Isolation is one of the last areas in our hurting souls to heal after prolonged abuse. I think of it as Frodo syndrome. After returning from his successful quest, he cannot regain his footing in his former life. I notice this in many people who manage to escape a hellish marriage or relationship this same tendency, including myself. The further out I am from my twelve-year first marriage, the more the inner isolation fades, but it still resurfaces. I will continue with the Frodo parallel, borrowing the story from the Lord of the Rings. Frodo is obviously not a victim of intimate terrorism or even of narcissistic abuse. Still, I…

  Dreams help me communicate with myself. Those things I hesitate to admit to myself often end up as my subconscious knocking on the door of my dreams to let me know something is wrong. I didn’t come to a complete realization about how my mind was trying to capture my attention until well into my first marriage. I began to read a few books on dream analysis. The parallels between my dream life and my real one suddenly became unavoidably obvious. I just needed to think metaphorically. I recently had a dream involving my ex, who I divorced nearly two decades ago. Most people who read my blog know…

Spiritual lessons rarely come easy for anyone. Usually, we learn the lessons that spiritual mothers and fathers learned before us, lessons they figured out the hard way, just like we do. But once internalized, these spiritual truths give us the strength to endure the hard times with grace. These realities give us the fortitude to resist temptation, stand for truth, resist fear, and resolutely abide in Christ. I feel like such a slow learner. I have to repeat homework and retake the spiritual tests over and over. But I have discovered that this is part of the process. How many repetitions does it take to make a bodybuilder strong enough…