Latest Posts

When Shame Steals Your Name

@audreycfrank And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” Mark 5:9 “What’s your name?” the kind man in the appliance department asked my eighteen-month-old daughter. Blonde curls framing her dimpled face, she looked up at him through big blue eyes and answered, “Fweetie.”  Fweetie was her version of the name we always called her: Sweetie. She knew who she was, dear to her father and… Read More

A New Heart for a New Year

@audreycfrank I was minding my own business when God’s Word took me by surprise, threw its handcuffs on me and placed me under arrest. As part of my research for a new book, I was studying Psalm 51 because it is one of the many Biblical passages about being clean and pure. I am fascinated by the offer of a holy, pure God to make His followers clean. Dirtiness comes from many sources. Sin is… Read More

The Christmas Lamb

@audreycfrank I struggled to open the lock on our massive wooden front door. Bang, bang, bang! Whoever was on the other side was impatient. Finally, the latch gave way, the weight of the door pushing it inward. Standing in a pool of golden lamplight was a woman about my age. The burqa she wore was shabby and torn but tidy and clean. Chin held brave and high, she looked directly at me with dignity despite… Read More

Shame on You or I’m Here for You: When Parents Face Pornography

@audreycfrank She just had a feeling. It was that mother-gut, knowing feeling that words just can’t quite explain. Such a feeling is weighed and measured in units of anxiety and apprehension, intangible but real. Something was wrong, and her son was trying to hide it. Climbing the stairs, she said a quick prayer. Lord, please reveal whatever I need to know. As she opened the door to her son’s room, he quickly slid something under… Read More

What Loving Muslims Taught Me About the Gospel

@audreycfrank The billowing saffron colored melhfa blew around her small frame like a mystery. And that suited her, for that’s what she was the first day I laid eyes on her. An enigma, a puzzle, a silent beacon of courage pressing against the crowds outside our hospital gates. I did not understand her yet. But I would, and knowing her would teach me more than I could have imagined. Two hours later it was finally… Read More

Were We Created for Independence?

@audreycfrank In the past few years, as I have deeply examined the Bible through the lenses of honor and shame, many of my opinions and beliefs have been challenged at the core. As Independence Day in the United States draws near, I am thinking critically today about the role and purpose of independence and its genesis. I have lived in nations where corruption drove governments to withhold resources and help from their people, driving them… Read More

A Letter to My Goddaughter: God’s Story in Your Life

Dear Beautiful One, the Apple of God’s eye, Chosen not Rejected, Seen, Loved, Known and Treasured, the one called My Delight is in Her, [tweet_box design="default" float="none"]Your #story is part of God’s story in the history of the world.[/tweet_box] He is writing His story in you. What has just happened to you will be one of the most breathtaking parts of His great story of rescue in your life. But I know it does not feel… Read More

Seen and Known

I see you. I see your pursuit of worth. The way you try to walk without stumbling in those high heels. The nervous flutter of hands smoothing your dress, the careful way you styled your hair. I hear you comment self-consciously about whether or not your Chacos should really be worn with a floral dress. I see the lightweight scarf you chose for your hijab, hoping it might breathe just a little in the pressing… Read More

Speak Your Beautiful Heart: Becoming Real

@audreycfrank.com Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. Psalm 62:8, NIV Since I was a child, I have had an inordinate desire to talk to someone. Growing up in abuse and trauma, one of the first lessons I learned was not to talk to anyone. [tweet_box design="default" float="none"]Silence is one of the punishments of shame, and one of the most difficult habits to… Read More

Shame Disarmed

disarm: take a weapon or weapons away from (a person, force, or country); remove the fuse from (a bomb), making it safe; deprive of the power to injure or hurt. (New Oxford American Dictionary) I am heavily armed at all times. My weapons are both visible and concealed, and I am careful to wear them at all times. Over time I have collected quite an arsenal. Performance is my nuclear weapon, carefully engineered to obliterate… Read More