Tried With Fire

During the Theology Conference Q&A , Dr. Murray stated: At the core of all empathy and sympathy is humility, that you have something to learn from someone else... The first thing you want to do is just listen. I don't know about you, but this is the opposite of what I have done, which brought back memories for my daughter and me. I was not always the best listener nor the best learner when it came to helping her through some of her struggles. There are moments when she still feels sad over this, and I have more than my share of regrets as well. Thankfully this sadness does not mean that we have we have not reconciled nor forgiven one another. The sadness does not mean that our relationship isn't stronger and healthier, which it is by God's grace. But hurts take time to heal, and grief is part of that process. I don't whether it is just me or in the larger Christian culture, but it's hard dealing with sadness. It's a normal response to want someone to fe...

Dr. David Murray from Puritan Reformed Seminary was the speaker at our annual theology conference last weekend. We've had great speakers in the past, but this conference, in my humble opinion, has been the best. So many of us have been touched by anxiety/depression/mental illness either experiencing it ourselves or with someone we love. We want to help but often make it worse because we don't understand the complexity of the issue. Dr. Murray addressed our emotions, the good, the bad, our failures, and our identity but within the framework of who God is, who we are, and redemption. I am very hopeful that this will be the beginning of greater understanding and empathy in my family as we wrestle with some of these issues but also within our church.. Here are a few snippets that stood out to me: Emotions are pre-fall. However, we did not have negative emotions prior to the fall. Only positive ones. Our emotions are disordered because of the fall. However, God is redeeming ou...