Tim Tracy You’ve Been Hurt By The Church. What’s Next? Church hurt happens. Maybe it’s happened to you. Spiritual abuse can lead you to feeling stunned, overwhelmed, confused and uncertain. What do you do when you’ve been victimized by spiritual leaders you trusted? How do you recover when everything you’ve believed is challenged? The first thing you … Read more
The Power of Positive Thinking Faith Many Christians roll their eyes when they hear the phrase “positive thinking.” They associate it with mind-over-matter, or manifestation mumbo-jumbo. They think it has nothing to do with Christianity. But did you know that The Power of Positive Thinking was not the original title for Norman Vincent Peale’s classic bestseller? Peale wanted … Read more
Am I Wrong To Feel Angry? When someone has experienced spiritual abuse (or any kind of abuse, for that matter),it is normal to have feelings of anger. But often we have not been taught how to process that anger. In fact, in many situations we may have been taught that it was wrong, even sinful, … Read more
Memories…of the Way We Were Our beloved Nana lived to be almost 102 years old. It was such a blessing to care for her in the final years of her life. I remember her saying that the older you are, the more you think of the past. Now that I’m a senior citizen, I’m … Read more
Saved And Excited My own experience with spiritual abuse happened when I was in my twenties and early thirties. I had come to Christ when I was 18, during the Jesus People Movement in the early Seventies (what Time magazine called the Jesus Revolution). I started going to a Christian coffeehouse begun by a man … Read more
What Is Spiritual Abuse? It’s called by different names: spiritual abuse, church hurt, religious trauma. But regardless of its label, its consequences can be catastrophic. Switching churches provides a change of scenery but often does little to bring healing, so victims sit and suffer in silence. For others, the experience is so painful that it … Read more
Nowhere To Go? This weekend we had a really nice visit with some family members. One of them was Aunt Theresa. She’s my wife’s aunt (does that make her my aunt-in-law?) Anyway, we asked if she could stay for a bit, and her response was, “I’ve got nowhere to go and all day to get … Read more
Where I Was Sitting The other day I was reading my Bible, as I do every morning. I have a daily reading plan from Our Daily Bread Ministries that I follow, which takes me through the entire Bible in a year. To add some variety, each year I use a different Bible translation, and this … Read more
Is A Smile Your Style? Remember the musical “Annie”? It tells the story of an orphan during the Great Depression, a time when there certainly wasn’t much to smile about. One of the highlights is a musical number titled “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile.” The chorus goes, “Who cares what they’re wearing on … Read more
What Should I Do? Shortly before Covid hit in 2020, I began thinking about retirement. I’d been working for decades in children’s ministry, teaching in a Christian school and Sunday School and VBS, and I was getting tired. My energy level and my patience were not what they once were (and if you know anything … Read more