hidden idols

Divorcing: Orange-handled scissors cut apart a marriage certificate with a long-stemmed orange-yellow rose lying across it.

Divorcing: When God does what he hates

Post published:July 7, 2023
Post category:Knowing and Going with God Trauma and Grief
Post last modified:March 10, 2025

Once, in Malachi, God may have said that he hates divorce. Repeatedly, in Jeremiah, God reveals how much he hates divorcing. Repeatedly, he laments the nonstop betrayals that did, and could, bring him to do it.

Celebrity! An appealing haze of sparkles, bubbles and baubles obscures whoever and whatever might actually be in the picture.

Celebrity culture in the church

Post published:May 11, 2023
Post category:Healing from Toxic Church My Story
Post last modified:January 9, 2025

It’s so enticing, and so much a part of the US evangelical church culture. Yet the lure of celebrity can deceive us into agreeing with much that is not God.

Closeup of person's hand, holding a black pen and making a lengthy checklist on graph paper

Checklists, idols and loving God

Post published:July 7, 2020
Post category:Healing from Toxic Church
Post last modified:January 12, 2025

The preacher urged people to love the Lord with all their hearts. Yet, tragically, he himself did not know how to do it. He could only offer a checklist.

A lighthouse stands on an island near other tiny, scattered islands.

A promise of real belonging

Post published:August 22, 2018
Post category:Healing from Toxic Church Trauma and Grief
Post last modified:March 10, 2025

Long ago and far away, God promised a scattered people, “I will be a sanctuary to you during your time in exile,” and, “I will gather you back.”