Random Musings

What Forgiveness Isn't 6 myths that may be keeping you from letting go. by Denise George I listened quietly as my friend Jamie told me the frank details of the sexual abuse she'd suffered as a child. "I hate my father!" she blurted out. "He abused me for more than a decade!" Jamie cried. "But my pastor said if I want to heal from my childhood pain, I have to forgive." "What did you tell your pastor?" I asked. "I told him I could never forgive my father, that I didn't want to forgive him, that no one—not even God—would expect me to forgive him!" Jamie told me all the reasons that kept her from forgiving her abusive father. I'd heard many of them before. In fact, I'd used some of them two years earlier, when a friend I'd trusted to keep a confidence told several women in my Sunday school class about a painful circumstance I was going through. I felt betrayed by my friend—as I should have. But forgive her? That was ...

I read this article today and it touched my heart. It's a long read, but definitely worth it. Oh, Lord...to be able to say Blessed Be Your Name...even when everything has been taken away! He Gives, and Takes Away by Mark Hall posted 08/14/06 You're probably familiar with the Casting Crowns hit single "Praise You in This Storm." In this excerpt from his new book Lifestories, frontman Mark Hall tells the story behind the song. Great songs don't just come out of nowhere, and there's quite a story behind the Casting Crowns hit, "Praise You in This Storm." In a new book called Lifestories (available August 29), Mark Hall, the band's frontman and chief songwriter, tells the stories behind the songs—including this one about a little girl dying of cancer who never gave up her trust in Jesus . . . and her mother who literally stood on the promises of God through the whole ordeal. The following story has been adapted and condensed from the book. Laurie E...