Category Healing & Restoration

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Accountability for Sin is Not Condemnation, It’s a Pathway to Freedom

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!

The Other Side of Loving Like Jesus

When most of us hear or use the words “just love them like Jesus” what we mean is the unconditional love and acceptance of the person irrespective of their behavior…

Self-Compassion: Making Peace with Yourself in Process

So what does self-compassion look like? It looks like accepting what Jesus says about us and believing that we are worthy of the compassion He so freely gives to others. When we take that on as Truth, we begin to look at and treat ourselves the way Jesus does.

How God Restored My Marriage

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.

A Better Way Forward With LGBTQ

Following Christ is not a “gay to straight” journey (both are false constructs.) Discipleship is a matter of changing one’s mind and worldview to believe we are all simply human beings. Together. That path requires real repentance (a change of mind) and an environment that can facilitate life in Christ alongside self-knowledge, understanding of our past, perspective on our gifts or strengths, honor, dignity, transformation, hope… essentially, it requires the kingdom of God.

The Holidays: A Time to Strengthen Connection

When it comes to being a safe place, healthy communication is essential. Refuse to engage in disrespectful conversations. Bravely step into vulnerable conversations where you show the person your heart and invite an exchange of truth. Listen well, seek to understand them, identify what they are needing, and help to meet that need.

5 Lies That Will Keep You Trapped in Unforgiveness

He told me that I needed to forgive the people who abused me or I would open the door to the tormentors in my life. It wasn’t easy at first but I realized that He had given me the power to forgive when He forgave me. Joyce Meyers said, “Unforgiveness is like drinking deadly poison and thinking the other person’s going to die.”

How to Identify Trauma & When to Get Help 📺+🎧

The negative stigma around going to counseling or therapy is finally starting to lift. Caitlin Zick interviews Dr. Margaret Nagib, Christian Clinical Psychologist, about how to know when or why to go to a counselor. If you find yourself still stuck after doing the best you know how, it may be time to find a counselor. Dr. Margaret and Caitlin also spend time digging into the topic of trauma. How to identify trauma in your life or from your past and the side effects you may be seeing in your life from unresolved trauma. Caitlin also shares from her story and they unpack the events, experiences and effects from trauma in her teenage years. This conversation is a great “starter” for a potential need to discover and dive into more. Want to connect with Dr. Margaret Nagib? You can find her resources or book an online session here at: thedunamisproject.org You can hear more on this topic for pastors and leaders in the Sex. Church. Culture. Vol. II E-Course (SexChurchCulture.com) from Dr. Margaret Nagib or for the females at The More Gathering (TheMoreGathering.com).

To the Woman Who’s Been Abused

On behalf of women everywhere, kind, Godly men, the church, and even God the Father Himself—I want to tell you how desperately sorry I am for what you have endured. The pain you should have never felt. The tears you should have never cried. The life you should have never lived.

The Role of Trauma in Sexual Addiction

Trauma is something that most of us have experienced in one way or another, whether it was through abuse, abandonment, or a circumstance that we had no control over. As children, when we do not have access to resources that help us navigate through the pain of these experiences, we will often develop coping mechanisms that can be unhealthy in the long term.

10 Things to Avoid Saying to Someone Struggling with Porn

If you don’t think porn is a healthy habit (and research would back you up, there), you may have to have some hard conversations about this potentially awkward topic. And not only that, but it can be difficult to know what to say when you’re talking to someone about something as personal as recovery from a porn habit—especially when you care about that person and are being hurt by their porn consumption. You want to be able to encourage them into getting better rather than shame them back into their hidden habits.

How to be a Friend to Someone Walking in Shame

Shame seduces us into secrecy, insists on silence, and results in judgment. When we begin hiding, and are afraid to be vulnerable, we begin blaming others and ourselves for the disconnection that we feel. Instead of pulling people towards us, we push them away, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy that we are not worthy of love and acceptance. So then, disconnection is the result. What can we do to help people who are stuck in this cycle?