Category: Restoration and Renewal

Forgiving a Difficult Person

How would I know when I have fully forgiven someone I dislike greatly? We must be careful here, because we are quite capable of convincing ourselves we have forgiven someone with whom we no longer have any interactions, or one toward whom we have become rather indifferent. Perhaps it...

Our Multi-Faceted Spiritual GPS

Imagine being lost in the woods, trying to find your way out day after day without any way of being sure of where you are going. Then someone shows up with a GPS and suddenly you not only know where you are, but in what direction you can find...

Why Not Hate?

Sometimes we are hurt or betrayed in ways that seem unforgivable to us. We might experience moments when we wish we could forgive, but the obstacles are way too big and we don’t get very far in letting go. We might even feel justified in hating certain people because...

Sin of the Fathers

Today ran across a section of Forming: A Work of Grace that I think shows very clearly how the sins committed against us can distort our world for a lifetime, unless we receive healing from God. When a child grows up in an abusive home environment, they learn how...

When Disgust Was a Virtue

This morning a man came to mind who I worked with many years ago in the computer industry. I never liked him, and he was not easy to like. In fact by the time we parted ways, I had grown to despise him and deeply resent his constant verbal abuse and mistreatment, which...

Dread of Making Mistakes

Ran across an old journal entry from October of 2000. I was in the process of accepting a job offer in software support, which should have been a good thing since I had been out of work for a while. But an incredible sense of dread came out of...

When Pain is a Gift

In reflecting about the past year, my mind drifted back even farther as I began to think of all the things I am grateful for. God has been unbelievably generous to me (as I believe He is to all His children) and I was able to fill a page in...

Why Love Can Heal Our Soul

All throughout the New Testament, God's incredible love for us is demonstrated over and over. "For God so loved the world…" that He came here to live among us, reveal His heart to us, and do for us what we could never do for ourselves. That is love. When...

He Who Began a Good Work

"Being confident of this very thing, that He who began a god work in you will continue to perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil.1:6). We begin the Christian life by coming to God and letting Him do for us what we cannot do. We continue to...