'growth' Tagged Posts

An Open Letter to Those Suffering from Depression

An Open Letter to Those Suffering from Depression by Shona Murray “My dear friend, I’m so sorry to hear that you are suffering with serious depression. Although you feel hopeless and helpless, I want to assure you right up front that there is hope and there is help. I’ve been there myself and I’ve felt the same despair and darkness that you feel. But God, in his great mercy, brought me out of it and I trust and pray he…

An Open Letter to Those Frustrated by Their Progress in Sanctification

An Open Letter to Those Frustrated by Their Progress in Sanctification by David Powlison “Dear friend, We all love it when life leaps into forward gear and we make all kinds of progress. Problems just seem to fall away. Perhaps in your life you’ve had a season like that, a season when your life seemed to shine and flourish. Maybe it was when you first became a believer or during some period when you were very well nurtured by good…

Why We Give in to Temptation

Why We Give in to Temptation by Mike Emlet, Dean of Faculty at Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation “Why do we give in to temptation? This question often arises in the context of counseling for repetitive struggles such as pornography use, masturbation, substance abuse, and overeating. There are many biblical ways to answer this question, but I want to focus on just one: we give in to temptation because we get tired of fighting the battle. It feels too hard…

Learning about Sanctification from Groundhog Day

Learning about Sanctification from Groundhog Day by Mike Emlet, Dean of Faculty at Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation “We recently celebrated that oddest of American traditions, Groundhog Day. Every February 2, the nation awaits a weather prediction from “Phil,” a groundhog who makes his home in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. If he sees his shadow that morning, it means six more weeks of wintery weather or so the lore goes. If he doesn’t see his shadow, it predicts an early spring….Are you…