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redeemed into Life
While I wish I could remember the sight of the exotic blooms that surely filled the greenhouse, or summon the warmth of the humid air that must’ve beaded droplets on the glass, all I really remember is the eternity I spent locked inside the metal and cement of a bathroom stall, sick to my stomach and aching for home.
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awakening
Spring is teasing at the edges of my cozy winter world. If I’m honest, I’m not sure I’m ready to see it come. True, there has been a lift to my spirits as I witness the watery edge of blue peeking shyly out beneath the dark skirts of the morning sky earlier each day. I know better than to expect the season’s full advent here in the dark wilds of February. Yet the pale sunshine and mild winds that accompanied my walk yesterday afternoon were decidedly springlike, and not at all unwelcome. Normally, I would be kneeling for a closer look at the signs of new life stirring just beneath…
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Releasing Secrets
Finding Freedom, part 1 **The posts in this series include sensitive content. Please read with discretion and preview before sharing with younger readers.** There are some topics within the body of Christ that are rarely touched. They might be seen as too divisive, extreme or eccentric; or they may simply be left alone out of ignorance, or perhaps fear. One of these is the concept of deliverance. Defined simply, deliverance means to rescue, or to set free. In a spiritual context, deliverance is the act of setting a person free from the grip of the enemy, free to love and worship and walk with God in a full and unhindered…
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Embattled Heart
The enemy is after my heart today. I can feel the anxiety stirring, a menacing presence roiling just below the surface. There is no reason for it — no immediate fear or dread — just a silent stalking. The seasons are changing. Darkness arrives earlier and earlier, swallowing up whole chunks of evening hours and magnifying the lies that seem so much easier to dismiss in the daylight. You are alone. You are powerless. No one hears your voice or cares what you have to say. You are a failure. There is no hope for you. The lies are a poisonous oil that seeps between the cracks in my armor.…
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Another Side of Surrender
A rather extreme set of peaks and valleys has loomed up over the past weeks. I find myself not only battling my own inner landscape, but trying to do it through a fog of what seems an awful lot like seasonal depression, as one snowy gray day follows another in oppressive succession. It is hard enough just to function — dragging my weary self out of bed is a daily struggle. I feel tired most of the time, and I have to work up even the most fleeting enthusiasm. I want to fight! I want to rid myself of this clinging monster, but I am so weak … as much as I hate…
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A Promise Worth Claiming
I was drawn into Philippians today; I’m not sure why. I think I was instinctively seeking some comfort from all the “rejoice” references. Grief and struggle has been thick in the air lately, and between that and accumulating stresses in my work, I found myself teetering dangerously on the edge of a familiar dark place. I felt the rush of tears just reading the intro verses; there was something in the simplicity of returning to the Word after a prolonged absence – the sense of being safe at home was immediate. But Paul’s attitude baffles me. At the end of verse 18 and on into 19, he writes, “Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that…
