pursuing LOVE...and JOY...and WHOLEHEARTEDNESS!

I define insecurity as that uneasy, fearful feeling that we get when we think we aren’t enough and we are vulnerable to being judged by other people. I work with lots of people who struggle with insecurity. Their circumstances are different, but their feelings are similar. They are not sure of their value. They don’t know if they are acceptable to other people and this makes it hard for them to accept themselves. They feel vulnerable to judgment and think that if they judge themselves harshly, then it won’t hurt so much if other people do it too. I wrestle with insecurity too. My body looks different than what our media presents as beautiful. I feel beautiful a lot of the time, but sometimes I’m afraid that my body shape isn’t acceptable. When clients suddenly stop coming to see me without an explanation, I wonder if I did something wrong. I feel insecure when someone knows how to do something valuable and I don’t. I’m blessed to be intuitive with the feelings of others, but if someon…

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. James 5:13-16 I have been reflecting on the power of confession this week. Personally, I was struggling with feelings of condemnation and fear about something that I had done. I was tempted to struggle in silence, hoping that the feelings would fade. I had already confessed to God, repented and asked Him to let me experience His love and forgiveness, but I was having a hard time letting them come in. Finally, I confessed my sin and my feelings to another and asked t…

I bought new running shoes yesterday. They feel fresh and they look clean. I purchased my most colorful pair yet and am excited to see where they will take me. I was sharing some of my running history with the guy who was helping me. I was explaining that I have been running several times a week for almost a month now, but I am still struggling to run distances that used to be easy for me. A 3 mile run used to be my shortest, most basic run and I could run it several times a week. When I was training for marathons and half-marathons, there were seasons where a 5 mile run would feel short. Now, it’s hard to believe that I have even completed a marathon and two half-marathons. I just bumped my weekly runs up to 2 ½ miles and it has been challenging. I’m going to do 3 ½ miles for my long run this weekend because 4 still seems a little too long. The guy helping me was also a runner and he was empathizing with my experience of losing my ability to run longer distances easily. He told me tha…

April was a very busy month and we are already 11 days into May. I haven’t been blogging because I just haven’t made time. It’s a little weird to start again after so many days of not writing, but there are things that I have been thinking and wanting to share. I spent a wonderful week with my parents, sister and niece at the beach in early April. It was refreshing and fun. It was also full of conversation because we had just learned that my dad was losing his job as part of a reduction in force. This was very unexpected and I am so proud of how my parents are trusting God and leaning into Him as they walk through this major shift in their lives. It has been an honor to be involved in some of their conversations about what God may be doing and to declare His goodness in the midst of difficulty. I also told the partners that I plan to leave Glenwood Center at the end of June, when my lease is up. They were very surprised because I had not given them any indication that I was thinking of …