The Hope of Healing

Samiah* hated the local tribe. Its soldiers committed atrocities against her family during the war in her homeland—sexually assaulting her daughter and murdering her brother. Now at a refugee camp in Southeast Africa, her hatred for the tribe was just as fierce as the day she arrived there. Steeped in anger, Samiah vowed to never talk to any member of that tribe as long as she lived. She wished she could kill them. But that wish changed the day she saw the JESUS.…

I fell down the basement steps a couple of days ago. In a rush to get the laundry out of the dryer, in my stocking feet, I turned the corner heading downstairs  -  It was like a sheet of ice when I jogged onto the first step of the polyurethaned hardwood. Both feet shot into the air and my elbow hit the second step as I grabbed for the handrail. Imagine me bouncing on that elbow and my right foot before I got hold of the rail with my left hand 7 steps down. Badly…

All of us have experienced trial and pain. All of us are living life wounded and scarred. We learn to deal with our wounds and press forward, but whether we acknowledge it or not, wounds and scars change us. There are no perfect parents. There are no perfect friends. There are no perfect siblings or spouses. We live in an imperfect world with imperfect humans. We lash out and hurt others because we are broken and in need of healing. One of the most critical spiritual…

Guys are unanimously embarrassed by their emptiness and woundedness; it is for most of us a tremendous source of shame, as I've said. But it need not be. From the very beginning, back before the Fall and the assault, ours was meant to be a desperately dependent existence. It's like a tree and its branches, explains Christ. You are the branches, I am the trunk. From me you draw your life; that's how it was meant to be. In fact, he goes on to say, "Apart…

“We are all broken people, living in a broken world. It’s that simple. Unfortunately, no one is exempt from the effects of sin. The good news for all of us is that Jesus steps into the midst of our brokenness, is near to us and makes us whole in his love. What’s even more amazing is God wants to use you to see past the broken exterior to the hearts of the people in your life. Brokenness can often make us hard, bitter and difficult to deal with. But we&rsquo…

"You will appreciate the mastery of Jesus only to the degree that you understand the minefield he walks. He is advancing against the prince of darkness in a bid for the human heart. The whole situation is booby-trapped. Satan already has the upper hand—he took our hearts captive when we fell, back in Eden. Some he has snared through abuse, some through seduction, others by means of religion. Oh, how hard it is to rescue the human heart, to dislodge people from…

I crashed headlong into God's healing process in September 2017, when I was invited to join a healing care group by a good friend who knew my world was falling apart.  I had driven my car (metaphorically) off a cliff, and not for the first time.  Separated from my wife and soon to be divorced, broken and hurting, a father to three amazing and hurting kids, I couldn't figure out why I was stuck in the same cycles for years but I desperately wanted answers.;…

The last few days have felt a bit chaotic. Not just because the world is facing uncertainty around a global pandemic - more because I’m watching people I care about struggle at levels rarely seen in my lifetime. Relationships are strained, bills aren’t getting paid, people are hungry, peace is being hijacked, the political climate is worse than ever, and then there’s the spiritual warfare being waged at seemingly unprecedented levels. Another overused,…

"He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. (Ps. 147:3) Yes, we have all been wounded in this battle. And we will be wounded again. But something deeper has also happened to us than mere wounds. I expect that all of us at one time or another have said, 'Well, part of me wants to, and another part of me doesn't.' You know the feeling—part of you pulled one direction, part of you the other. Part of me loves writing and genuinely looks…