The world defines intimacy as a sexual encounter, to be 'intimate' with someone. But really, casual sex encounters have no intimacy in them, and I would argue that any sexual encounters outside of a marriage hold very little intimacy, if any.
The truth is that God is a God of redemption! Remarried husbands and wives: It takes the power of God to take dysfunctional situations and make something beautiful with them. Remarriage is real-life beauty for ashes (Isaiah 61:3).
I’m going to tell you how to win after a breakup. I'm not talking about how to win, like how to egg your ex’s car or slit the tires and get away with it. I'm talking about how to win emotionally. How to win inside your soul.
Biological parents, step parents, grandparents, friends, teachers, coaches, mentors... we all have the same challenge: Our teens need our leadership and guidance through their most volatile season of life, but we'll only be influential in their lives to the degree that they feel safe around us, heard by us, and unconditionally loved by us.
I’d propose that numerous people have been seduced by things that masquerade as love but are just cheap imitations of the real thing. In fact, I have a growing concern that many within the Church associate God’s love with a version that looks noble on the outside but leads people into deep vortexes of emptiness and bondage.
Part of the challenge is that sometimes people confess but they never repent! They get addicted to the feeling that happens when we bring our sins into light and the weight of shame falls off of us. The truth is that many times the addiction to confession doesn’t result in true repentance or a turnaround in behavior. Confession is important but if you think it’s the only step to wholeness, you’re missing out on full restoration!
Basically, we realized that the box of relational tools we’d been handed by our parents and families was a box of broken tools. We were both the recipients of a legacy of multiple broken marriages and family breakdown.
I’m concerned that in our zeal to keep marriages together—a good and noble thing to do—we have completely marginalized an entire people group, who, by the way, are often in immense pain! We’ve marked divorced people as our modern day lepers and banished them from connection to the Church family. In some church circles, divorce is equal to the unpardonable sin. People who have been divorced are treated as if they have the plague.
Most of us have had our heart broken at some point in our life. Most of us have felt rejected or discarded by someone. It’s extremely painful and no one enjoys the feeling of “not being chosen.” So how do we deal with that rejection? How do we not believe the lie that we are “less than” or “not as good as” that other girl or guy who was chosen? I know this pain more than I’d like to admit. I faced one of the biggest rejections of my life when my husband chose to give his heart to somebody else…
Being single in the holidays can be hard for many people. This can be especially difficult for those that have just suffered a loss, a divorce, or have children that are away with their ex-spouse. I know this scenario full well. The traditions that you created over the years have to be tossed out or re-adapted. Your home feels emptier and the loss feels greater particularly on Christmas day.
Sadly, divorce is ravaging our families and our society. Among the top reasons for divorce are poor communication, arguing, infidelity, and stagnation: Disconnection – Shame. Divorce is a reality in our culture because shame is a reality of our culture.…
In some circles of the Church, divorce is equal to the unpardonable sin. People who’ve been divorced are treated as if they have the plague. They can’t serve in their church and they’re not trusted. Having suffered through a divorce…