Lately it feels as though you’re doing a tightrope dance with the devil himself. He seduces you like an angel of light in one ear and shames you for all your failures in the other. Your life feels, even smells like a sulfurous war zone and it sure seems as though the casualties are piling up. But in the quake and the fury, there’s one and only one thing you need to know…
God’s got this. All you have to do is trust Him. And say “thank you.”
Like a broken cash register, your money drawer only seems to open when it time to shell it out to somebody else. From disaster salesmen to debt collectors, everybody’s standing with an outstretched hand. There’s always another reason to fret over this thing called The Economy, and even a box of Girl Scout cookies feels like a sacrificial charitable donation. But in the fear and loathing-, there’s one and only one thing you need to know…
God’s got this. All you have to do is trust Him. And say “thank you.” [click to continue…]
Q – What do you recommend in scripture or prayer to help someone get released (& peace) from the bondage of low self esteem related to body image and eating disorders?
A – Try this scripture mashup. For an even stronger experience, try reading it out loud.
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O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
You know me, O Lord;
You see me;
And You examine my heart’s attitude toward You.
I, the Lord, search the heart,
I test the mind
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
You understand my thought from afar.
You have taken account of my wanderings;
Put my tears in Your bottle.
Are they not in Your book?
I know your sitting down,
And your going out and your coming in, [click to continue…]
Time for full disclosure.
In the previous post I shared ten false beliefs that lead to shame. You may have your own variation, and probably do.
Those are mine. Every one of those came right out of my journal.
Not that I actually believe them, but they are the lies the enemy hurls or has hurled at me over the years. And given the right set of circumstances, they can be very persuasive.
Maybe that’s why Jesus revealed Himself as the Truth (John 14:6). God knew it would take a personal relationship with Truth-as-a-Person to ever set us free from the lies of shame.
Stop. [click to continue…]
Somewhere in the back story of the drama that is your life, you are rehearsing a Cinderella story. One that transforms you from zero to hero, from reject to regal. You imagined it as a kid in ways that were unique to you. This dream may have been fed by caring parents, or it may have been an escape from the harshness of your world.
Simply put, you dreamed of glory.
Not vainglory, mind you. Something more. An image that said you mattered. Belonged. Were wonderfully adequate for the role you’d been chosen – for your quest.
Then came the collision. Dreams were broadsided by disappointments. You never quite figured out how to translate that high school stardom into a career or a destiny. Or worse, you actually found your place in the world, but stared in the mirror at a fraud. Maybe you got what (or who) you’d always wanted, and you bombed. Maybe you just settled into paying the bills and keeping house, and woke up a generation later wondering what happened.
Sometimes I think our greatest fear or vulnerability isn’t the evil we’re all capable of. What we most dread or most grieve is that we’re just so ordinary. [click to continue…]
