Four Steps to Forgiveness
Forgiveness is not easy, but it is necessary to find the healing and freedom you deserve. I’d like to offer four things about forgiveness to help you on your road to freedom.
-
-
Step Into The Mud – Help For Avoidant Relationships
There are few things more attractive to a four-year-old than a mud puddle. So mysterious and alluring. It seems no amount of adult discouragement can keep a preschooler away. You give them enough freedom, and they will be stomping and splashing with total abandon — with not a care given to the effort it will…
-
What is Anxiety?
According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), 40 million adults (age 18 and over) are affected by some type of anxiety disorder each year – that’s approximately 18% of the U.S. population. Anxiety (or excessive worry) is increasingly replacing depression as the most common mental concern in western culture. It is often accompanied…
-
Should I Trust My Feelings?
The battle between head and heart is a common one. This is especially true when trying to make an important decision. The logical part of our existence wars against the emotive, so much so that we tend to minimize our feelings in favor of our intellect, the result is we invalidate the importance of our…
-
Grief-Related Guilt: What to Do?
Grief is a universal, God-given response to a significant loss. Grief is a process through which one journeys, not something one simply “gets over.” It is not unusual for the journey of grief to last up to eighteen months, sometimes longer. While everyone’s journey is different, unresolved guilt is often the one aspect that hinders…
-
Therapist, Psychologist, or Psychiatrist: What’s the Difference?
The office receptionist knocked on my door saying, “We’ve a prospective client on the phone saying they need to make an appointment with a psychologist. We don’t have a psychologist on our staff, do we?” “No,” I said, “not in the official sense. But lots of people use the term as a generalization for any…
-
Recognizing Self-Harming Behavior
Self-harming behavior is not a new phenomenon. False prophets in Elijah’s day cut themselves until the blood flowed as they tried to appease the Baal god. (See 1 Kings 18:28) However, self-harming behavior among children and teens has been on the rise for the past decade or so. Self-harming behavior (also known as self-injurious, self-mutilation,…
-
Can the Wizard be Disturbed?
“It seems like I live for interruptions,” a seasoned pastor said with a frown after he swallowed a sip of coffee. We were meeting at a local coffee shop to get away from the office. He had invited me to speak at a special event he was planning in his church, and wanted to give…
-
No Magic Bullet
It seems there is an ever-growing expectation that achieving success in ministry is the result of finding the right methodology or formula that will ensure congregational growth. I have colleagues in ministry who repeatedly, it seems, look for the next article, blog post, social media thread or conference opportunity that will provide the quickest and most…
