Has pain ever tempted you to wish your days away? Years ago, one of George MacDonald’s short stories struck me. I could relate to the boy in the story who wanted to speed through the hard parts of life.Continue Reading
How to Trust God with Delayed Answers to Prayer
How do we trust God when our prayers seem to go unanswered? My friend and I prayed for her teenaged children who were rebelling against her faith and values. Nothing she did seemed to reach them. One day while reading the Bible she came across a verse that resonated with her.
This is what the Lord says: ‘Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded,’ declares the Lord.
‘They will return from the land of the enemy. So there is hope for your descendants,’ declares the Lord. ‘Your children will return to their own land’” (Jer. 31:16-17 NIV).
My friend believed this was God’s promise to her. She repeated “they will return” to herself when their behavior worsened. This word from God boosted her faith whenever she was tempted to worry.Continue Reading
How Can My Weakness Be a Gift?
I was reminded of how much I hate being weak when I had to hobble around duck-taped together because of a swollen knee. God used this to renew my perspective on weaknesses. I hope this excerpt adapted from Give Yourself a Break will encourage you too.
Embrace Weaknesses
We love our strengths. They open doors, garner accolades, and earn money. But no one has only strengths. Everyone has weak areas. The person who gets things accomplished may bruise people. The people person may be easily distracted from tasks. These weaknesses may frustrate and embarrass us. They sidetrack us, but they’re also gifts from God. They keep us humble and reliant on Him, which is His goal.
What about weaknesses caused by emotional or physical injuries, not DNA? Are those also gifts? Continue Reading
Identity and Faith
My heart hurt when I saw Bruce Jenner’s distress in his interview with Diane Sawyer (April 24, 2015) and heard of his family’s grief. I grieved for the viewers who listened in the hope of having their confusing thoughts and desires explained.
Jenner believes his pain comes from the pressure he feels to live a lie. I believe it comes from believing a lie.
Jenner’s unsteady emotions stood in stark contrast to his set mind. Despite the fact he won the Olympian male decathlon, has a normal opposite-sex attraction to females, and has never been sexually attracted to men, he’s convinced God gave him a woman’s soul. Doesn’t the desire to marry and love a woman reveal a male soul? Jenner says no; sex and gender are two different things. That belief rules him.
At age ten Jenner donned a dress for the first time. The urge to cross dress grew over time. This conflict cost him marriages with women he loved. He’s hoping more drastic measures will finally bring him the peace that’s eluded him.
I wish I could tell Jenner, and anyone else badgered by alarming desires, that deceitful desires come because we are broken creatures in a fallen world. The enemy that slithered into Eden and polluted paradise wants to destroy us too. But we don’t have to follow this seduction.