Wounded Healer

Ultimately, submission centers us directly in the will of God and gives us the opportunity to experience the best we could ever imagine. Surrender. That’s the key. Orient yourself toward a posture of obedience—up front!— that’s how the door flings open for His voice to be heard and His will to be accomplished. The Lord says to those of His children who freely submit their wills to His: “I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you…

If you’ve ever had to carry luggage while running to catch a flight or the bus, you know how difficult and exhausting it can be. Have you considered that the same could be said about carrying baggage from your past into your Christian life? Sometimes the burdens we carry have been with us since childhood—painful experiences during those formative years can have a profound impact, even into adulthood. And things we saw, heard, or felt could negatively affect our…

The apostle Paul writes, “For just as the body is one and yet has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:12). He explains that though one part of the body can’t accomplish what another part can, this doesn’t mean it is any less important. So it is with us. We are each different, and every difference represents a unique contribution we can make in serving the Lord. Whether we…

Our tendency is to monitor our behavior while pretty much ignoring our hearts. After all, how do you monitor your heart? I can’t get too far off base in my behavior without somebody drawing it to my attention. But my heart? That seems a bit more complicated. Jesus said something that still has huge implications today: “The things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart,” and then, “Out of the heart come evil thoughts.” The…

Following Jesus put the disciples under great pressure. Leaders measure their true followers by how they handle the places of pressure. Anyone can follow through exaltation; it takes a special person to follow during aggravation. When things intensified with Jesus, great contention, wrestling, and turmoil followed. Jesus died in such a humiliating way that it left doubt, fear, and disarray. Now that Jesus was dead, the heat was on those who followed him. The pressure was so…

Most people go through their entire lives without anyone, ever, speaking honest, loving, direct words to the most damaging issues in their lives. Pause for a moment, and count the times this has been done for you. Better, pause and count the times you have offered this to someone you love. Let’s be honest—why aren’t we more honest with each other? Because it will cost us. Socrates didn’t exactly get a warm reception for telling the truth. John the…

Peter was one of Jesus' closest friends, one of only three that were invited into his innermost circle. In Gethsemane, at his hour of greatest need, Jesus again took Peter aside, poured his heart out to him; he looked to Peter for strength. Three years of this, and who knows how many other stories. Peter must have known, I have a special place in Jesus' heart. So, how do you suppose Peter felt after he denied Christ—not just once, but three times? It must…

I get the local newspaper in an email from my inbox every morning. Not because I necessarily like reading the news, but my Mother still gets the paper delivered to her residence and I get the online version as a benefit. Many years ago I stopped reading the paper regularly due to the bias evident in almost every so-called news story - depending on the author or the delivery method. If I want news I’ll usually look at my BBC app or phone a friend. It must have been a…

Six years after beginning what he assumed would be a relatively typical research process that sought to better understand how God transforms people’s lives, researcher George Barna discovered that he had tackled a deeply challenging and amazingly revealing journey. The product of his effort was the ability to identify some of the developmental processes, experiences, and obstacles that are common across the lives of Americans of all backgrounds. He contends that while…