This is a blog for writers about writing I read nearly every day. Today Kristen caught me off guard with her honest, painful story of abuse and facing fear. You may or may not be a writer. But this post is for you and is a personal story about what we have talked about in our last two posts on fear. Eugene
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Your comment about sociopaths and lacking empathy skills is interesting. I coach an empathy skill set to my med students…. “get into the patient’s shoes, connect with their thoughts, feelings, and values and put the patient into the center of the dialog. That give you a richer glimpse of their story. Obviously a sociiopath is unable to connect with another person like this.
Keep up the good work, Dr. John.
Our culture often prepares/(programs) us to expect better things from life (and other people) than what we may actually find (or “accidentally” bump into),… and as a result many are naive and unsuspecting and caught very much off-guard about the devastating truth of a deep-set kind of “evil” that may coercive-ly lurk beneath a more smoothly polished surface veneer, to which we are at first introduced,… In the ordinary “face value” process of meeting new people — “Oh, Hello!,…I’m a good guy, and who are you?,… are you a good guy too?” — a friendly (trusting) extroverted approach, does not always catch the subliminal signals that all may not be well,… in fact this kind of “evil” can be very adept (talented) at manipulating, flattering, (lying), and creating attachments precisely with the most unsuspecting,…
For those who survive these “close encounters” with psychological and spiritual poison, and have some personal internal strength and true values left to fall back on, as they regroup and recover, they realize that their “eyes” have been opened, and that they are seeing “good and evil” as separate and opposing realities, much more clearly than ever before,… Polly-anna-ish wishful thinking, childlike faith to believe all things are possible and can be changed (just because we want them to), are more often gateways to receiving more abuse, than effective faith tools in spiritual warfare,… but hopefully “once burned, twice shy”, the senses being better exercised to discern truth from falsity, we rise to a better vantage point and path,…
Hebrews 5:14 “But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”
As many have illustrated already with this same image: once you touch a hot iron, you’re not very likely to do that again,…
John 8:31,32
31 “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, ‘If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.'”
“Knowing (discerning) the (real) truth” IS a crucial part of spiritual warfare and becoming free of the disarming effects of the imaginations and illusions/delusions about reality that we “pick up as we grow up” in a spiritually dishonest culture, which — nonetheless — pretends to “have all the answers” from the days of our Kindergarten classes, on up,… This kind of unveiled truth — not the pretend, “pretty wishful thinking” or “politically correct” variety — IS, in and of itself, Strength, and it gives Strength!,… those who have found it KNOW this to be so,… and this IS why they are free to speak it out, to stand on the Word, and to expose and reveal, and even to accuse, the lies,… real Truth is very bold-faced, actually, and very powerful ~~ sometimes shocking, even when understated,…
In these times, when more people are facing more challenges, as individuals needing to be able to stand strong on their own, this kind of revelation has become more relevant and necessary than ever to our survival,…
Georgie: Well said again. Thanks. Guess what? I met a good friend of yours on Sunday. JoanMary came to worship with us on your recommendation. We both stood around and talked about how much we admire you. Sometimes God makes the world very small and intimate.
That is just so cool!,… I’ve known JoanMary for a longtime,… she is a beautiful lady, close to my own children’s age, and her Mom is one of my bestest friends!,… we’ve done a lot of church stuff together, covering A LOT of territory over the years,… finding many similarities in the challenges God has given us (blest us with?), and always encouraging one another to just keep on keepin’ on,… we know God wins in the end and will have the last and best word in ALL things!,… I’m happy for you!,… I think you will find that you have some interesting and fun things in common!,… our families just keep getting bigger and bigger!
Thanks for sharing Kristen’s blog. Very powerful! Loved what she said about fear sometimes telling us we are going in the right direction because it’s stretching us creatively.
Whoa. This was amazingly great. Thanks for sharing this.
Thanks, Linda.
The Lord is my light and my salvation—
so why should I be afraid?
The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger,
so why should I tremble?
2 When evil people come to devour me,
when my enemies and foes attack me,
they will stumble and fall.
3 Though a mighty army surrounds me,
my heart will not be afraid.
Even if I am attacked,
I will remain confident.
My favorite “no fear” scripture, Psalm 27
Truth and poetry combined. Thank you, John.
Amen!