• a tree in a field against a blue sky
    Abundant Life,  Abusive Parenting,  Relationship with God,  Suffering

    How I Learned that God is Good

    God is good all the time. All the time, God is good. I hear that at church a lot, but that isn’t where I learned that God is, indeed, good. Humans must acquire some kinds of knowledge experientially because an intellectual assent isn’t belief. The dictionary allows for both, citing belief an acceptance of a statement as truth and as confidence or trust in something. In spiritual matters, merely intellectually consenting to God’s goodness can still leave one staring in terror at the inevitable void. We acquire the ability to rest in the knowledge of God’s goodness through the slow process of building a relationship. Ironically, I learned that God…

  • person jumping from one cliff to another
    Featured

    Praying Dangerously: Five Risky Requests

    Praying during our devotions can get repetitive. I have a lot of ground I need to cover each week, and sometimes I forget the essentials.  I don’t feel guilty about how many petitions I put before the Lord. But while I am praying, it is easy to focus on my burdens for myself and others. I want to make sure I am focusing on Him and what He might be saying. That said, I find that some requests I have made are a bit risky. I never know where the Lord might take me. But if we are serious about our faith walk, certain ways of praying must become defaults.…

  • people pleaser
    Abundant Life,  emotional health,  Emptiness,  Fear,  Self Awareness,  self worth,  Self-Acceptance,  True self

    The Five Wounds of a People Pleaser

    I think most of us struggle with being a people pleaser at some point. Our development as adults requires that we let go of the fear of man as the Bible calls it. We first individuate from our parents, a task that takes decades. After that, we must carve out our identities, choosing what we will and will not stand for as a person. Often this process means eliminating friends along the way, determining which relationships are toxic and which are life-giving. C.S. Lewis famously said that man’s strongest drive was to belong to a group. In essence, humans are herd animals. And like sheep, each of us has gone…