There's absolutely no way you can feel the freedom to embarrass and humiliate yourself unless you have finally recognized that your identity is in someone other than yourself.

A preacher who doesn't believe he's that bad will attract people who don't think they're that bad. And that's bad.

The Gospel frees us to speak honestly about the reality of pain, confident that nothing is riding on our ability to cope with or fend off suffering.

From the time God saved me at 21 years old, I've always been fascinated by the parables of Jesus.

The pain cleared my vision, and once it was taken away, I realized just how much I'd been relying on the endorsement of others to make me feel like I mattered.

The more I focused on my need to get better the worse I actually got - the more neurotic and self-conscious and self-absorbed I became.

I was spending too much time thinking about how I was doing, if I was learning everything I was supposed to be learning during this difficult season, whether I was doing it right or not, taking my spiritual pulse, etc - my inner lawyer was working overtime.