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The Crazed Creation is under the Curse
“Pain is a blessing in disguise.” Really? Today, many Christian women seek psychotherapy. Surprised? Because Christians shouldn’t feel angry or depressed. I have struggled with doubt and loneliness due to infertility. With the Christianese platitudes that ensued, the sense that people in church disapproved of my struggle was hard to miss. As a Bible study leader, I wasn’t supposed to struggle. Some of us feel uptight about pain. So we rush others through their pain. We try to fix it instead of letting God fix it, all in the name of Fake Happy. But the plastic church smile only perpetuates…
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Fully Known
It’s intimidating to think of being fully known by anyone, much less God. No matter how “together” our lives may be (or appear to be), we all have junk in the closet. Things that we’d rather others not find out about. Things that we feel need to stay hidden. Things that are embarrassing or shameful or incriminating to bring out into the light of day. And so we hide those undesirable parts of our person, and hope that we’ll never be found out. But here’s the truth: You’ve been found out. God already knows. He knows your past, your present, your future, your thoughts, your behavior, your motivations, your desires,…
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The Necessary Sovereignty of God
"Everything is necessary that He sends and nothing can be necessary that He withholds." John Newton This quote from our pastor's sermon on Romans 8 last Sunday are hard words and require untmost dependence in the absolute goodness of God and trust in His sovereign care, especially when what you think is necessary is withheld. Otherwise you would go mad to think that the sovereign Creator of the universe is powerless to stop or thwart evil. Modeled by God when He sacrificed His son on the cruel, terrible cross, Christ's death was necessary. And, it was not necessary for Him to withhold Jesus's dying on the cross. Where would be…