Plowed Fields
“The best yields always start as broken fields.” (From The Broken Way by Ann VosKamp) The Lord spoke to my heart on March 20, 1997 as I drove past this lovely fresh-plowed field … Read More
Wilderness Wooing
You will never find Jesus so precious as when the world is one vast howling wilderness. Then he is like a rose blooming in the midst of the desolation, a rock rising above the storm.-Robert Murray McCheyne Pastor Donna Pfeffer … Read More
God’s Heart
I had a call from someone who has struggled with depression for a decade or longer. A couple of times it has taken him to the dark, despairing edge of suicidal ideations. Thankfully, God was always there to bring him … Read More
Why Spiritual Counseling Is Useful Adjunct Therapy to Mental Health Counseling- Reason #2
Last week I wrote about spiritual attacks and the fact that there are sometimes demonic influences causing dysfunctional behavior and thinking in people. Discerning and addressing such demonic influences is only one reason why spiritual education and counseling is a … Read More
Why Spiritual Counseling and Mental Health Treatment Should Be Concurrent
I wrote about a spiritual attack on someone and having observed a pattern in that attack that I had seen before. I have experienced a few spiritual attacks myself on occasion, so it is a matter of interest to … Read More
Anatomy of a Spiritual Attack
There are moments when one sees a situation playing out in a way that looks so familiar it almost feels like deja’ vu. But the second time through a sudden awareness dawns: this is a spiritual attack. It had … Read More
Spiritual Senses
I had a sweet conversation with someone who shared that she had realized that all these years she’d been reading the Bible in a literal sense only and missing some of its meaning and richness. She said she has begun … Read More
Spiritual Direction….Gift Not Vocation
About ten years ago I was encouraged by a friend to apply for a new program being offered through our church’s regional office, a spiritual direction training class. It was to be a three-year program. I applied, along with her. … Read More
Grandfather God?
I shared this with a believer who expressed fawning adoration of several of her spiritual role models. “God has no grandchildren.” There is no such thing as being “grandfathered” in to the Kingdom of God. Each person is adopted as … Read More
Love Overcomes
Procrastinator’s hope: “The nice thing about things that are urgent is that if you wait long enough they aren’t urgent anymore.” Amos Tversky, psychologist It is interesting how, when life goes off the rails, one can completely disengage from significant … Read More