• mercy
    Featured,  Spiritual Gifts

    Five Truths about the Gift of Mercy

    The gift of mercy is a rough gig. I used to say that all women go around with a broken heart. I projected this particular spiritual gift onto everyone because my heart regularly aches for those around me. It didn’t occur to me that not everyone’s heart does. Now I realize that almost anyone with the gift of mercy carries a heart wounded on behalf of others. And I also know now that not everyone has this gift. The world would be a quite different place if they did, and not necessarily better. But as is the case with any spiritual gift, immaturity can hamper its effectiveness. I believe spiritual…

  • Truth
    Telling the Truth,  Truthfulness

    How to Tell the Truth in Love (Even to Yourself)

    For someone who believes that Jesus is the Truth, I have sure spent a lot of my life trying to save people from the truth. Even from my childhood, I have tried to protect others from what I thought would hurt them, namely the truth about how I felt or the truth of their situations. I have a Ph.D. in tiptoeing around uncomfortable issues and if I am honest with myself, it wasn’t just to protect them, but myself from the horrors of personal conflict. Numerous reasons exist as to why I have struggled with this particular issue. Firstly, I am sensitive. You know the empath on Star Trek? The…