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

    The Five Wounds of a People Pleaser

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    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…

  • vulnerability
    Featured - Vulnerability

    The Intense Vulnerability of God

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    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…

  • abandonment
    Abandonment - Rejection

    Rejection vs Abandonment: Soul and Spirit Wounds

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    Over the course of my prayer ministry, I have noticed a thing or two about rejection and abandonment. Both are immensely painful, but the struggles that surround each differ somewhat. I have noticed that while rejection is a wound in the soul, abandonment is a wound of the spirit. As I look at Jesus’ road to Calvary, I find that He had to encounter both. However, while He endured rejection with a certain amount of stoicism, abandonment caused Him to cry out. He died immediately after. In case you are not completely sure about the difference between the two; the…