A woman in her late twenties came to our ministry for a few days of intensive counseling. She was distraught over knowing God loved her but not being able to experience or sense his love for her personally. Was she doing something wrong? Had he forgiven her for her sordid past? The woman had grown up in a sexually perverted family. As a little girl, she was exposed to all kinds of pornography and lewd behavior. It was the perfect setup for the enemy. The abuse began when she was twelve, with her father selling her “services” to a married friend. She felt dirty and ashamed. She wondered what she had done to deserve something like that. That incident was the first in a recurring pattern—partly
This writing, taken from our book, The Missing Commandment: Love Yourself, was posted by our friend, David Sanford, who worked with us last year on our new edition and the marketing of our book. Thanks, David! In his excellent book, The Mystery of Children, Mike Mason reminds us that “Jesus wants us to become like children because our spirits lived closest to the surface during our childhood. In childhood our hearts are the most transparent, most vulnerable, most malleable.” He goes on to say: “Growing up usually means covering up our spirit more and more with flesh. God wants us to become the person we really are inside, the person we were born to be. Becoming childlike involves peeling awa
