Unprocessed grief and shame can keep us emotionally frozen, unable to truly connect with the people we love. In this post we explore why so many Christians struggle with hidden shame, how it masquerades as depression, and what it means to actually heal from the inside out. Using the Bible's two greatest commandments as our guide, we'll look at how loving yourself is not selfishness, it's the foundation of loving others well. Includes a 7-step guided prayer for healing shame.
Read MoreDescending in a Culture Focused on the Ascent
It is challenging to focus on descending into a place where the soul can search and roam, exploring our depths, in a culture so focused on getting better and better.
I never liked fictional stories or anything to feed the creative parts of myself because I always felt I had such little time on the earth and I should spend it reading self-help books and things that help me ascend. “Driven” is a choice word you could say about me for most of my life. But where was I going to go? Where would this ascent lead me?
Read MoreThe SACRED WORK OF GRIEF - An Introduction
Every morning I woke up in a sweat, reciting a mantra just to ground myself: "It's 2023, I am 48 years old, I live here, I am not married, my mom is dead." It was in the darkest season of my life that I first encountered the sacred work of grief — and discovered that loss is far bigger than I ever knew.
Read MoreHOW TO PRAY WHEN YOU HAVE ADHD
Have you ever thought about how Jesus prayed alone? Why was Jesus looking for solitude? I mean, obviously He was a people person right? I’ve been teaching on prayer for many years, and one thing I was known for was always giving people ‘tools’ or ‘resources’ with my teaching. I used to think the reason for that was I was a hands-on children’s-youth-type teacher, but now I believe it’s a different reason than that.
Read MoreNo Fear In Love
There was a time when I had no fear of people or the church, because in my own mind, I was living righteously, so righteously in fact that no one could judge me. Of course, they could judge me, but in my mind, I was righteous enough to have a defense against any judgment. I don’t feel that way anymore. I feel very guilty, full of shame, and constantly aware of all my sin and failure. My thoughts are filled with things like people are just waiting to expose me at every turn. That’s an awful way to think about people. In fact, that makes it quite difficult to love them and interact with them if you’re just afraid of them.
Read MoreI Have Nothing Bad to Say!
Whenever my mind wanders to places of sadness in my circumstances or fears of the unknown, this hope and promise in His Word overrides my carnality. In light of all He has done for me, how could I complain? You know that death and life are in the power of the tongue, but in your mind- your every thought- is an even greater power.
Read MoreLove for Love
Can you sit in a room with someone, say no words, give no actions, and feel loved? This is what we run to and run away from with God. There is no greater love felt than simply being in God’s presence, could you agree? To be in the presence of another and feel love, is truly love. When there is nothing to gain from it, nothing to stoke it to keep it going, it simply is.
Read MoreSOLITUDE
It is a furnace, it is in this place we face our demons. You know when you are alone, truly alone, you find out how much you can’t stand being alone. Alone with your thoughts, alone with your insecurities, alone with the realities of the parts of you inside poking their heads out to remind you that they are still there and you can’t ignore them when you are alone, just you and God. You must get around people and be busy- distracted, in order to ignore the existence of these demons.
Read MoreFighting the Good Fight
There are fights you fight to win, and there that are fights you just fight. You fight the good fight. Do you win? Not in this age. In this age, you just keep fighting. You never win the fight against the flesh. You fight the fight against the flesh.
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Sacrifice of Praise in Suffering
When we are delivered out of this world and in heaven with Christ there will be no more tears, no more pain, no more suffering. The pains of this age will cease. The betrayals and accusations will be a thing of the past. All the things that ail us will be remembered no more. There will be no more dark days. My offering of praise when everything seems perfect and is going my way does not cost the same as the offering I give when I am so heavy burdened I can barely stand.
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I'm Purposely Not Telling You
Sometimes I feel like I want to throw a fit- God! Why aren’t You answering me? Why aren’t You speaking? Can You just make this clear please? But what a humbling meditation to think that there actually may be a good reason He is being quiet… and it has nothing to do with my motivations, piety or me at all. There’s more happening than meets the eye and I must develop this ‘trust muscle’.
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Being Used By God
I heard someone preach about this idea of “being used by God” a long time ago, and the imagery they shared stuck with me for many years and often comes up in my mind.
I was thinking about this idea of how we find our value in being ‘used’ by God. If we are God’s children and we desire God to ‘use’ us, what’s wrong with that, right?
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All Things Work Together
I have never been one who could follow a recipe precisely. Most of the time that hasn’t been a problem, so it comes out less sweet or needing salt, no big deal. However there have been so many times that I missed a critical ingredient or tried to do my own thing and it came out horrible. I can’t count the number of baked goods I have had to throw away over the years because no one would eat it. And yet I would continue to make the same mistake over and over and tell myself, “Why cant you just follow the recipe!?” There have been times however that I messed up pretty bad and unexpectedly it came out amazing! Shocking!
Read MoreEndurance
Of all the 10 prayers in the FELLOWSHIP Acronym, I probably say this one the most. This may be the most strategic prayer you will ever pray during your time in the age... Father, grant to me endurance for the race!
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Endurance
Life is not easy. But the storms of life are for our good, they build up our spiritual muscles and if we learn how to endure through them rightly, we will gain a deeper relationship with God than we ever thought possible.
Read MoreSilence and the Power of Words
Silence is the greatest teacher. I have often been found guilty of over sharing- the first few sentences are all that really needed to be said, why did I go on? Why did I feel I needed to give more explanation? Why did I feel my words were more valuable than others thus dominating precious time? The truth is, my words actually are very valuable and worthy. The words I have to speak have come out of hours, days, weeks, and years of studying, meditating, and receiving from God on a certain topic that my heart/soul/mind was ready to learn and absorb. So how can I expect to convey a thought or idea to someone who is not primed in the same area?
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The Substance of Faith
Faith, the evidence of things not seen… evidence means there is something to show for it. Substance. This is not blind faith, but it develops the more we practice it. What are the areas you have struggled to have faith for? Here’s how I overcame in the area of faith for financial provision.
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Suffering Perfects Us
When I think back to my early days as a believer, “after I was enlightened”, I remember the great struggles I endured. Sometimes we refer to this as the “working out of our salvation”, but these struggles, internally and externally, are the birth of our faith.
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Feelings
Feelings got you down? Thank God for them!! I have an encouraging word for you today about those feelings of yours… lets maximize and exploit what the enemy meant for evil through thanksgiving today!
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He is Everything
When you choose to seek the Lord while He may be found, it can take you to heights that change perspective, and priorities.
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