” . . . the discipline of lament requires going backward with God to process our pain, and it asks us to be honest about our pain in the present.”- Esther Fleece “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to […]
“All my efforts to maintain some semblance of control over my life and my emotions did not keep the enemy out, but they did keep God out.”- Esther Fleece In Chapter 4 (“A Surprising Path to Healing”) of No More Faking Fine, Esther Fleece notes that putting your past behind you doesn’t make it go […]
“When our words are few, God receives our groans as honest prayers before Him.”- Esther Fleece “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.”- Romans 8:22 Esther Fleece concludes Chapter 3 of No More Faking Fine with five words that apply to […]
“We all want to know the answer to the question of why we experience brokenness. It is human nature to wrap our heads around why something so terrible could happen to us. But when we do not lean into lament to wrestle with God over these questions, we will often turn to blame.”- Esther Fleece He […]
“Such is the snowball effect our coping mechanisms create as we try to avoid pain and instead fall into unhealthy patterns.”- Esther Fleece Esther Fleece concludes Chapter 2 of No More Faking Fine as she presents the fourth and fifth coping mechanisms used to short-circuit the healing process. 4. “I’ll just put my past behind […]
“So it is when our hearts are trained not to lament. We begin to see ourselves as the protectors and keepers of our hearts instead of leaving that responsibility to God in faith.”- Esther Fleece Today Esther Fleece continues Chapter 2 of No More Faking Fine. She talks about the third coping mechanism we use to […]
“We have lost the beauty in sorrow, so we try to get out of pain as quickly as possible. . . . But life will let all of us down, and we need a way to talk about it — a way we have lost along the way.”- Esther Fleece “For the Lord will not cast […]
“That’s the thing about our coping mechanisms — they are always well-intentioned, but ultimately they do not get us where we want to go.”- Esther Fleece In Chapter 2 (“Letting Go of Our Coping Mechanisms”) of No More Faking Fine, Esther Fleece lists and discusses the false promises of coping mechanisms. While coping appears to […]
“Reclaiming the language of lament allows God to infuse His very being into ours and equip us to face the challenges of life with perseverance, trust, and a sense of purpose.”- Esther Fleece As Esther Fleece concludes Chapter 1 of No More Faking Fine, she asserts we must reclaim the lost language of lament. In […]
“I have learned through the years that God does not just want our happy; He also really wants our sad. Everything is not fine, and God wants to hear about it.”- Esther Fleece Esther Fleece continues Chapter 1 of No More Faking Fine as she notes that God doesn’t minimize our pain or compare it […]
“We have not discovered the beauty in sorrow, so we try to get out of pain as quickly as possible. . . . But life will let all of us down, and we need a way to talk about it — a way we have lost along the way.”- Esther Fleece In Chapter 1 (“God […]
“God meets us where we are and not where we pretend to be.”- Esther Fleece Esther Fleece recently published No More Faking Fine: Ending the Pretending to explain and apply the ancient biblical language of lament. In the Foreword, Louie and Shelley Giglio (Passion City Church, Atlanta) describe the beautiful nature of lament. They write: […]