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What Your Prayers Say about You
My prayers are probably like most people’s. They center around my family and my community. Many of my prayers are just listening prayers, spending time with the Holy Spirit in order to discern His will. So I was a little surprised when God told me that He wanted to revise some of the prayers on my list. I keep a list of requests on my phone. I like to be able to review them, and when one gets answered, it moves to my praise report list. But God had never told me to actually reword my prayer list before. I suppose I should preface this by admitting I am reading…
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The Intense Vulnerability of God
For most people, vulnerability is not the first word that comes to their mind when they think about God. Usually, people go one of two directions: theological or personal. The theologically minded say words like omnipotent and omniscient. Those who take a more personal route to God say words like loving, good, and grace. But for me, as I move in a direction ever closer to Him, I am regularly astonished by His vulnerability. Genesis leads with God crafting a world and then humans made in His image to live in it. Not as dolls in an elaborate dollhouse or puppets to be manipulated on a stage. He makes humans,…
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Healing from Attachment Anxiety and Chronic Mistrust
Attachment anxiety often stems from a caregiver who finds the needs of a baby overwhelming. Contrary to popular wisdom, babies are extremely sensitive to their mothers’ responses. If Mama feels she can’t possibly fulfill the needs of her baby, the baby learns to become demanding. The more he or she cries, the more attention baby gets. But the emotional support is inadequate because just as mama is afraid she isn’t enough, the baby also internalizes that anxious message. The belief developed in infancy and carried on into adult relationships is I can’t get enough! Later, in adulthood, romantic relationships and friendships become unwitting repetitions of this unconscious sense of abandonment. …