Hurt comes naturally from our emotions as we expose ourselves to anger, sadness or despair. Recently I have found myself searching for answers to my pain. Suffering that has developed from watching the country implode from racial tensions. Exacerbated by the death of my grandmother at the grand age of ninety-eight. Compounded by the daily strain and anxiety, hurt seems to overwhelm my emotions. I, therefore, sought my healing, and here is what I found. 1.) I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world, you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.” ~ John 16:33 He has overcome the world, all the pain all the suffering vanquished in him. I find great comfort knowing that when you put all your trust in him, you may find peace in all things. 2.) Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. ~ Philippians 4:6 He wants us to pray and ask for healing through him. Knowing that he welcomes our prayers and hears each one, I found I could pray openly to him, for others, even over others for his healing. 3.) Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; Your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. ~ Isaiah 58:8 In the early morning light, when the house is still dark, as I pour into his word. I cannot help but […]

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One of the most famous parables of Jesus’ teaching is that of the Good Samaritan. After the tragedies that have surrounded the world recently. I think it is timely that it be the reading at church this past Sunday. It is a stark reminder of how we should be treating one another. We have been quick to pass judgment as our newsfeed fills with one senseless event after another. Are we any better now than the priest of Levite in that story? Are we kind to our neighbors, our brothers, and sisters? On the streets between Jerusalem and Jericho, a man robbed, beaten left to die. To die alone as passerby’s ignored his pleas for help. How are we much different as we pass judgment and move to the other side of the street, to avoid each other rather than love one another? Are we led by our faith to where we help those in need? Click To Tweet Homeless, prostitutes, and more, we step to the other side of the road rather than encounter them. The color of someone’s skin makes us angry, or the badge they wear. Refugees from all over the world have become a political hot potato no one wants to touch. Are we not all God’s children? In the parable, it states that we should love our neighbor. “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ~ Luke […]

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When a patient learns they have an illness or disease, they look for ways to fight back. When we are struggling with failure and the ability to succeed, we look for ways to go to battle. Before we can truly move forward we sometimes have to look back.

Forgiveness is one weapon that we have to use yet many would rather leave it behind. We are embattled with struggles of self-worth and the emotional pain of our past we are unable to fight.

In the release of the pain, resentment, anger we break the chains that bind us. These chains could be from the way your father treated you as a child. Maybe you were betrayed by a friend or family member. You might be holding on to secrets of your own that are like a heavy weight around your neck. Perhaps your own decisions or lifestyle burden you.

Only you can break these chains. It may be through your faith in God, your healing Father that you can forgive. Absolution of your own wrongs through the healing power of repentance.

It may be someone else that you must forgive. Your own anger interferes with your forgiveness of them. Or you don’t believe that you hold the power to forgive because of your own sins.

Forgiving and being forgiven are two names for the same thing. The important thing is that a discord has been resolved. ~ C.S. Lewis

Broken relationships between families can be the hardest to mend. Many men struggle in their marriages and relationships due to the resentment they still carry towards their fathers. Women suffer from esteem issues, eating disorders and worse due to they were abused or mistreated by the men in their past.

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