Tagged: depression

All day long I feel humiliated and am overwhelmed by shame.Psalm 44:15 Like a flood that creeps in overnight, flowing under doors and rising over baseboards, shame has come into our hearts and homes, invading the privacy of our most personal dwelling places. The introduction of smartphones and social media has brought convenience and benefit to our lives. We can now take passport photos on our phones and get them the same day at the local print shop. We can pass 'n play Scrabble with our kids while we wait in line at restaurants and track our Fantasy Football team minute by minute. But smartphones and social media have also made us extremely vulnerable. All this social networking and information at our fingertips has allowed… Read More

One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him, “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked (John 5:5-9) Sometimes suffering can go on so long we lose hope. We lie on the mats of our circumstances and watch others rush past in pursuit of… Read More

What wall are you facing today? For it is you who light my lamp; the Lord my God lightens my darkness. For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall. Psalm 18:28-29 I have found comfort in this promise in some of the hardest places on earth. Facing life's challenges can seem like looking up at an immovable wall. Islam is certainly a wall, as anyone who has lived and worked as a follower of Jesus in its midst well knows. Sitting face to face with a witch-doctor on the hard dirt of an African village while the people watch to see whose God is stronger surely seems like facing a wall. But by my… Read More

@audreycfrank Jesus was getting ready to leave in the boat. The man who was freed from the demons begged to go with him. But Jesus would not allow the man to go. Jesus said, “Go home to your family and friends. Tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you.” So the man left and told the people in the Ten Towns about the great things Jesus had done for him. All the people were amazed. Mark 5:18-20, ICB When Jesus asked him his name, the man of the Gerasenes answered with the name shame had given him: “My name is Legion, because I have many spirits in me” (v.9). The evil forces that had stripped his… Read More

@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 me, no matter how she pronounced it. Not everyone knows how precious they are to their Father in heaven. Too many of his children when asked their names respond with lies they have been forced to believe about themselves. Lies like Rejected, Ugly, or Unloved. Shame has forced them into… Read More

@audreycfrank Part One: When You are the One Suffering from PTSD "Don't trigger me!" one teen said to another as they dissolved into laughter. The phrase has become casual and funny in popular culture, but underneath the laughter there is a kernel of truth. For those who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a trigger can come unexpectedly, throwing them into a tailspin of fear and anxiety. [tweet_box design="default" float="none"]Recognizing the signs of #PTSD and knowing how to respond can make all the difference.[/tweet_box] One of the most indelible memories of PTSD for me happened one clear morning in Africa when a trigger interupted my life, warping reality. The old green Scout was my rescue car that day, the only reliable source of transportation available… Read More

@audreycfrank Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding. Acknowledge Him in all your ways, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6 He told her he was not attracted to her anymore, did not love her, and had wasted the past five years of his life married to her. He wanted a divorce. She recoiled in shock, the unexpected declaration taking her completely off-guard. But they both serve in the church! He is a good father to their two children. She has done Bible studies on how to be a godly wife. How could this happen when she had done everything right? She could not believe the doctor’s diagnosis. Surely he was mistaken. This must… Read More