Find people who can handle your darkest truths, who don’t change the subject when you share your pain or try to make you feel bad for feeling bad. Find people who understand we all struggle, some of us more than others, and that there’s no weakness in admitting it....
It isn’t a bit surprising that you find the Psalms and even your own attempts to develop personal prayer an ‘exercise’ rather than an ‘experience.’ One has to make up one’s mind to submit to training, including the drudgery of training; nor is one’s spiritual state...
We don't develop courage by being happy every day. We develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity.
If you desire intimate union with God, you must be willing to pay the price for it. The price is small enough. In fact, it is not even a price at all; it only seems to be so with us. We find it difficult to give up our desire for things that can never satisfy us in...
People are hungry for love. Are we aware of that? Do we know that? Do we see that? Do we have eyes to see? Quite often we look but we don't see. We are all just passing through this world. We need to open our eyes and see. Since we cannot see Christ, we cannot express...
Shifting from a self-centered focus to a more God-centered focus is terribly hard. I think we've gone wrong by assuming that such a radical movement can be achieved simply by setting our jaw and saying one or two prayers of relinquishment. Letting go isn't one step,...
The desperate drive to own and control in order to fill our psychic holes, relieve anxiety, fix difficulties, and cauterize old wounds takes root at an early age, and is doomed. It is like going to the hardware store for bread. It doesn't sell bread.
Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult—once we truly understand and accept it—then life is no longer difficult. Because...
“Praise” that uses only “upbeat” songs can be extremely destructive to worshipers because it denies the reality of doubts concerning God, the hiddenness of God, and the feelings of abandonment by God that cloud believers going through difficult times. I have counseled...
A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.