The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17 Prayer is taking in God’s delight in us. Prayer is being quieted by God’s love. Prayer is listening to God sing songs of joy over us. Whether our parents delighted over us or not, whether our parents quieted us with love or … [Read more...] about Hearing God’s Love Songs as Prayer
Search Results for: shame
Asking for Healing as Prayer
O LORD my God, I called to you for help and you healed me. Psalm 30:2 The truth is that we are not well. We are full of fear and anxiety. We struggle with shame. We are caught up in obsessions and addictions. We are blind to our greed and pride. We are defensive, hard hearted and reactive. We are self centered. We fail to live as if we—and all others—are loved and valued beyond measure by … [Read more...] about Asking for Healing as Prayer
Softening Our Heart as Prayer
Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker, for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. Psalm 95:6-8 Our hearts long for God. Yet, too often, we defend ourselves against this longing. We protect our hearts by hardening them against the love we seek because we are afraid that … [Read more...] about Softening Our Heart as Prayer
God’s Silence
by Dale Ryan Perhaps you have been taught that having a relationship with God begins by saying, “Yes.” We were taught that as well. But the Bible is clear about this. If we serve gods who are not God, then the process must begin by saying, “No.” There was a time when it became clear to me that the god I served was not God. I lived in relationship with a god who was quick to anger and slow to … [Read more...] about God’s Silence
What I Learned While Our Son Was Still Using Drugs: Part I
The year our oldest son dropped out of high school and became an addict was a very dark and difficult year for us. It was also a time of deeper exposure to life’s most important lessons. I didn’t fully realize it until much later, but it was during that anguished time that I gained a greater understanding of humility, honesty, courage, trust and grace. In this week’s post I want to share with you … [Read more...] about What I Learned While Our Son Was Still Using Drugs: Part I
Step Five
by Dale and Juanita Ryan The thing to do with sin is to do what Nicodemus did: go and search out someone with whom we can talk privately and frankly. Tell them of these things and, with them as witness, give these sins and our old selves with them, to God. You say that you can do this alone with God; and I ask you, Have you succeeded in doing so? I said I was going to do that for years, but it … [Read more...] about Step Five
Step Seven
by Dale and Juanita Ryan The whole emphasis of Step Seven is on humility. It is really saying to us that we now ought to be willing to try humility in seeking the removal of our other shortcomings just as we did when we admitted that we were powerless over alcohol, and came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. If that degree of humility could enable us to … [Read more...] about Step Seven
Powerlessness
by Matt Russell Powerless. Who likes to admit that we are powerless? I mean, you and me, we sturdy ourselves against life. We amass our resources, protect ourselves, and head out into the world with all we can muster. Every natural instinct cries out against the idea of personal powerlessness. But in an instant, it can all change. Powerlessness has a thousand faces and a million expressions. At … [Read more...] about Powerlessness
Criticisms of Recovery – Part 1
by Dale Ryan Let's begin with the obvious. The most argumentative, tenacious, illogical and misguided criticism of recovery comes not from other people but from me. When it comes to my own recovery journey, I am the person who resists the most. Like many of us, I have always been my own worst critic. I can think of 50 reasons, easily, why my recovery is just a pop-psychology, navel-gazing, … [Read more...] about Criticisms of Recovery – Part 1
Dealing with Your Dark Side: Part 2
It begins by admitting you have a smelly refrigerator. by Patrick Means Last summer, my wife and I returned home from a month-long trip to find a foul odor in the house. It didn't take us long to trace the odor to the refrigerator. Inside, we discovered fuzzy gray mold covering several of the surfaces, and a vegetable crisper full of unrecognizable lumps and putrid black liquid. It took a … [Read more...] about Dealing with Your Dark Side: Part 2
