Against a snowy background stands a black iron gate, locked with multiple padlocks of different colors and shapes.

Shunning in the church

When a group shuns, it rejects someone who has belonged. How shunning in the church looks, why it hurts so much – and why you can overcome.

Beautiful blue rock dove

A validation blessing

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“O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places of the mountain crags, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.” (Song 2:14 NET)

Woman on mountaintop, above the clouds. She stands with her feet toward the camera, but her face turned away into the wind, as she looks out on the clouds behind and below her.

I will change your name

I will change your name! From wounded, outcast, lonely, afraid. To Confidence, Joyfulness, Overcomer, Faithfulness, Friend and Seeker of God.

Three gray wolves, standing together on a rock ledge, threatening, howling

Cliques in the church

Cliques are by nature, exclusive. Where they occur in the church, they fragment the church. They prevent the people of God from becoming one.

Silhouette of a person with arms wide open, standing between the bold sunset colors of a wide sky and a wide ocean

The most freeing thing

The work of exile – the work God wants to do through it – is to free you from bondage that masquerades as relationship, to draw you to himself, to show you what is and is not love. Perhaps the hardest thing you can do in exile – and by far the most freeing – is to stay there until it has done its work.