• Peace Amidst Holiday Strife

    Childhood Memories–Both Good and Bad (Holiday Misery Part 2)

    This entry is part 2 of my new blog series on things that tempt us to be miserable during the holidays. I’ll start with a quick recap of what we’ve covered so far and then jump into today’s topic. 1. Comparisons: We live in a world of competition and performance, even (tragically) in the church. No one wants to look ugly, sound stupid, or be a relational flop … It doesn’t matter how much we have or what blessings our lives contain. If we do not guard our hearts, the holidays will tempt us to compare ourselves with others and focus on what we perceive as the lack. But it doesn’t have to…

  • Actually Setting Your House in Order,  Peace Amidst Holiday Strife

    Money (Holiday Misery Part 3)

    This entry is part 3 of my blog series on things that tempt us to be miserable during the holidays. I’ll start with a quick recap of what we’ve covered so far and then jump into today’s topic. 1. Comparisons: We live in a world of competition and performance, even (tragically) in the church. No one wants to look ugly, sound stupid, or be a relational flop … It doesn’t matter how much we have or what blessings our lives contain. If we do not guard our hearts, the holidays will tempt us to compare ourselves with others and focus on what we perceive as the lack. But it doesn’t have to be…

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  • Fear Not!,  Hope in Suffering,  Redemptive Relationships

    The Only Way to Overcome Evil and Fear is with Goodness and Love

    I’m not sure from where I took these notes, but they are around ten years old, so I’m assuming they are a combination of sermons, people from my church, and anything and everything from CCEF: “When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?” Psalm 56:3-4 “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you or forsake you.” … “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged!” From Deuteronomy 31 The only way…

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  • Peace Amidst Holiday Strife,  Perfectionism & Shame

    Christmas is a Vulnerable Time

    Well! Today I left my house for the first time in two weeks. I was finally cleared by my surgeon to start Physical Therapy (yay!) and I am looking very forward to the hard work of rebuilding my strength and mobility. It was such a missing month for me—for all intents and purposes, I pretty much went “deep and dark”/”off the grid” re: contact with the outside world as I a) survived my surgery and the ensuing surgical complications; b) survived the one-year anniversary of my sexual assault; and c) cranked out my RTS (seminary) course that I thought I had until December 30 to finish but NOPE! November 30. Yeah. That was…

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  • Child Protection / Abuse in the Church,  How to Love a Mentally Ill Addict,  Peace Amidst Holiday Strife,  Surviving a Childhood of Neglect and Abuse

    Family Holidays with Drunks, Addicts, and People Who Do Not Like You

    It wasn’t until God saved me as a teenager and I began to be invited into people’s homes and holiday celebrations that I learned first-hand that sometimes, families really liked to gather with one another at the holidays and that sometimes, decorations were lovely; music was redemptive; and food was delicious. (I had read about such things in books as a child, but never had the reality of the experience myself.) My childhood holidays were different. I remember a lot of drunken yelling and slamming of doors and then sitting at an over-done formal table, plastering a smile on for the Polaroid to show how “happy” and “normal” we were. Then everyone scattering…

  • Hope in Suffering

    Comfort as we head into the new year …

    One of our elders (as always!) reminded us anew of the glorious gospel as he opened our church’s service this morning. He called out to all of us who have sinned in the past year and still cringe when we remember what we have thought, said, and done. He called out to all of us who are embarrassed by something we did; ashamed by the depth of our depravity. And he read from the prophet Isaiah: “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned.” Isaiah 40:1-2a Oh, the gospel. The glorious gospel.  We,…

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  • Just for Fun!

    No creature as wild as one of his commentators …

    Even in my grouchy state, I can’t help but laugh at this G.K. Chesterton quote from a recent sermon my pastor did on Revelation: “Though Saint John the Evangelist saw many strange monsters in his vision, he saw no creature so wild as one of his commentators.” (Can you tell I’m cleaning through piles of notes from the past few weeks?)   [A re-post from February 10, 2010] 

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  • Hope in Suffering

    Cynicism and Defeated Weariness When People Love Us Imperfectly

    A few years ago*, one of our church’s women’s studies read Paul Miller’s book, A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World. This is one of those rare books in my life that I re-read on multiple occasions. Chapter 9 of A Praying Life is amazingly profitable for revealing my heart and helping me to understand some of my recurring temptations in life. (Don’t you just love it when an author, preacher, or teacher–or friend–does that? Shine that flashlight onto my SOUL! Give me terminology to help me to see things more clearly. I can’t repent of something I can’t name. I don’t know how to get help if I can’t even define my problem.)…

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  • Grace in Daily Life

    God’s sanctifying grace clawing deeper and deeper into my heart is bloody, painful, and embarrassing—but so, so good

    This week’s friend-prayer group was off the chart SO convicting, edifying, BLESSED that I’m just not even sure I can describe it for you. (Oh, and OF COURSE, I did NOT want to go. The alarm went off and I said to Fred, “I don’t want to go.” He said: “Go!” I whined, “It’s cold. I’m too tired.” He said: “Go! You’ll be glad you went.” And he was SO right.) Let me try to capture just a portion of the conversation for you … We had been discussing the worship music at our church and how, at the end of even the best of the best of pieces, we…

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  • Ken Sande - Relational Wisdom 360,  Redeeming Church Conflicts,  Redemptive Relationships,  Relationships & Peacemaking

    “Unity is the irresistible witness of the church.” – Ken Sande of RelationalWisdom360

    OK … I’m trying to give myself a little grace even though I’ve been quite a FAILURE at blogging “live” from this Peacemaking/Unity Conference … But I have learned a thing or two: 1. It’s hard to blog a conference when you’re SPEAKING during every single workshop slot; and 2. It’s really hard to blog when you’re ASLEEP. 🙂 !! That said … I did want you all to know that I am here and, even though I have received three extremely harsh criticisms amidst a SEA of gospel-infused love, encouragement, and care, all is well! God is helping me to learn from even the graceless criticism and to not fixate on the unkindness,…

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