makes this different from a chronic pain memoir, however, is Marshall’s commitment to Scripture. The book maps out biblical lament, which she breaks down into four movements: lament, cry out, remember, resolve. Her goal is to move chronic pain sufferers out of despair and into firm faith (22). She has written her own Sufferer’s Lament, and in each chapter, Marshall tells a little of her own pain story while encouraging the reader to have their own conversation with God about their pain.
Marshall could easily have lost readers by promising God would heal them if they just prayed or believed enough. She is too honest to do so, and while I desperately wish someone would tell me my chronic pain would end, I would have dropped this book if she had. She shares her own pastor’s reminder that God always heals, through miraculous healing, common grace healing through medication or treatment, or healing in heaven (57). I am grateful for her honesty. Her discussion of why she believes God may choose not to heal this side of heaven is nuanced and Scripture-based. I was left chewing on her words, and, more importantly, taking them to God to talk to him about them.
There is something here for every person at every point in their pain journey. There will be those who just need to see another fellow sufferer’s words on the page and feel tears fall in relief—relief that a fellow Christian understands. That their despair in their unrelenting pain doesn’t mean they’ve been forgotten by God or that they are a “bad Christian.” Someone else may be ready to hear that their suffering has a redemptive purpose; God wants them to lay down their self-sufficiency and rely on their church family (102). The truly brave—and I am not one, yet—may reach the point Marshall has, thanking God for the goodness God is working out through the suffering while looking forward to their new, pain-free body in eternity (132).
The book closes with a letter from Marshall’s husband to others who love and care for chronic pain sufferers, so I asked my husband to read it. He doesn’t need the advice – he almost naturally follows it – but he returned to the room and stated, “I’m glad this was included. I needed this.”
May my fellow pain sufferers find comfort in this book and in God, as I have.
Originally reviewed for Englewood Review of Books [https://englewoodreview.org/glenna-ma...].
I hesitate to use “seen” to describe what I felt reading Glenna Marshall’s latest book, Praying in Pain: How to Know You’re Heard When You Haven’t Been Healed. The sentiment is overused, treacly, soft. It is, however, the closest I can come to explaining my reaction when I read Marshall’s opening chapters describing how she, as a fellow chronic pain sufferer, knows how much “we do want to be understood. We want our limitations to be acknowledged, but that requires talking about our ongoing pain…So we complain to be heard. To be seen. To be understood” (20).
The book is lived theology, the kind of God-knowledge that only comes from the depth of experience you wish you didn’t have. What makes this different from a chronic pain memoir, however, is Marshall’s commitment to Scripture. The book maps out biblical lament, which she breaks down into four movements: lament, cry out, remember, resolve. Her goal is to move chronic pain sufferers out of despair and into firm faith (22). She has written her own Sufferer’s Lament, and in each chapter, Marshall tells a little of her own pain story while encouraging the reader to have their own conversation with God about their pain.
Marshall could easily have lost readers by promising God would heal them if they just prayed or believed enough. She is too honest to do so, and while I desperately wish someone would tell me my chronic pain would end, I would have dropped this book if she had. She shares her own pastor’s reminder that God always heals, through miraculous healing, common grace healing through medication or treatment, or healing in heaven (57). I am grateful for her honesty. Her discussion of why she believes God may choose not to heal this side of heaven is nuanced and Scripture-based. I was left chewing on her words, and, more importantly, taking them to God to talk to him about them.
There is something here for every person at every point in their pain journey. There will be those who just need to see another fellow sufferer’s words on the page and feel tears fall in relief—relief that a fellow Christian understands. That their despair in their unrelenting pain doesn’t mean they’ve been forgotten by God or that they are a “bad Christian.” Someone else may be ready to hear that their suffering has a redemptive purpose; God wants them to lay down their self-sufficiency and rely on their church family (102). The truly brave—and I am not one, yet—may reach the point Marshall has, thanking God for the goodness God is working out through the suffering while looking forward to their new, pain-free body in eternity (132).
The book closes with a letter from Marshall’s husband to others who love and care for chronic pain sufferers, so I asked my husband to read it. He doesn’t need the advice – he almost naturally follows it – but he returned to the room and stated, “I’m glad this was included. I needed this.”
May my fellow pain sufferers find comfort in this book and in God, as I have.
Originally reviewed for Englewood Review of Books [https://englewoodreview.org/glenna-ma...].
July 9, 2026
My daughter gave me this book because she suffers from the same condition that Glenna does. I think she thought it would help me understand what her life is like. And it did help with that. Glenna describes the searing back pain that she felt for years before she got diagnosed and helped with biologic medication for her autoimmune disease. She also describes the problem with having a chronic condition while young and apparently healthy. People do not understand and may think she is just lazy. So it was good to get an inside look at life for someone with this condition.
I also suffer from chronic headaches that have sometimes felt unbearable. There is no biologic medicine for me, so I have had to cobble together medications and therapies that allow me to live a semi-normal life. So her book was applicable to me as well.
I enjoyed and benefitted from Praying in Pain. But I felt the focus was too narrow for such a long book. As a pastor’s wife, I’m sure she was familiar with other people who struggled to pray in the midst of all kinds of pain and may have given up. She probably had lots of examples of different types of pain and disappointment. I feel like her thesis is just too narrow and her examples are all just about her.
Her solutions are inadequate as well. She spends a lot of the book discussing the importance of suffering in fellowship with Jesus, so we can share in his glory in the new heavens and earth. This point is an important one. But it was emphasized so completely that little discussion was given to how God may give us opportunities to serve him in this life, even if he doesn’t remove our “thorns in the flesh.” Paul continued to spread the gospel despite and through his suffering. Joni Eareckson Tada is another great example.
And sometimes, God answers our prayers with miraculous healing. I feel like God wants us to pray with openness and hope, and not just the hope of sanctification and healing in heaven. He is a faithful and powerful healer both now and in heaven. We should never adopt a theology of fatalism.
She does quote from Mark Vroegop’s book, Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy. It is a more complete treatment of praying in pain, especially the psalms of lament. The theological basis is also better. I would suggest it as a companion to Glenna’s book. Together, they present both the very personal experience in great detail and a broad theology of pain, with examples from throughout the last several thousand years.
Because we live in a fallen world, we will all experience some type of long-term pain that requires long-term prayer. I’m glad that these authors have shown us biblical tools for dealing with it.
I also suffer from chronic headaches that have sometimes felt unbearable. There is no biologic medicine for me, so I have had to cobble together medications and therapies that allow me to live a semi-normal life. So her book was applicable to me as well.
I enjoyed and benefitted from Praying in Pain. But I felt the focus was too narrow for such a long book. As a pastor’s wife, I’m sure she was familiar with other people who struggled to pray in the midst of all kinds of pain and may have given up. She probably had lots of examples of different types of pain and disappointment. I feel like her thesis is just too narrow and her examples are all just about her.
Her solutions are inadequate as well. She spends a lot of the book discussing the importance of suffering in fellowship with Jesus, so we can share in his glory in the new heavens and earth. This point is an important one. But it was emphasized so completely that little discussion was given to how God may give us opportunities to serve him in this life, even if he doesn’t remove our “thorns in the flesh.” Paul continued to spread the gospel despite and through his suffering. Joni Eareckson Tada is another great example.
And sometimes, God answers our prayers with miraculous healing. I feel like God wants us to pray with openness and hope, and not just the hope of sanctification and healing in heaven. He is a faithful and powerful healer both now and in heaven. We should never adopt a theology of fatalism.
She does quote from Mark Vroegop’s book, Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy. It is a more complete treatment of praying in pain, especially the psalms of lament. The theological basis is also better. I would suggest it as a companion to Glenna’s book. Together, they present both the very personal experience in great detail and a broad theology of pain, with examples from throughout the last several thousand years.
Because we live in a fallen world, we will all experience some type of long-term pain that requires long-term prayer. I’m glad that these authors have shown us biblical tools for dealing with it.
July 8, 2026
Once again, I am so thankful that the Lord is using Glenna, even in her pain, to write about His glory. Love that she isn’t fearful to be honest with her own condition and where it has taken her and not knowing where it will take her but instead is fully relying on the Lord for strength and for that one day when we will all be in restored bodies! Oh what a day that will be!
July 15, 2026
Glenna does a great job walking you through responding to God in your pain mirroring the Psalmists. Well written. I differ theologically with her focus on God ordaining all pain. He allows it and uses it for sure. Would recommend to someone who struggles with chronic pain. Interestingly enough in the midst of this book I found a supplement that works for my migraines but it was still helpful.
Review of advance copy
This is a book for anyone who lives with chronic pain or knows someone who does. Glenna Marshall writes as a fellow sufferer, helping give language for how to pray when you don’t know what to pray, pointing us to the One who will one day make all things right.
I bought multiple copies of this book because I know it will help many fellow sufferers. I can’t recommend it enough. “Recycling sorrows into gladness is His specialty. Suffering now, glory forever.”
I bought multiple copies of this book because I know it will help many fellow sufferers. I can’t recommend it enough. “Recycling sorrows into gladness is His specialty. Suffering now, glory forever.”
June 12, 2026
Chronic illness is lonely and hard. This book gives a great perspective on learning to endure in Christ, praying for miraculous healing, and knowing it may not come this side of heaven. I feel a little less alone in my spiritual journey and living with chronic pain after reading this book.
July 1, 2026
Glenna Marshall bares testimony to the oft hidden suffering of those enduring chronic pain and the God who hears, heals, helps, and holds us in the midst of it. I especially appreciated the chapter on self-sufficiency as this is a struggle I can closely identify with.
Review of advance copy received from Author
All the stars for this one. If you have a chronic condition of any kind, or love someone who does, do yourself a favor and pre-order this book. You won't regret it.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews