“[Jesus] is the Man in the middle of all our interpersonal pain in the faith family. And every loss of an illusion and every gain of a reality is actually an opportunity to fellowship with Him, our Savior and First Love. . . . Our true hope is not the family of God; it is […]
“When the feeling of love fails us in the night, let us choose to love in reality. Not by repainting the other as perfect. Not by loving so that they will change their mind. But by following Jesus’ very clear example: ‘We love because he first loved us.’ “- Alicia Britt Chole “A new command […]
“Sometimes we go beyond remembering or evaluating history to denying or editing history in a desperate attempt to make sense of the pain. Even if this process provides a temporary resting place for our weary minds, the relief cannot be soul-deep because untruth cannot heal.”- Alicia Britt Chole “I will give you the treasures of […]
“Because of God’s mercy, He does not reveal all that is true about us all at once. His mercy restrains His truth, rationing our revelation since its fullness would crush us. . . . God, in His love, does not instantly tell us everything that is true about us. He sees more than He says. […]
“As I listen to pain in the community of faith, rarely (if ever) have I heard anyone say that their interpersonal pain was sourced in theological disagreements about Christ’s deity or the nature of salvation, but rather in how they were treated. . . . Does every question have one and only one reasonable answer? […]
“Honestly, learning to hear other’s hearts more loudly than their words is a skill that would help us all. Generous listening is becoming a lost art. . . . As a culture, we now collect information in clips and bit that are rarely, if ever, capable of capturing the complexities of a human heart.”- Alicia […]
“We tend to think more about shadows of sin than shadows of strength. . . . Strength shadows, however, are a less intuitive source of disillusionment, because it rarely occurs to us that our giftings could supply anything other than blessing to a relationship.”- Alicia Britt Chole In Chapter 40 (“Sunday Schooled”) of The Night […]
“Faith, when viewed as a performance, is often motivated by fear and self-protection. Its focus is on perfection. . . . As a journey, however, faith viewed as a pilgrimage is motivated by love and glad surrender. Its focus is direction.”- Alicia Britt Chole In Chapter 36 (“The Common Thread”) of The Night is Normal, […]
“We want to be like Jesus, but our understanding of what Jesus is like may be in need of repair. Instead of ‘truly God and truly man,’ perhaps our definition of the Incarnation is more often mostly God with a dash of man. . . . A skewed view of Jesus can actually contribute to […]
“God still whispers to us in our weakness. Wisdom invites us to listen. As with Elijah, God’s voice when we are weak is often directional. . . . Many have discovered a more sustainable rhythm through God’s whispers in what the world calls weakness.”- Alicia Britt Chole “My grace is sufficient for you, for my […]
“Spiritual growth is more like an upward winding path in which we do revisit issues, but on different levels. That same old spot is not in the same old place. Addressing an old issue in a new season is often a sign of growth, not failure.”- Alicia Britt Chole “Now the Lord is the Spirit, […]
“Intellect asks, ‘What is truth?’. . . as if truth were something that could be stated in words. . . . When a man is up against things it is no use for him to try and work it out logically. but let him obey, and instantly he will see his way through. Truth is […]