-
Peacemaker Conference LiveBlog #3: Kimm Carr
Live Blog 2015 Peacemaker Conference Plenary 3: Kimm Carr
-
Peacemaker Conference LiveBlog #4: Chip Zimmer – “Embracing the Future, Remembering the Past”
Live Blog Peacemaker Conference LiveBlog #4: Chip Zimmer
-
How Fred Responded When I Asked Him Last Week if I Had Ruined His Life
Last week was a particularly hard week for Fred and me. At one point, seeing the marks of searing pain on Fred’s face (again), I was overcome by the sense that all of his worst suffering in life was because of me. (Maybe not entirely because of me, since, sure, I know my theology and I know we have three real enemies: Satan, the world, our flesh. I know we live in a fallen world that truly is not the way it’s supposed to be. I can pass the Sunday School test. But in that horrible moment of overwhelmingly self-critical thinking, I forget what I “know” [gnosis] because I don’t really “know” [epignosis] it.) So there I sat, feeling…
-
My Detective in Adult Violent Crimes – The Finest Law Enforcement Official My Attorney Has Ever Met
I just had the truly amazing privilege of meeting (and thanking) in-person the investigating detective on my sexual assault case. (The adult violent crime prosecutor’s office sent me to him back when I first reported the assault .) Even my attorney said that Detective Scott Morrison is the finest, most professional law enforcement official with whom he has ever worked. And I completely agree. Some people just make the world a better place. I am profoundly grateful.
-
Tackling Two (Irrational) Fears
I’m continuing to prep for my women’s retreat this weekend (“Fear Not”) and sometimes I’m just laid out on my face before the Lord over the profound, applicable truths that God is graciously helping me to unearth and begin to understand. But in addition to the “deep stuff,” I’m also chuckling over and truly enjoying some of the fears that God is not only helping me to see in my own life, but also to overcome. Today, I’d like to tell you about two of them … First of all, it was only a few years ago (I’m 45) that I made mashed potatoes all by myself. Without any help or…
-
Paige Benton Brown: In the Temple – The Glorious and Forgiving God (The Gospel Coalition National Women’s Conference LiveBlog)
(I’m already beginning to pray for friends who are serving at next year’s The Gospel Coalition Women’s Conference: Resurrection Life in a World of Suffering. I hope that you can be at the conference June 16-18, 2016 in Indianapolis! I am so excited to hear from some of the finest teachers on these important topics—Kathleen Nielson, Rosaria Butterfield, Don Carson, Nancy Guthrie, Tim Keller, Carolyn McCulley, Ellen Dykas, Melissa Kruger … and more!) To whet your appetite for the next TGCW conference, why not enjoy a quick review of the inimitable Paige Benton Brown from her 2012 TGCW plenary? Just click “Replay” below: The actual LiveBlog replay above has over 11,600 words…
-
Grace-driven acceptance of a person does not mean open-ended availability …
I read a lot when I am in a season of insomnia (like right now). I try to pray, too. And sometimes I even exercise! But mostly, I read. Old stuff, new stuff; happy stuff, blue stuff. OK. Not really blue stuff—but exhaustion also makes me punchy, so sometimes the silliness comes out in Seussian rhymes. And gaffes. (Like last night when I was looking up a friend’s address to send his wife and him a card and I accidentally Facetimed him at 3AM! Poor guy. But also a nice guy—he just laughed it off and told me he prayed for our family as he rolled over and went back to…
-
How to REALLY Help When Someone is in Crisis (Suffering Deep Pain)
A few hours after I posted my update about my sexual assault yesterday, it hit me that I shouldn’t have just stopped at the whole “it’s hard to know what to say or do” part of the discussion, because just before she went home to Glory after a long battle with cancer, one of my dearest friends (Ruth M.) gave me a list of ideas of things you can do when someone is in crisis / suffering deep pain. I’ve re-ordered things a bit (am I compulsive organizer or WHAT?) to group by genre … and the little subtitles are mine. (So blame me for the weird wording, not Ruth!) But if you have…
-
Update on my Sexual Assault
Many, many thanks to all of you who have been so kind to pray for me, reach out with notes and gifts, and just generally remember me as I have spent the past year walking through all of the criminal, civil, and personal (body/soul) issues associated with the sexual assault I experienced returning from one of my women’s events last fall. The criminal investigation has ended and the civil case has settled, so those things are done. And now the real work begins—the heart stuff. Oh, the heart stuff. It is so hard to come back from an assault, but I am trying. And I am getting a lot of help along the…
-
The Civil Lawsuit Related to my Sexual Assault has SETTLED!
Before I turn off my laptop for the day, I wanted to let you know that the civil lawsuit related to my sexual assault has SETTLED (!!). Of course the lawyers are still going back and forth with exact wording in the release documents, but our family simply could not be more grateful to God for his provision of wise and compassionate legal representation, and medical / biblical counseling helps as well. Plus, of course, the faithful, constant, prayerful love of our real friends has really carried us through. We are so grateful! And SO happy that I don’t have to make testimony in open court / survive depositions /…
