The Wall Around Your Heart (Nelson Books, 2013) The framework of Mary Demuth’s latest book, The Wall Around Your Heart: How Jesus Heals You When Others Hurt You, camps around the eleven phrases of the Lord’s Prayer, prayed in the context of community. The author comments: “Tucked within this prayer are secrets to understanding conflict, […]
“Therefor I have cheerfully made up my mind to be proud of my weaknesses, because they mean a deeper experience of the power of Christ. I can even enjoy weakness, suffering, privations, persecutions and difficulties for Christ’s sake. For my weaknesses are made strong in him.”- 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (J. B. Phillips) Author Mary DeMuth […]
Jesus replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”- Matthew 22:38-39 In Chapter 11 (“But Rescue Us from the Evil One: Be Fully Alive”), the […]
“Blessed is he whose help is in the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God.”- Psalm 146:5 Today Mary DeMuth concludes Chapter 10 of The Wall Around Your Heart with the final three temptations to avoid. 3. The temptation to defend ourselves. Mary states that when she’s been wronged she’s lived […]
Mary DeMuth begins Chapter 10 (“And Don’t Let us Yield to Temptation: Dare to Engage Anyway”) of The Wall Around Your Heart by reminding us that when someone hurts us, we’re tempted to build an impenetrable fortress around our hearts in an attempt to protect ourselves from further pain. The unintended result, however, is isolation. […]
In today’s blog, author Mary DeMuth concludes her discussion of nine surprising facets of forgiveness, as found in Chapter 9 of The Wall Around Your Heart. 7. Forgiveness reminds you of your need. Although forgiveness is for our sakes, when we offer it God also reminds us of our own need for forgiveness. It’s all […]
Today author Mary DeMuth continues her discussion of nine surprising things about forgiveness in Chapter 9 of The Wall Around Your Heart. 4. Forgiveness fosters empathy. We must believe that God’s grace is big enough to cover the sins of those who have hurt us. As Mary notes, grace extends to us as well as […]
In Chapter 9 of The Wall Around Your Heart, author Mary DeMuth delves further into forgiveness, discussing nine surprising things about forgiveness. Today the first three facets of forgiveness are presented. 1. Forgiveness makes you act counterculturally- as Mary describes, “to bless instead of curse, to rest instead of retaliate, to keep walking instead of fighting.” The […]
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”- 2 Corinthians 5:17 “I don’t think of all the misery but the beauty that still remains.”- Anne Frank Rudy, who died two years ago, studied theater at Valparaiso University with hopes of becoming an […]
Mary DeMuth begins Chapter 9 (“As We Have Forgiven Those Who Sin Against Us: Defy Bitterness”) of The Wall Around Your Heart, she notes that trials are normative in the life of believers- and they often come in the form of people. Rather than moving forward in holy momentum, we become ensnared by our focus […]
“For the Lord sees not as a man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”- 1 Samuel 16:7 “Christian freedom . . . is freedom to help a neighbor out and give him something to delight in.”- H. R. Rookmaker As author Mary DeMuth continues Chapter 8 of […]
In Chapter 8 (“And Forgive Us Our Sins: Be Repentant”) of The Wall Around Your Heart, Mary DeMuth opens by stating that when we’ve been hurt, it’s much easier to zero in on someone else’s heinous sins than to be aware of our own and confess those sin patterns. Yet, a healthy perception of our own […]