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The Painful Truth about Spiritual Rebellion
Spiritual rebellion is not a popular topic for the sermon of the week. I think that is because even pastors can be somewhat unclear as to what it really is. The word, rebellion, summons up pouty teenagers staying out past curfew or military coups somewhere overseas. Most people I ask believe that spiritual rebellion is disobeying God. I suppose it is in a very vague sense, though occasionally I do disobey God, and I am no longer in spiritual rebellion. Spiritual rebellion is an incredibly painful rejection of the life that God has given you. Do you wish you had been born to another family? Do you wish that you…
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How to Overcome Learned Helplessness
The typical picture given of learned helplessness is of a hawk staying in its cage, though the door is open and it is free to soar once again. The problem with this image is that, while certainly poignant, it minimizes the actual damage that precedes the state of learned helplessness. Abuse is almost always the precursor to a person deciding that they cannot escape their situations. A feeling of powerlessness is a direct result of suffering mistreatment and contributes greatly to depression. The condition can progress to the point where a person will give up trying to escape the painful situation and instead, simply resign themselves to their apparently inevitable…
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Redefining Solitude: Facing the Dark Mirrors
Solitude is the most misunderstood spiritual discipline in our toolbox of Christian practices. As with every spiritual method, solitude has become twisted into shapes that bear no resemblance to the real work of solitude, the facing of our own selves in the mirror of our souls. This revelation is somewhat new to me, and yet not. My first foray into the realms of real seclusion of the mind and heart came with the knowledge of the inner court ritual as a pattern for prayer. The priests in Solomon’s temple engaged in a prayerful mindfulness every time they gazed at themselves in the bronze lavers and made confession throughout their day.…
Healing Through Art & Words
