Growth!, Healing

How Sexual Abuse Affects Us Today

4 Comments 26 July 2010

Note: This post is part of the Idea Camp’s exploration of sexual abuse.

It happened so long ago. Nearly forty years now. The picture at the top of this post is me, aged five. The year the boys came and took me away. Stole a year of my life. In ravines. Under trees. In a sheet-canopied bunk bed. With their friends in increasing number.

By grace, I faked sleep so they couldn’t take me.

By grace, we moved away from those boys.

By grace, though others would try to attack through the years, God gave me legs to run away. Far away, palms sweating, heart beating, mind remembering. Continue Reading

Healing, Ministry

The Skinny on France

0 Comments 05 July 2010

It seems like a lifetime ago that we flew to France as a family to explore our calling and see if that’s where God would have us serve. This picture was taken at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam. The kids did really well when we traveled, though they were all very tired. They were 10, 7, and 5.

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Growth!

Circling Back Around

0 Comments 05 July 2010

Have you ever felt like God has taken you back to a path you’ve been on before? Recently I’ve felt this way about worry and finances. I’ve had brilliant times of faith where I truly believed God would provide, and the anxiety level I experienced during deprivation was low.

And then there are times like recently where I can’t stop worrying about stupid money. God has reminded me of the leaner, scarier times, when I seemed to have faith. And I’ve asked Him to please help me remember better. To remember enough to act differently, believe differently. Continue Reading

Growth!, Healing

Discouragement: You Don’t Have to Keep It

0 Comments 05 July 2010

I’m convinced that the devil’s greatest weapon is plain ol’ discouragement. He whispers things in our ears, helping us along the pathway of discouragement.

• We look at others who don’t seem to suffer and ask why we have a hard life.
• We covet someone else’s lot in life.
• We allow our minds to go down streets they shouldn’t go, living in the treacherous land of What If.
• We listen to the tidbits of worthlessness he says, then rehearse them. And then we say them back to ourselves!
• We view a problem as gigantic, and our heart and courage weakens

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