People often say you need to forgive, and they quote the Bible as though a person can simply say, ‘I forgive you,’ and move on. But people who haven’t suffered deep wounds don’t understand how difficult it is. ~ Melissa ~ Shelley’s Story, pages 95-96 "I forgive him." Those three words stunned [...]
In the previous post, we presented Dr. Marcus Warner's outline of Satan’s spiritual warfare strategy: wounds, lies, vows, and strongholds. To illustrate the steps outlined by Warner, let’s apply Satan’s strategy to Shelley’s downward path. The Wound. Although parents are responsible for protecting their children, Shelley’s father violated her body and [...]
Mary felt trapped. She vowed never to return home. That was out of the question. … But rage, bitterness, resentment, and emotional damage imprisoned her soul. ~ Tessa ~ Shelley’s Petals, page 8 “Ignorance is bliss.” This common saying suggests that a lack of knowledge leads to happiness or peace of [...]
No, the title isn’t about babysitting time while their parents are out shopping, but the ages of my five granddaughters at the time it happened. The one-year-old has no memory of Nama but will learn about her through pictures and hearing stories. The older ones remember her, although their memories of [...]
As of this writing, the catastrophic flash flood that occurred in Central Texas on the Fourth of July claimed the lives of at least 109 victims, and over 160 remain unaccounted for. Many who were lost were children at a Christian camp, most of them being seven to nine-year-olds, the ages [...]
I've always believed that God is loving, kind, and caring, but … the tragedy of losing my father at age four, the horror of being sexually abused for six years by my adoptive father beginning at age twelve, then losing Shelley at age twenty-eight felt agonizingly cruel. ~ Melissa ~ Shelley's [...]
I wouldn’t have chosen this path, but God redeemed my painful losses and deep wounds to shape me into the woman I’m becoming. ~ Melissa ~ Shelley’s Story, page 161 I’ve been living in Dallas, Texas, for nearly 40 years, which is quite a contrast to my hometown of Honolulu, Hawaii. [...]
While working in a counseling and prayer call center, I received a call from “Margie.” She described how she was sexually abused as a child, promiscuous as a teenager, and made some poor relationship decisions as an adult. She struggled with guilt, shame, and insecurity for most of her life, and [...]
Jasmine’s anxiety level was consistently elevated when I drove beside an 18-wheeler on the freeway, and she wouldn’t hesitate to express her displeasure. I confess that I’d get annoyed by what I felt was an unnecessary complaint, as though I'd chosen to drive beside the behemoth of a truck. Nevertheless, I [...]
The appeal was for $200,000. I had $7 in my wallet. This was prime real estate for our growing church. The owners agreed to sell it to us for half the price a developer was willing to pay. The process was moving forward, but the church ran into an insurmountable obstacle [...]
We paddled three double-hulled canoes into Maunalua Bay on the South Shore of Oahu for a sacred ceremony. At the desired location, we joined our canoes, and someone called out, “Oars up,” signaling to the people on the shore that Suzanne’s ashes were being poured into the ocean. Her husband dropped [...]