Love and encouragement from an imperfect mom and her fun teen daughters. We welcome you to live life with us.
Some topics are heavy like emotional healing or sexual harassment, and these topics are for the older gals.
Surgeons can help us, but God truly heals us, whether it is our retina or any other injury, though this story is about my retina and its scar. Over four years ago my optometrist (Dr. Amy Kim at the Del Amo Mall in Torrance–I wanted to give her recognition) “just happened” to call to suggest … Read more Healing a Retina Injury and Scars
As I studied Leviticus, I discovered God directly confronts the sin of codependence (though the Bible does not give it that name.) This sin causes well-meaning people to do things for others they should have done for themselves. This sin causes people to dwell in fear (extreme worry) about loved ones and even try to … Read more God confronts Codependence (Sin) in the Bible!
Often Satan sneaks in negative thoughts and we don’t realize he is the source. As a result, I felt alert and challenged when I heard a woman on the radio say Satan caused most of the judgment she felt others must be placing upon her. She wrongly assumed others judged her for her unwanted divorce, … Read more So Many Negative Thoughts Planted by Satan
(or your friend lacked one) God designed humans to have a safe, loving relationship with an earthly father (and mother, but today’s post is about dads.) What if you lacked this loving relationship in your childhood? While God has promised to be a father to the fatherless (Psalm68:5,) how can a gal (or guy) appropriate … Read more When you Didn’t have a Loving Earthly Father
To idealize another person, even God, is to actually hate the real person, while making unreasonable demands and never accepting the person or forgiving him or her. People idealize a person or God by believing the “idealized person” (or God) owes them and thus the idealizers create an image of a person (or God) who … Read more Idealizing not Loving People: from “loving” to hating a person—even God
This week I’m adding part two to last week’s blog on recognizing legalism(Recognizing Legalism and its Hidden Dangers), so I can discuss the joy we find when we replace this dreadful drain with the abundant life God wants for us. Satan wants to steal our joy (John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and … Read more Replacing Legalism with Joy
We must recognize legalism and protect ourselves and others from its milder forms (forcing people to do what they do not need to do) and its dangerous forms (covering the sins of abusers, claiming they are doing God’s work). In its milder form, legalists mistake God for an angry boss and demand too much of … Read more Recognizing Legalism and its Hidden Dangers
In the last two weeks, I’ve written about misconceptions and lies that hold us back from abiding or resting in the Lord. This week I am finally ready to write about the joy this abiding brings. Abiding or resting in the Lord sounded boring to me as an active child. I hated naps and loved … Read more Abiding in the Lord, part 3 Enjoying the Peace
Last week I wrote about conflicts and challenges that oppose our ability to abide (rest) in the Lord, and I promised to add a part two. If you missed that post (Why Abiding in the Lord is Hard), be sure to read it. I wanted to write exclusively about the joy we find when we … Read more Abiding in the Lord, part 2 Resisting the Blocks to Our Rest
People may complain life seems like an endless battle, yet this is not a complaint but the truth. Naïve people may also believe they don’t need to fight in this life. They will suffer for this false belief. We have a real enemy, the devil who hates us. If we pretend the battle does not … Read more Yes, You Can Win the Spiritual Battle if You Admit it is Real!