The Beginning of Wisdom… in Relationships
As Christians, when we think wisdom we typically think: Proverbs. Rightfully so, and for many years I had a habit of reading the chapter in Proverbs which corresponded to the date, which meant I read through the entire book of Proverbs almost every month (some months...
The Truth Will Set You Free
Emotions move us somewhere. We have to decide if we are going to let them run wild and take us on a treacherous journey or if we want to invest the time and effort to train our hearts and minds to direct emotions on a constructive course. We need to decide if we are...
We Do What We Believe
I saw an info-graphic on Facebook a few years ago with a system to find happiness. It listed several things to tell yourself, like, "everything will be ok" and "things will get better" and "you are lovable" and "you are strong" and "you can do great things." Then it...
Emotions are Scary
You know, before Adam and Eve sinned, they were naked and unashamed. Once they disobeyed, they hid in the garden because they were naked and afraid (Genesis 3:10). I don't think that concept is limited to clothing. Being exposed is scary. So we run and find something...
Forever Starts Now
We all agree that Jesus was sinless, but sometimes we forget he experienced a full range of emotions without sinning. A brief scan of the gospel accounts of Jesus' life reveal he experienced a lot of emotions. Love. Hope. Affection. Acceptance. Wonder. Contentment....
We Were Created to Experience Emotions
In the past couple of years, I have spent a fair amount of time reading books like Emotional Intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ by Daniel Goleman and Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves, along with a lot of medical abstracts,...
Emotions are Not the Enemy
I don't know about you, but I know I often find myself fighting my emotions. Don't get me wrong. I do think we need to control ourselves where emotion is concerned, but there is a difference between fighting to control emotion and fighting emotion itself. The first is...
The Danger of Unraveling Emotions
Sometimes I wonder when emotions became the arch-enemy of strength. It's an insult, isn't it, for someone to declare, "She's so emotional!"? Yet emotions are a significant part of what makes us uniquely human. And in typical fickle fashion, we are equally quick to...
God Wrote the Book on Relationships
As Christians, we know God has created us for relationships. We know God has blessed us for relationships. We know God has commanded us to do relationships in LOVE. So how do we do this? How do we learn to submit our relationships to the rule of Christ? How do we...
I Forget, but I’m Not Forgotten
I don't know about you, but sometimes I struggle to experience God the way he's presented in scripture: holy, loving, present. Probably because I have trouble experiencing myself the way scripture portrays me: human, with all the dignity and shame humanity entails....