• blame
    home environments - Toxic

    Blame: Toxic Love Killer

    - By 

    How does the blame game start? Picture this: we set out on a family trip and realize we forgot some essential item. So naturally, the first step is to figure out who was responsible for bringing that item. After all, it is crucial to establish whose fault the forgotten item is. Or is it? Then we grudgingly turn around, and our attitude punishes the forgetful member of the party. Finally, justice is served, and the trip is ruined. In Matthew 16, the disciples discover that they had forgotten to bring any bread on the trip. In what seems like a…

  • terror
    abuse

    Terror: Snapshots of Narcissistic Abuse

    - By 

    I first experienced terror in a nightmare at the age of 5. I sat on my bedspread, suspended hundreds of feet above the neighborhood below. A string dangled from one corner of the bright green and yellow coverlet, just out of the reach of a horrifying King Kong trying to pull me down from my unsteady perch. I couldn’t move for several heart-stopping moments. When I finally found my scream, I bolted to my parent’s bedroom. Terror feels a bit different as an adult. It is even difficult to write this. My innate dissociative tendencies keep interrupting my chain of…

  • creativity
    Creativity - Faith

    Creativity: What You Need to Know

    - By 

    Creativity is the most misunderstood gift I know. Students, coworkers, and even casual acquaintances regularly inform me that they lack the creative spark. Most, if not all, have a misconception of creativity as if it were a rare commodity that only a few wild-eyed writers and crazy-haired artists possess. The truth is that as beings made in the image of God, we are all creatives. We must start with creation, as described in Genesis, to understand who we are. In the beginning, God said let there be light. I think it is worth noting that light already existed before this…