Restoring Hearts Blog

“When we really understand who God is, we begin to recognize who we are. Revelation about Him leads to revelation about ourselves.” Katherine Ruonala The more I get to know God, the more I realize how little I know about Him. Understanding who God is and His attributes, leads me to understand my identity as His child. In order to live out of that identity, I need to believe those truths within my heart. Then and only then, can I possess my true identity in Christ. For years m

“To carry each other is not a burden at all but a kind of privilege.” Bono “You’re not a burden Mom.” Tears instantly sprung to my eyes when I heard my daughter’s words over dinner. Whoa. Her statement hit the bulls-eye of an unknown wound lodged deep within my heart. If you’re around me long enough, you will hear me say, “I want to be user friendly.” In other words, I don’t want to rock the boat or require anything from you, in order to gain your acceptance. All these years

“We were all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.” Marianne Williamson “You were meant to be seen. It’s time to come out from the shadows. No more hiding.” My daughter Lindsay spoke those prophetic words over me while home for the holiday. I wept because they resonated deep within me, hitting the bulls-eye of my heart. During worship I mulled them over and over in my mind. I began to analyze why I struggled with thi

“We fear men so much, because we fear God so little.” William Gurnall My struggle with fear of man can be traced back to fear of rejection and feeling lonely and abandoned. I experienced an early memory of rejection during elementary school. Standing amidst a cluster of classmates I waited. Holding my breath I thought, Please choose me! One by one other names were called out, leaving me to be one of the last chosen. Not being athletically talented, the team captains didn’t wa

“Everyone has problems. It’s how we choose to deal with our problems that matters. Some people choose to be whiners-some choose to be winners. Some choose to be victims-some choose to be victors.” Richard Paul Evans You are not a victim. An insidious disease disguised as a victim mentality has crept into our culture. Its sister viruses are self-pity and rejection thinking with pride at its foundation. When we mainly have our focus on ourselves, becoming a victim is a blink aw

“We fear men so much, because we fear God so little.” William Gurnall One of God’s mandates to me this summer is to do whatever I can to restore my heart. Having a greater self-awareness plus a greater God-awareness equals greater freedom in Christ. Along those lines, one of the issues He’s putting His finger on is my fear of man. Proverbs 29:25 gives us a warning we’d be wise to heed. “Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.” A snar