Michael McElyea: The incarnation itself is the very wrath of God The fiery love of God and his complete opposition to our destruction and against everything that is not of love Not pouring his wrath out on Jesus but him assuming (taking upon himself) our distortions into himself and being crucified Read more…
Have you ever been to a church service where you were actually encouraged and uplifted for just being you, for being fully human with all your good, bad, and ugly – all your light and all your darkness? I recently had such an experience and it was the most beautiful Read more…
I was recently asked what I believe about the original sin (Adam and Eve in the garden.) Here is my thoughts: (As you read this, please keep in mind that this is what I believe now, today. It is okay if you think differently. My thoughts and beliefs have changed many Read more…
TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY….. and I have so many FEELS going on!!! This past year was one of the best years of my life. HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY – For the first time ever, this year I was able to let go of all the shame, torment, & resulting trauma that Read more…
ABUSE: Using Fear and Manipulation to Control People into Thinking and Believing Like You The more I read of history, the more I am shocked at how little we have learned. And because my focus is more on religious history, I am saddened that “the church” continues to use fear Read more…
Religious/spiritual abuse is a real thing and I am going to talk about it! Most people probably think that religious abuse is mainly about pedophile priests and such, but that is not the religious abuse I am going to be talking about. I am talking about the day to Read more…
There is absolutely no part of you that can be labeled dark or unclean if you are a believer in Jesus! His righteousness is your righteousness and you have wholeness within you! Your humanity has been completely redeemed!
Welcome to Week #1 of our Journey to Living Fully Alive
The Lie: There are dark places within us that WE have to fix or clean up
If you had a chance to read our stories, you will have discovered that the journey to ‘Living Fully Alive’ for us was really all about our hearts. We tend to believe that this is also true for every human being on the planet. Our hearts or our spirit (words that are often used interchangeably), were designed from the beginning to be known and to be loved.
Our greatest desire is to be known and to be loved by God first. We want to know that He is pleased with us and desires to have a relationship with us. But when the things that we are taught and the experiences that we have, seem to speak the opposite (that He can not be pleased with us unless we are perfect and He can not be with us if we make a mistake) – our hearts are crushed.
We spent most of our lives hating ourselves because we did not feel like we could ever be good enough to be loved by God or that for some reason He had not chosen us or did not want us, or maybe we had too many dark places inside of us to be accepted or worthy of love.
If you too, are like us, you may feel like you have some “dark places” that prevent you from receiving love. The most common examples of “dark places” are:
It is sad to realize that we have actually been taught to believe that God is not present in these so called darkened areas of our existence. If we believe God is not present in these areas of our life, and God is Love, then we will keep love from these areas of ourselves that need it the most. It is even sadder when we realize that the result of starving ourselves of love is living with disunity within ourselves, shame, guilt, condemnation, pain, and exhaustion. And how were we taught to deal with this pain? If you are like us, you were taught to find a way to fix yourself, hide your real self while keeping it all together, or deny the pain altogether by throwing a scripture at it – until one day you eventually explode and break down. (more…)