Where are you on your healing journey? Perhaps you've wondered why healing seems to come so easily for some people while you still struggle with memories, fear, shame, or grief. Maybe you've made satisfying progress only to find yourself unexpectedly triggered again, wondering if you're right back where you started. You're not. Healing is not linear. If you were to graph it, it might even look like a loop-de-loop roller coaster. There are seasons of rapid growth, seasons of w

I recently stumbled upon a journal entry from FORTY YEARS AGO: 1/6/85--Jesus, I pray that my pain can be another's reason to look for and find you. I sat and stared at it. Whoa, if I could've seen into the future, that I'd one day tell my hard story for the purpose of helping others find hope and healing, I wouldn't have believed it was possible. God heard my prayer, but it didn't come to fruition until 2023, when Heartmending was published...thirty-eight years after that pra

I rarely remember my dreams, and when I do I forget them within days. But once in a while, a dream comes with such quiet force that it stays with me for decades. ********************** I was standing outside a circular room. Jesus was next to me, and I was complaining to him about my sexual abuse. "Why, Lord? Why did it have to happen? I hate how it has wrecked my life!" He looked at me with such tenderness. After a lon

A few days before Charlie Kirk was murdered, I was stopped short by something he said in one of his videos: One of my favorite phrases in the Bible in Hebrew is HINENI: “Here I am.” It means Lord, use me. I nerd out on Hebrew and Greek root words in the Bible, so hineni (hee-nay-nee) caught my attention. But the other thing that jumped out at me was when Charlie called the one-word hineni a “saying.” So often we don’t have exact English translations, thus, hineni translates t

"I gotta get outta here!" That was my only thought as I exploded in rage one day. Back in the 90s, I had just begun my healing journey, and opening the door to my pain left me raw. I don’t remember what triggered me, but sometimes the normal challenges of parenting and marriage felt like treading water with a leg cramp. So close to drowning. I leaped into the car, screeched out of the driveway, and drove like a madwoman with no destination in mind (not one of my finer moments

True confession: I know that Jesus loves me, but I mostly know it in my head, not my heart. I can quote Bible verses about His love and encourage others to embrace it, but I don't always live like I believe it. Those with deep soul wounds can relate. If we don't believe we are truly loved, accepted, and valued by our Creator, we can't heal at our core or live into the fullness of who He intended us to be. Twelve years ago I served as a nurse on Mercy Ships in Togo, Africa. I