Our task shouldn't be punishing the villains in our lives, but enlarging the God who heals us from all wounds.

Worry is a weighty monster with poisoned tentacles. It clutches at us, grabs at our minds, steals our breath, our will. It lurks. It pounces. It colors how we perceive the world.

Because the culture we breathe and work in rushes against rest. It equates our worth with production and wealth and fame. The more we work toward those goals, the more society assigns us worth.

Pain can either thrust me into the arms of Jesus or make me turn my back on Him. Either way, it's a choice.

We grow when the walls press in. We grow when life steals our control. We grow in the darkness.

As I look back over my mountains of growth and compare them to the molehills where I stagnated, community often made the difference.

Our task shouldn't be punishing the villains in our lives, but enlarging the God who heals us from all wounds.