Quick answer: As children, we make sense of pain by reaching conclusions about ourselves, such as “I’m behind,” “I don’t belong,” or “I’m not enough.” Those conclusions often stay with us into adulthood, and a present-day rejection can trigger the same old feelings. Hagar’s story in Genesis 16 shows that […]
journaling
21 posts
Feeling worse before better? Discover the ancient path of down before up. I once saw this very funny cartoon. The first image showed a nice ‘up and to the right’ graph displaying how we think life should work. Progress, easy, smooth, success and without any struggle or challenge. The next […]
I have a slippery memory. Memories of the good can slip away, but having a habit of recording the good can change our thinking in wonderful ways. My mother kept a red ledger book in one of the kitchen drawers, and it kept her. It kept her grounded in the […]
Sometimes I feel alone in the struggle, but when I listen deep I sense a providence. A providence I can lean into. It was the strangest thing I have experienced in a dog’s behaviour. Our family once had a dog that leaned. He would come alongside you, cross his legs, […]
Many things go into the shaping of one’s life. ‘I am a product of long corridors, empty sunlit rooms’ says C.S. Lewis. What are you the product of? Mathematics wasn’t my strongest topic at school, but somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind I recall the term ‘product’. […]
There is an internal world to every one of us with words that need sharing, but it’s hard to put into words, so we need someone safe to help us. They wanted him to tell them what was going on inside, but it felt more like he was in the […]
Ever found yourself in a dark place? A simple state of sadness can throw you in such a place. At least l experience that often. I used to be depressed, severely depressed, the kind of state that makes it hard for facial muscles to react to other people’s joyful interaction. […]
We can easily go from one year to the next, but before you start the year, you need to stop the year. Stop it well. As I write this, it’s the middle of the most interesting week of the year. It’s the week between Christmas and New Year. Here in […]
We want a behavior change, but it doesn’t seem to happen. However, it will happen with many changes in the mind (repentance). We always notice significant behavior change, don’t we? Yet, people who change dramatically are often given the stage and a microphone to trumpet the difference. I remember as […]
Moments of thankfulness often pass us by without acknowledgment. But what might happen if we create a habit of noticing and capturing them. From one thousand gifts to three thousand gifts and counting. This is a Guest Post from Pauline Turnbull. It all began on the 24th of October 2020 […]