by Jeanette Bidne “Just because you disappointed someone does not mean you did something wrong.” I have reminded myself of the truth in this statement several times in the last couple of years. I do not recall exactly who shared it with me, but I do recall how I felt when I heard it. I remember […]
Join us for community via Zoom with Boldcafe’s favorite writers and readers + friends.
by Becca Ehrlich In this month’s issue, we learned what spiritual abuse is, and why it’s so damaging. We often overlook spiritual abuse because we either don’t know it exists, or think it’s not as “bad” as other forms of abuse. But all types of abuse are destructive to us and to Jesus’ message of […]
by Becca Ehrlich Trigger warning: infant loss, spiritual abuse A few years ago, I went on a 3-week retreat to Costa Rica to appear on a TV show called Lost Resort. On the retreat, we had group activities and one-on-one sessions with leaders of the retreat called “healers.” I had gone on this retreat to […]
“Then I saw in the right hand of the one seated on the throne a scroll written on the inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals, and I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” And no one in heaven […]
by Susan Schneider When the list of high school basketball players who made the varsity team was posted, Michael’s name was not on it. Instead, the promising sophomore was encouraged to join the junior varsity team. The fifteen-year-old went home and cried. He threatened to quit the sport altogether, but his mother encouraged him to […]
by Ralen Robinson The long table is rolled into the Narthex. The baked goods are artfully arranged. The coffee percolates in the coffee pots. The Pastor can be heard in the distance dismissing the assembly of people gathered Sunday morning for service. The aroma welcomes the people from the sanctuary to convene together for coffee […]
In her famous book on creativity, The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron writes, “Creativity is a spiritual endeavor. This does not mean we have to subscribe to someone else’s view of God and the order of things … we will flourish more as we honor the spiritual side of our own beings.” Honoring “the spiritual side […]
by Sarah Carson Lately, I’ve been obsessed with the first few lines of Mary Oliver’s famous poem “Wild Geese”: “You do not have to be good,” the poem begins. You don’t have to walk through the desert on your knees, repenting. All you have to do, Oliver says, is “let the soft animal of your […]
by Karris Golden There’s a moment when you know the Holy Spirit is present. But it can be difficult to pinpoint what gives you certainty. I have had these feelings — most often during prayer or worship with others. It seemed to me the others felt them, too: the tingling, the sense of awe, the […]