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finding healing and freedom in secular music
What happened that evening in our home opened up a whole new world for me. I spent hours downloading music, checking out CDs from the library, and just laying in bed listening to…
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perfection is not possible
What my first year of college taught me is that perfection - whether in your spiritual life or academic - is not possible, no matter how hard you try. That's why we need…
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What do Brad Pitt, Josh Groban, and Sleepless in Seattle have in common?
Growing up without a TV, never going to the movies, being terrified (literally) of rock music, and only having friends at my church - I lived in a clean, sterile little bubble of…
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when you’ve been hurt by legalism or the church, hold onto faith
But I urge you, Christian who has been hurt by legalism: Don't give up on God. Hold onto faith.
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Failed courtship: when you trust and obey but your heart still gets broken
Have you ever had your heart broken by a relationship gone wrong or a dream unfulfilled? Have you ever found yourself trying to find the answers to the blame game? Have you ever…
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hiding in shame, packing up my dreams
I was standing in an empty dormitory room, the one right across from mine. It had been empty for the entire semester, but now it was where I was hiding all of my…
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Standing Under the Broken Heart: How Shaming Leads to Legalism
A war had been started within my soul. Part of me that believed that their opinion of me was also God’s opinion: that I really was a rebellious person if I didn’t follow…
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what is “legalism”?
After some prayerful consideration of the objective and direction of this series, I feel that it is necessary to share what I mean when I use the term "legalism." When I was living…
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some self-observations about legalism
I was driving with a new friend back from the park, and we were discussing our religious backgrounds and some of the standards that we used to follow when we were growing up.…
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Earning God’s love
For four years of marriage, I based how good of a wife I was on my performance. ...I stopped singing and shook my head at the irony, as I realized that this problem…
