Doing What You Love ~ Healing in Real Time

As I worked to take several pounds of shredded cabbage which we acquired from the food rescue truck earlier this week, I put on a video to keep me moving in my tiny kitchen while sons and daughter do their things nearby.  

Having long been on the search for understanding in order to heal-to-wholeness from daunting home life growing up, I have felt very clearly that CPTSD is what I have been dealing with inside of me - nerves, cells, brain, emotions and body.  

I like the Crappy Childhood Fairy's way of stating it's "childhood" ptsd...

So many videos I have heard...and many even this week, as I work to sort out what's going on.  Sometimes I am injecting the information like I'm Neo plugged into the Matrix and getting rapid downloads...

Assimilating it all, and integrating the knowledge and wisdom into understanding seems to be a more than full time work, which continues to produce great fruit, encouragement and lurches forward.

****

When Mom was arrested and diagnosed with Cluster B personality disorder a few years ago, it confirmed what I had been studying as I chased the Holy Spirit's leader and had been learning about NPD.  

As some intense things are coming into my understanding this past couple of weeks, after decades of prayer and more than a year of intensive warfare praying (thank you Dan Duval!), so much is coming together!

In the video (below), H.P. expresses what so many of us who were raised in narcissistic family systems have needed, which is to take time, energy, effort and care in order to DEVELOP ourselves as a person- as an individual with needs and wants, likes and loves, etc.  

Arthur Burk put that concept into practical detail over at THESLG, and I highly recommend it for anyone who was reared to be a commodity, or has a close loved one who was.  

Who knew I'd find this video just moments after it was posted? 

The Habits That Heal C-PSTD: Why Self-Care Matters Most When You Feel Unworthy Of It

by Heide Priebe

Who would have thought it was a Holy Spirit initiated blessing for me as I was following along in the random flow of a morning full of a variety of activities which delighted my soul?  

What I know for certain, is that on this journey of relying on, obeying, trusting in and clinging to Jesus, who ascended so that the Indwelling God could be released into this fallen world, my Deliverer Has Already Come.  

The song below has continued to fan faith, hope, and love within as I seek to love God and receive His love into myself.

Emotional Healing 101 (Made Simple)

In all my years of working on emotional and inner healing, I have sought and come across MANY articles, audio blurbs and videos.  I have read, studied, practiced, prayed, sang, danced, declared, wept...all within the processes of healing and learning about it.  

Having first started with blessing my spirit-man for many years, I now feel this is THE most practical, simple and straightforward message on emotional healing that I have heard so far.  I feel he has a very good grasp of the spiritual, physical and emotional issues as well as the foundational scriptural principles.  

While I do not pretend to know the intricacies, I would like to add a few more principles (truths).

According to Dr. Gabore Mate, almost all disease (etc) is caused by us NOT listening to our gut.  

Pastor and Dr. Jim Wilder says all addiction is caused by the inability to regulate emotions.  

Dr. Caroline Leaf says something like 85% of all sickness is healable and our DNA is the starting point.

Additionally, I have added to the second step of Praying Medic's method.  As well as asking for God to heal the soul wounds the feelings are triggering, I ask Him to heal all the spirit, body, time and land wound associated with that wound.

Praying Medic Emotional Healing

Accepting Things

As I ponder the changes which happen in various seasons of life, I feel like sharing with you a little bit about what is happening on my end.

As you might know, it has been nearly three years since my Mom was arrested and sent for psychiatric evaluation against her will.  The results of that have been significant for me for a myriad of reasons.

Having "proof" that I was reared by a mentally ill, emotionally volatile, impoverished single woman has been enormously helpful.  I guess it feels a bit like vindication, as I have been speaking out about it since I was about five years old (literally!).  

Having been raised in an environment where oodles of my needs did not get met and having been exposed to a whole lot of things which were not helpful (and many which were deeply hurtful), it has taken me all my life to feel like I have my feet underneath me properly.  I have had to learn dozens of skills of caring for self which most people, thankfully, take for granted and learn in their early years.

I was not deceived; I knew things were NOT going as they ought to have.  My sense of God's ways and justice were on high alert, helping me to always know that what I was experiencing was NOT right and not God's intention for me.  Principles were being violated all over the place.  My Mother's diagnoses helped me gain an understanding that I have not been crazy all this time!

The past few years have been a series of processes whereby I have faced reality in oh-so many ways.  While God rigged it for me to study and learn about some of the problems before the facts came to light, the majority of the inner healing has come in the past few months as I have been able to take a deep breath (literally, finally) and enjoy my Maker, my self and the abundant life He continually provides.  

Learning to receive life from Him and understanding what life is -and is not -has been another huge aspect of my maturing process.  

During this time I put everything online on hold.  I pulled away from online groups and people I respect and admire at a time when the whole world seemed to be connecting online more than ever.  

I started getting out more physically while everyone else seemed to be shut in.  

My years of having been sort of a house hermit in order to nurture self and home and kin proved to be beneficial.  Tending to home fires and setting house in order paid off and now I finally feel like I can come here and say something that will be worth saying.

It feels good to be returning with what feels like a completely new inner world.  

If ever you or anyone you care about needs to stop the busyness of life and slow down, I think it really is worth the effort.  Time taken to receive and open those good and perfect gifts will never be regretted.  

Looking forward, I hope to share more of the specifics I have learned in order to give testimony as to how good God is and how fantastically His ways work.  

He- and His principles- still delights me continually, in the midst of having just been through some of the darkest nights of my soul's life.  

More later.  

Thanks for reading.  :)

~Kate 

Exuberant for Life  

Lake Ann

Michigan

USA

August 3, 2021

An Update

 Hello!

As I ponder sharing myself and of our lives through Exuberant for Life, I feel such tug and pull. Is it possible the time for feeling free to share regularly will come and that I'm just in the midst of *still* a LOT of emotional healing? Likely.

Getting my house in order has taken more than a decade. In my ignorance and immature zeal I thought it would take a week. That was before I knew anything much about the inner world and the copious amounts of healing needed for oh-so-many wounds.

The other day as the Tall Guy and I chatted, I shared with him what my friend MB is helping me to realize: the journey to being whole is exhausting, time consuming and often feels like battling monsters. While it's WORTH the time and energy (and whatever resources are required), it is a bit mind boggling just how much the processes seem to hinder what used to be considered 'normal life.' He said that is why people choose NOT to deal with it, and in a flash I understood!

The breaker anointing we both have is no small thing, and it is for our posterity that we keep learning and clinging to the One who knows and who gives us strength to continue. Imparting will come, I hope (for I long to get to that work!), yet for now I must be content to just BE, and to keep receiving from the Life Giver and to do the work set before me each day.

I suspect the Ruler portion of my spirit is finally getting to express itself. The inner-man healing work which began more than six years ago is resulting in things like fresh curtains being installed to replace worn out blankets for window coverings as well as setting up simple and good looking systems so we can do what we were designed to do here -create! play! work! love! rest!

I am SO glad to know about productive pain....the kind which hurts but which has a redemptive and good-for-me purpose. Though it doesn't make anything easier, it reminds me to keep taking courage as I face all these invisible and unnamable issues, day in and day out while simultaneously caring for self, family, home and a relationship or two beyond these walls. Courage is a resource I have come to appreciate.

As I keep doing the work which I cannot really name, see or understand very well, I often think of YOU and the journey you are on.

I'm reminded too of the holy work we do to break general cycles of iniquity and I rejoice that there is healing for the soul.

Keeping on,

Kate

Dominion At Home

As I reflect upon the past several years, I recognize a common theme, which I have not been able to see clearly until this morning.  

Whenever my passion for something gets the better of me, certain areas of my life suffer.  

When that happens, I suffer, as do the people around me.

I suppose we all have our limitations.  You might be better at knowing yours than I have been at knowing my own.  

It is likely I have less ability to manage things in my life than I previously thought.  As I look around me, even this morning, I see loads of evidence that I am not managing well some of what I have been given.  

I ask myself: what types of activities, mindsets and processes disable my ability to keep certain aspects of my life running?  This is what I need to consider.

To run well the race set before me, I need to take inventory of what is going well, celebrate what has been shifted that is now well-stewarded which once was not, and be honest about what is currently falling below my own standards.

To give you a small example, just now when I went to the coffee pot to get the decaf brewing, I noticed what I had not last night before I retired.  The tiny kitchen is overrun with items needing immediate attention: boys winter gear & light sabers, dirty dishes, overflowing trash.  

The one person who has the duty to care for the dishes can knock that chore out in about 30 minutes (fewer if he can resist the temptation to be distracted).  The snowsuits and boy toys can be put away in seconds; trash remedied in moments.

What is at the heart of it all, and the reason I share, is because I know that in the past two days I have been obsessed with what is happening in certain areas of my nation.  Putting such intense focus on moment-by-moment news has sucked all the energy out of me for making sure my home is running properly.

Who cares about a well-run home?  I do!!!  It is the one physical place where I spend almost all of my time, as do these children!  It is supposed to be a nurturing place; a place of warmth and of acceptance where love and hope are continually renewed.  

In the past days it has been anything but.  

I see now how giving almost all of my attention to what is happening nationally impedes my ability to keep these home fires burning.  The result?  The fruit?  The children have been fighting; my husband has barely had a proper meal in days and we have all been sustained on bits of nourishment here and there without any proper oversight from me.

I have also sadly neglected my self, which is the life-long pattern I have spent the past several years learning how to adjust.  

As I write this, I can see how ignoring my needs starts the cycle of not giving others what they need and deserve: my time, my love, my EFFORT.  

To see that I have not given my self time, love or effort is sobering.  Being indifferent towards myself does not bless anyone.

My soul is finite and can only do so much on any given day.

As I continue the journey of learning to live life as a whole person, I continue to need to make changes in order to better execute this life for which I am so exuberant.

While I know it is not the end of the world, it needs to be the end of me doing too much in one area and not enough in others.  Physical, mental, spiritual and emotional health matter, no matter what is happening in Washington D.C. or anywhere else in the nation and world.

I am reminded of Kris Ann Hall's words this week: we must focus on our local and state governing bodies in order to affect real change.  Similarly, I must turn my focus to making myself and then my home a place of beauty and of peace and of faith in the One who gives us breath.  That process begins with my heart, soul, mind and body, which have been VERY busy with matters too far beyond my reach.

Yes, I pray for God's will on the earth, and I agree with Him to make happen here what He would like, and I will continue to intercede where He leads; however I must also put in the work of what He has given me to do...here...today.  My realm is that of this little home; tending to its bodies and its needs is my responsibility, as is caring for my own self!  

Real transformation begins inside of us, and from that place, rivers of life can flow.  

It is time to focus first on what matters most.  The 80/20 principle comes to mind, as do so many others.  I will now take courage to return to what needs to have my first priority...and then from a place of strength there, will see what is left to give beyond the hearth and home.

On Patriotism and Inner Acceptance of Whatever IS True

I've spent a long time reading posts of others and considering so much information. Finally, a bit from my own innards erupts and I share it here, in case you care to read.

No matter what the truth is about any of it, I want to know. I am not concerned about "party" or devoted to any leader blindly, including any POTUS. I want justice for all and want the truth exposed all the way around and I'll adjust to whatever the facts are even if I can't stand what comes to light. 

I learned long ago that men and women are not angels and so am wiling to face embarrassment, sadness, anger, disgust etc if/when anyone I believed in/trusted has been dishonest, lied or covered up crimes for themselves or someone else. 

I'm a patriot of this nation and want it's best for it's people. 

While we don't all agree on what that looks like, it's important we have the emotional maturity (which has to be developed as it isn't automatic) to have logical and honest discussions. 

I might not have the maturity yet...but am learning and growing and willing to face my own faults, errors and wrongdoings. I know how to accept grace when I'm wrong and receive love when in error and have decades of messing up and then adjusting my behavior to not be such a fool. 

If there are those who represent us (or have or who seek to) who have been/are dishonest, I don't care WHAT side they're on. Those deeds need to be exposed and brought to light. I am not interested in fueling and adding to the garbage by saying I love everything some people do and dislike their opponents. 

I am willing to concede perhaps I've been duped as it seems so many have been. I don't have all the facts and indeed long for systems whereby we can access facts without all the corporate and financially biased drama etc. 

IF there are major parties (business, corporations, individuals, etc) who are part of a massive deceptive "cover up" of what's really happened/happening, then I literally pray that all gets exposed, no matter WHO has participated. We (the Republic and indeed the world) need to know what's true and what the facts are. 

We must get tot he point where we all can access information to understand the big picture and then can we, once INFORMED, decide for ourselves how to handle those who have misused their governing privileges which we gave them by electing them. 

Finally, I don't need to be told what the facts mean...I can figure that out for myself because I don't drink the water and was reared to be fiercely independent and to think for myself. I do look for sources willing to swim upstream from chatter and noise which doesn't sit right with me. Oh, how developing discernment has messed with my ability to think and consider information. Listening to our gut sense (etc) is so important. 

“Listen carefully and I highly suggest you watch the full episode... Full: https://t.co/lEBuVRHbqO Backup link: https://t.co/4pQ6nFRd95 https://t.co/UnTY69lREJ”

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More SRATools

For those who deal in some capacity with SRA there is an online resources available here.  Thanks to my friend SR for sharing!!

Inner Life - It Begins

It finally happened.

I hit the emotional dumping grounds where the life-long suffering (from having a mentally ill parent with personality disorder-just diagnosed) has been hiding within me.

I could NEVER get to it!

Now there are massive emotional areas I can finally "get to" and the stuff on this healing center site goes along with nicely with what I've been led to learn and practice over the past decade.

I've spent the past couple of months laying low and healing from the stuff I've finally had the strength (etc) to face. It's been such a challenge and I appreciate these techniques which I can work on in private at home while I am with our children all day. 

It's making a difference gradually. I'm finally in NO hurry and am happy with whatever pace I find myself in day by day.

I'm sharing an affiliate link with you in case you get a nudge to take a peek too. If you sign up for the healing center through my link, I will earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.  Click the image below to learn more.

Feel free to email me at exuberantforlife@gmail.com if you have questions, or comment below and I'll get back with you as soon as I'm able.  

Inner Life (an intermission)

This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through an affiliate link, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

As I'm going along dealing FINALLY with all sorts of stuff I could not get to before, I am needing to take a bit of a break from sharing with you.  I have some posts in draft form and simply do not have the strength, energy or will to get the editing finished even though it would take me a bit longer than it will to write this whole thing for you!

To give you some context, when I was about 12 years old I hugged my Grandma goodby one fine day and she gave me a smooch.  She had a cold sore on her lip and since then I've had them erupt on and off.  They are NEVER fun.

I've been SO happy not to have had any in a long time.

Last weekend I was very ill with an out-of-nowhere migraine headache which when exposed to any daylight caused vomiting.  I felt terrible all that day...and though the next day I was better, a small bump developed on my lip the following week.

I didn't pay much attention to it AT ALL..and in fact forgot to do the usual things to help the ity bity flare-up cease and desist.  Instead what happened was it began to ooze and ooze and burn and ooze and SPREAD (so gross AND contagious!!!)...and now I have a huge burning patch of I-dunno-what under my bottom lip all the way to my chin.  It's as though the oozing continues and scabs and then each time I talk or eat it opens some of the healing places.  😳

Well, lemme tell you there's a lot of deliverance and inner healing going on...all in areas far beyond my reach until now and I'm reminded of the principle that my body has kept score. In other words, it's letting to of a life time of JUNK.   That's really good news!!!!

However...

..tonight I finally had the courage to look at it under a magnified mirror and was saddened to see what's happening.  While it IS getting better it is still very much in need of help.  So...I have cleaned it throughly, dabbed with hydrogen peroxide, let it dry and then sprayed it with peppermint oil.  Once that dried a bit I gobbed on lots of vitamin E creme.

It looks so horrible that I couldn't bare to let my hubby and kids see it for fear of worrying or disgusting them (plus I think keeping it from air, etc is a wise move), so I covered it with cotton pads and stuck them down gently with bandages.  While this might seem like no big deal, I know I need to not talk and not eat tonight in order to give it all a huge chance to heal.  My flapping jaw isn't good for that new skin growth making it's way underneath all that nastiness.

I am very grateful the past two nights I've been able to sleep pretty well.  For two nights before that it was oozing so badly I couldn't rest as I had to keep dabbing the nasty stuff!!  😰

I don't normally talk about such gross stuff...and the only reason I'm telling you now is because it HURTS and I'm trying not to cry.  My nerves feel super raw and I need comfort...and so I will plop myself down on the deck where the flowers and fruits, veggies and herbs grow and the birds flutter around doing their lovely things and I will read the great book I'm in the middle of.  I might sneak down some sort of liquid protein through a straw in order to give in and take some over-the-counter pain meds.  I hate to take anything like that unless I have to...yet I know this stress I'm feeling from the pain is apt to cause my body to react even more.  😷

Oh, and I'll work through PM's 3 steps to emotional healing too, because all this healing is sometimes....well, PAINFUL.  Worth it, of course,  yet 😢

Once I have my strength back, I'll get working on some posts for ya.  I have a lot of things to share which have come to light!!

Inner Life Part 4

This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through an affiliate link shared here, I might earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

As I face what IS and what HAS been in order to decide what I want FROM NOW ON to look like, I am grateful for glimmers of light, helping hands and healing words along the way.  The journey in G*d and with Him is one entire aspect of reality...and the walk with others and myself another.

Learning I am an exhorter type of person really helps me frame things so I understand better.  It helps me accept how G*d made me one of the seven templates for humanity.  Lots of words, big ideas, exuberance for His life all around is part of the makeup of what's okay about me.

For people who've been reared by someone with cluster B personality disorders (including narcissism) there are some really dismal realities they face.  Taking the bull by the horns as my mother would say and dealing with it all takes no small amount of courage.  While I am aware of many things I lack, courage isn't usually one of them.

Learning of my energy type has been an interesting study as well.

Allow me to back up.

When the mother in your life believes the worst about you, cannot encourage, support or love you in a way you need and verbally assaults you more often than not, there's a need for finding out what's true and good and right about yourself.  Too, the nasty things spoken need to be neutralized and then good things added.  In other words, when the person God gave you to be the nurturer instead sows thorns and thistles into your life, it DOES things to a person.  It takes time and commitment to Truth and a willingness to be stripped bare in order for new life to be sown.  Then it takes time for those good seeds to germinate and bring forth good things.  How I am grateful for the Gentle Gardner!

Others who have been healed from a childhood of assaults by a parent have my full respect and attention. I have appreciated receiving truth and life from those who've faced the abuse and all the scary and upsetting things which go along with not being safe in the home of your youth.  I'll share more about that some other time.

Inner Life Part 3

Another aspect of facing truth and being made free is acknowledging the pain inside myself.  I appreciate one man's work to learn healing techniques for people under his brief care as a medic.  He's written a short book and recently published a video explaining three easy steps to emotional healing.  I marveled as he explained the simplicity of it...and since watching that I've been working on oodles of areas in my life which have surfaced in just a week or so.

This morning the heaviness I felt seemed to have several causes, some of which I've mentioned already.  Two more seem to be deep emotional and mental pain because of the narcissistic abuse I've endured all my life as well as a sort of hiding I think I've done in order to survive it all over the long haul.

I had no idea when I took a break from things years ago that so much needed to be exposed and unearthed within me.  I needed to learn about the need for deliverance, the reality of true inner healing, that everyone is not basically kind and that we can reap junk from what other people have sown.

The good news in there is multifaceted:

I am still adored (and have always been) by the One who knit me together.

He isn't afraid of the big bad wolves.

He has made ample provisions for the ills of this life.

Facing other people's junk, weeding the crud they added to the garden of my life and learning to sow good things even when things seem bleak and barren is really a master plan of living an exuberant life.

Not So Terrible Two's

Before the internet made it's way into many of our homes, in my quest make life work in the setting of family existence, I happened upon a radio broadcast featuring John Rosemond.  He and the host were talking about the book, "Family of Value" and I remember going fast to the local bookstore that same week.  The receipt is still in the back of the book.

That book has travelled through many moves, heartaches and ups and downs within our family.  Anytime I read even a sentence I am jolted back to the reality of how important logic, limits and sanity are for the family...and how G*d's intention is for families to live well together.  The author  tells like it is and gives principle after principle about what's really needed within the family...and his sobering honesty and humor are part of the reason (literally) I agreed to mother my husband's seven children (I bore him six). 

I found another concept explained well in the book Making the Two's Terrific by the same writer.  I was fascinated by his ideas and had not heard them anywhere else.   I had not known anyone to have his perspective or that type of attitude or success with children.   Since my innards believed he was RIGHT I set out to try and experimented using his methods on our sweet and feisty toddlers...and I was very pleased to find he was right. 

Now after 15 years of testing and working with his ideas as well as seeing the bad affects when those principles are NOT done (a cultural plague which I call the missing generation), I am still recommending his books, etc to anyone who cares to listen.  :)  I'll share more later about the specifics.

Keep reading for reviews of his great stuff:

John Rosemond's A Family of Value presents a critical view of the child care literature of the past quarter century and argues for an end to overindulgent parenting and a return to the goal of instilling moral values, such as responsibility, respectfulness, and resourcefulness.

In a completely revised and updated edition of his classic parenting guide, nationally recognized expert John Rosemond offers practical, tantrum-free methods for raising toddlers and getting them through the “terrible” times from age eighteen to thirty-six months. 

Focusing on the developmental period spanning age eighteen to thirty-six-months, which renowned parenting expert John Rosemond dubs, “the twos,” Making the “Terrible” Twos Terrific! offers practical parenting advice to ensure that every child’s “twos” are terrific.

By offering comprehensive tips on everything from toilet training to developing good habits for bedtime, as well as disciplinary techniques to control aggressive behaviors, Making the “Terrible” Twos Terrific! approaches parenting in a straightforward, accessible manner that is easy for parents to implement and achieve success with their toddlers.

No bribing, meltdowns, nudging, or cajoling are necessary. All parents need is consistent, firm, and loving interactions with their toddler to guide him or her during the developmental years. The methods described by Rosemond also translate to success throughout other life endeavors such as school, relationship building, and even productivity in the distant tween and teen years. To ensure that earthquaking foot stomps, decibel-shattering screaming, and consistently stubborn behavior are not the norm for your toddler, consult Rosemond’s Making the “Terrible” Twos Terrific!.   

All ideas expressed here are my own unless otherwise noted. This post may contain affiliate links.  If you purchase something through an affiliate link, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you - which helps support my large and ever growing family.  :) Also, I hope you'll consider supporting my writing, digital graphic arts, podcasts and more by becoming a patron!

My Apologies for Missing Link

In my last post I failed to share the video which SO inspired me to rethink a whole lot about my life.  While I hope to share more in podcasts about this sort of thing soon, here's the video you can check out for yourself.  It's titled, "When the Golden Rule is used to gaslight you."

 I'd love to hear your thoughts!  Did this give you any A-ha moments???

All ideas expressed here are my own unless otherwise noted. This post may contain affiliate links.  If you purchase something through an affiliate link, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you - which helps me provide free content and supports my growing family.  :)

I hope you'll consider supporting my writing, graphic digital art and podcasts!!! Learn how here. 

Childhood Trauma, Abuse, Neglect: PTSD?

Yesterday, a friend shared with me some very interesting information about themself.  When I asked where they got the info from, they shared this video.

Watch this 13 minute video titled:

WAS I ABUSED?

Childhood PTSD info and test

WOW...did that help explain a WHOLE lot about a whole lot of things. I am going to dive into this guys' website and thought I'd leave a trail for you to follow in case you're so inclined.  That's why I made this blog...to throw down the crumbs for you for your journey.  Hope it helps!!

The ACE test mentioned in the video is here.  

The full test on his website with all 60 questions is here.

Thanks SR for sharing the links to the tests.

All ideas expressed here are my own unless otherwise noted.

This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through an affiliate link, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you - which helps me provide free content and supports my growing family. :)

Consider supporting my work by becoming a patron! Learn more here.

Insight into Healing from Narcissistic Abuse & Neglect

Junk that happened long ago which overwhelmed us then and didn't get dealt with might still be lurking in our bodies.  Fibromyalgia?  Back pain?  etc...

What if our body is telling us there's a story from our life we need to hear?

This post may contain affiliate links.  If you click through and make a purchase, I might receive a small compensation at no extra charge to you.

Emotional Prejudice

What if the reason we're avoiding taking REALLY good care of ourselves is because we're prejudiced?

What if we believe everyone else deserves good things, but that we do NOT?

What if we think sacrificing for others means neglecting our own needs?

What if we feel we are better than others because we sacrifice so much?

What if there are MAJOR emotional wounds within, from stuff we never got but that we needed, and that's what we're avoiding?

How many of us look to the new info, whether it be spiritual or physical,  changing our beliefs and our actions while completely continuing the iniquity of ignoring our emotional selves?

How much of our busy-ness is to distract us from ourselves?

How long can we keep it going?

AT WHAT PRICE?

Free Narcissism & Brain Circuit Video Resources by Dr Jim Wilder

(edited on 2/22/19: The original link I shared to Deeper Walk was incorrect. Also, the content is not free as I initially thought; it is avaialbe for 60 days with a donation of any amount to Deeper Walk. I have updated the link near the bottom of this post.)

This invitation came across my desk today and I raced over here to share it in case you're interested.  
What's going on with narcissism? If you're new here you might not know it's something I've been researching for several years.

Four videos by Dr Jim Wilder are available free for 60 days (with a donation). Titles are:

1) Narcissism and the bible

2) Narcissism and the brain

3) Relational brain circuits
4) Narcissism: the archenemy of grace

"Dr. Jim Wilder (Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, and M.A. Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary) has been training leaders and counselors for over 27 years on five continents. He is the author of multiple books with a strong focus on maturing and relationship skills for leaders. His coauthored book Living From the Heart Jesus Gave You has sold over 100,000 copies and is printed in eleven languages. Wilder has published numerous articles and developed four sets of video and relational leadership training called THRIVE. He is the founder and chief neurotheologian of Life Model Work, a nonprofit working at the intersection of brain science and theology that is building contagiously healthy Christian communities through equipping existing networks with the skills to thrive. Dr. Wilder has extensive counseling experience and has served as a guest lecturer at Fuller Seminary, Biola, Talbot Seminary, Point Loma University, Montreat College, Tyndale Seminary and elsewhere."

Donate any amount and access the content here.

If you're new to his books, you might like to start with this one.

I recently started a Facebook group for people going through the book...please feel free to join us!

Have you read any of his materials or attended training from Life Model Works? Share what you loved about it a comment below! We'd love to hear from you!

By law I have to tell you this post contains an affiliate link, which means if you decide to purchase the life changing book, Living from the Heart Jesus Gave You through the amazon links I share, amazon will give me a portion of the price you'll pay. You won't pay any extra. This helps me offset the costs involved with running the blog. You can read my full affiliate disclosure here.

How Can We Bear Fruit?

John 15 says a lot about bearing fruit.

What's the big deal about spiritual fruit?  What's true about intimacy?  What if we're focused completely on the wrong things and we don't even know it??? 

This message has been bubbling within me for more than twenty years.  

Join me as I share the beginning of my story in part 1, and then conclude with the second and final podcast in this two part series.  

Podcast length:  7 minutes 44 seconds

 To hear the surprising conclusion, listen to part 2:

$3

Podcast length:  4 minutes 46 seconds

SRA Resources

Those who are dealing with SRA have a series of significant challenges.  I've just come across the MOST positive interview I've ever come across with someone who not only knows how to bring healing to others but has been healed of it herself!!!  WOAH.  What a story from someone who beams with joy and radiates God's love...

I just bought her book and can hardly wait for it to show up so I can get it into my hot little hands.  You can order it here.

I also came across other videos which were compelling as well as sobering.  I hope to share more materials as I come across them.

If you're interested in hearing more and learning and finding more resources, I recommended this series of audio interviews by Bride Ministries International as Dan Duval talks with Rob Ruckert as he shares his own experience with SRA, why ministering to the human spirit is so vital in the process of healing from DID and much more.

If you want free training, check out this.

Reality & Me

Reality has been my battlefield for a while now.  For five years at least I've been facing the lurking crud. Though it's terrified me I have gotten to a new place...my "now" place. 

I BELIEVE good things are ahead.  I've faced the junk handed down and blasted at me from all sides.  I've held my own while seated in heavenly places.  I learned to stand firm.

I've gotten help and backup from some extrordinarily unordinary heros who've held the lines of truth while I trudged into the messes.  They've BEEN THERE, reminding me who I am and to Whom I belong, when I had only dingy hope and was a disoriented ragamuffin.

The truth?

Well, I'm nearly to a place where I can tell you about it...and this video, along with the processes of becoming a person (and so many others), fills me with SO much hope. 

I'm nearly at the end of the battlefield.  I've kept my innards attuned to the Capitan while my soul took a back seat to both. Mission vague and details unknown I have fought and bravely won many trials.

The worst- not knowing who I was- is now behind me.  The work of learning who I truly am, while letting go of all which so easily ensnared me, begins.

From the trenches & nearly there,
Kate