Tag: relationship with God

Why Don't I Feel Close to God? Interview with Krispin Mayfield

Why Don’t I Feel Close to God? Interview with Krispin Mayfield [Episode 198]

Learning about emotional and spiritual abuse is dangerous.

You start to see patterns in your marriage, your family, your friendships, your church…and your faith. You start to understand why God often doesn’t feel safe. Why you feel like a constant disappointment. A regular failure. A busted, broken, rejection-worthy woman.

You were taught that God is love…

And that God wants (and demands) perfection. That he loves you IN SPITE of you. That he has to look at Jesus to accept you. That negative emotions are a sign you’re in sin. And a high self-esteem (not hating yourself) is a sign you’re in other sin. That you deserve punishment even when you’re giving 100% to please him.

There’s no winning…

…Until we explore the core of how we approach EVERY relationship in our lives: through attachment style.

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Confronting Religious Trauma and Reconstructing Faith: Interview with Dr. Tiffany Yecke Brooks

Confronting Religious Trauma and Reconstructing Faith: Interview with Dr. Tiffany Yecke Brooks [Episode 192]

“I’m going to be ninety-two next month, and I have waited my entire life for a book like this.”

A woman said this to Tiffany after she spoke to a Sunday School class about her book, “Gaslighted by God: Reconstructing a Disillusioned Faith.”

Many Christians are told their doubts are a sign they haven’t prayed or fasted enough. That their spiritual frustrations are an indication they’re backsliding. That they just don’t have enough faith.

Do you feel a sense of futility over ever measuring up as a Christian? Ever pleasing God? Ever nailing down the formula for blessing or meeting the mark for making yourself small enough?

Tiffany wrote “Gaslighted by God” to give a voice to the pain of devoted Christians whose faith is cracking under the abuse of legalism, who are desperately clinging to beliefs that are hurting them, and who need to know it’s not their fault.

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We Are Like the God We Worship

We Are Like the God We Worship [Episode 171]

I have a confession.

I’m a recovering asshole.

Years ago, I had a friend. Her husband cheated on her. Then, he did it again. He kept cheating on her. He wasn’t sorry.

Do you know what I told her to do?

Stay with him. Pray and stay. Worse, I was proud to tell her this advice. Because I was God’s girl scout, and I knew best.

Now, I can easily imagine the grief and further pain my words and assumptions added to her heartbreak. I thought everything was black and white. A + B = C, every time. Life was a math problem, and I had the answer.

Boy, did I eat crow (and that’s just one example).

But in many ways, I’m no different than everybody else. And there IS an equation that applies to us all:

Our thoughts make our feelings. Our feelings make our beliefs. And our beliefs make us.

We become what we believe. We are like the god we worship.

What’s your god like? And what do you do when someone else’s god says you’re bad?

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Does God Love You Less Because Your Marriage Is Bad?

Does God Love You Less Because Your Marriage Is Bad? [Episode 137]

If your child was starving and asked you for bread, would you make her eat from a dumpster?

If your child was dying of thirst and asked for water, would you pour sand down his throat?

Are you that child? Starving for safety. And love. And honesty. And help. And tenderness. And dying a little more each day in their absence and their opposites.

So why doesn’t God treat you like a daughter? Why does he give food and drink and good husbands and happy families to some but to you…only pain?

If these questions keep you up at night, this episode is for you.

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Is the Bible Against Women?

Is the Bible Against Women? [Episode 135]

It took 11 words to change the world. 11 words misinterpreted. 11 words misunderstood. 11 words manipulated.

A single sentence from the mouth of God to the first woman…Eve. A pronouncement. A prediction. A curse. Or was it?

Do you know these words?

Prepare yourself. Because you’re about to learn their TRUE meaning.

It might blow. your. mind. And it will change the world…again.

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Where Does God Fit Into My Toxic Marriage?

Where Does God Fit Into My Toxic Marriage?

Emotional abuse that involved another person using God or His Word as a weapon of control is also called SPIRITUAL ABUSE, and this type of abuse is horrific in its potential to destroy one’s faith in God.

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