The Hope of Healing

Trying to make this life work on my own terms is just down-right futile. If you’ve been paying any attention to my latest musings on the EBM blog, Instagram, or FB, you’ve seen a pattern begin to develop. For instance, deciding our life is manageable without Him, to resist the temptation to check out, to facing the unknown, to the concept of divine control, to understanding the value of rest and to the requirements of waiting on God. It all seems a bit surreal…

For as long as I’ve been on this journey I still doubt. I let fear reign - even though my experience tells me that God always comes through. I suppose I don’t trust myself to make the right decisions. When “things” get a little tough I blame me, someone else, or Him if I feel like being the victim. It’s a lie straight from hell. When I conjure up the notion that life must be orchestrated by me, not God, I negate the ultimate sacrifice Jesus…

Do you know how things happen in three’s? Well, I got one for you. I decided to lead with “Imaginative Prayer”, an Ignatian contemplative exercise, in our Identity Practices class at the Mission where my wife, Colleen, works. The story of Lazarus in John 11 seemed like the perfect option. So, we read through it and had the group picture themselves in the scene as quiet music played in the background. The experience was deeply spiritual followed by a time…

It happened. Finally. It started over the weekend and today in even greater splendor. It’s Spring in Pennsylvania. Yep, I looked outside and there it was. Leaves unfurling like “Old Glory”. I wanted to salute. In our window boxes were tulips that opened their petals seemingly overnight - tucked in among the pansies that my amazing wife planted last week. Vibrant with new life. The boy birds are chasing the girl birds. Acting up when a rival comes to…

https://youtu.be/1AsgkC6Jz-E The New Me https://soundcloud.com/embracingbrokenness/the-new-me There's so much "healing" available to all of us when we go deeper into the Christian journey. One rooted in the truth about who we are. The New Me - saved by Christ and in Him. Steve asks a couple of questions to go deeper.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfOVkHViNeE It's critical in our healing journey that we identify and develop an intellectual curiosity about God. Colleen shares a few thoughts here on what that might look like for you.

There’s something about the healing journey that flies in the face of logic. Especially for folks that thrive on knowing. Those that research the heck out of everything before doing anything. Trying to figure out what God is doing in any give situation can be a nightmare for some of us - but a sweet dream for others. If only I (Steve) could make it a sweet dream, day in and day out. Boy is that a tough assignment. I’m deeply engaged in a 10-month program that…

Did you know that there are at least 10 beautiful flowers that only bloom at night? One of those is the Red flare tropical water lily. I continue to be amazed and enamored by God’s creation. We can learn so much through nature. I was particularly struck by the oddity of flowers blooming at night. My innate instinct was to believe the Sun and daylight produce the most vibrant of colors, in most every living thing. Ah, but therein lies the dichotomy. Is it possible that…

Have you ever asked yourself the question, how did I get here? To this place in my life where things just don’t add up? If I’m a devoted Christ-follower doing the best I can, why does it feel like something is terribly wrong with me or the world around me? Have you ever had feelings of not measuring up or being good enough, even questioning what you were created for? Questions like this challenge every one of us. Life wounds us. From an early age every,…