The first devotional made me cry, not out of sadness, but from a sense of connection I have never before felt to Joni.  She described what it felt like to have COVID as a paralyzed person.  In her words, it was “suffocating.”  Seeing that word in black and white took me back in an instant to being in the Emergency Room in 2021 and feeling like I was suffocating from the bleed in my lungs.  My pulse raced and tears I couldn’t stop leaked out my eyes. Something of the fear of that memory returned but this time, it was accompanied by a feeling of knowing.  Joni knew what it was like for me because she had felt it too.

That feeling of being known and understood returned several times as I read through Songs of Suffering.  Our situations are remarkably different, but Joni shares many of the same feelings I have experienced.  I’m sure that is true for other readers and for other reasons.  Perhaps even you.

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