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Sufficient Grace

Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? 2 Corinthians 11:28–29 When have you used the phrase “besides everything else” in a conversation about an additional task or responsibility placed on your shoulders? In Paul’s second letter to the church in Corinth, he listed the numerous hardships he had endured as a missionary—beatings, imprisonment, and shipwrecks, hunger, and verbal attacks. He then said, “Besides everything else …” and mentioned his daily responsibilities. Maybe you identify with Paul. You’re juggling home and work responsibilities as…

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Tell a Lie Long Enough, You Begin to Believe It

I have often heard men confess that they have thoughts that something was wrong with them, that they should have been born female. If they hear the thoughts and whispers often enough, they begin to believe them, especially when the lies have haunted them since their childhood. Consider this: When an adult male says he remembered “feeling this way”—that he was supposed to have been born female—since he was young, he might be telling the truth. He might not remember a time when he did not feel “this way.” That doesn’t mean, however, he was born that way. It likely…

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Understanding the Complexities of Hormonal Intervention in Gender Transition

Many transgendered people will seek out ways to transition from their birth gender to the opposite gender.  Whether or not transgendered persons actually pursue sex reassignment surgery, it is not uncommon for some individuals to engage in hormone therapies.  With more acceptance of GID and educational and mental health organizations promoting that these individuals pursue transgender lifestyles, children prescribed hormones to block their gender specific puberty (GnRH analogs), and those to increase opposite sex characteristic (estrogen or testosterone) are on the rise.  Some medical providers make the sympathetic case that since GID children are at high risk for suicide, running…

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As Summer Approaches, Love is in the Air

As summer approaches, love is the air. Does this sound familiar? Love should be something expressed in each day of life. Loving someone as God loves us does not change, not in reality? Many have been told in no uncertain terms, if we don’t accept the decisions of a loved one in a same sex relationship or transitioning to the opposite sex, we don’t truly love our love one. But in truth, our love does not diminish due to how he or she has decided to live their life. Yet cultural tells us otherwise, and sometimes this causes the family…

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Jesus Came to Heal

Jesus Came to Heal. After a 10-year uphill journey, I no longer see myself as the ex-wife of a transgender individual. I am Ester. God did something for me, and he’ll do it for you because he’s no respecter of persons. I’ve been through a storm, as many of you have. I looked up the word storm in the Bible’s original languages—Hebrew and Greek. Strong’s Concordance has many words for storm. It can mean earthquake, shaking, flooding, water, rain, and wind. It can refer to a physical storm, but it can also refer to an inner shaking. All these storms—inside…

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How should the church respond to our loved ones who identify as transgender?

How should the church respond to our loved ones who identify as transgender? Recently, after a phone conversation with a church leader in Texas, my heart was troubled. It seemed as if I had traveled back in time—back to when I was a little girl who desired the church to know what our family was living through with my dad. Years later, after he left my mother and became Becky, I was disheartened again when I discovered that the church he was attending in Pittsburgh, PA, supported his new identity. How could I not feel sad? I wondered then—as I…

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Does God want you stay in your grief? 

Does God want you stay in your grief?  When you hear the words of a loved one identifying at gay or transgender, your heart sinks and grief appears to be overwhelming. I was reminded of this while listening inventively to family members who recently came into the office, and looked for someone to understand the grief they are experiencing at this time.  Job feels like his only hope in the midst of the council he has received is to have a personal audience with God. Job looked for some relief with the sadness and the extreme loss he was in…

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Dear Friends

Dear Friends, Many of us have cherished Christmas memories and stories. But while reminiscing feels good in the moment, our family’s present circumstances can threaten to overshadow the true reason for the season. Because perhaps more than any other holiday, Christmas is loaded with emotions and expectations. Christian families with gay and transgender loved ones often feel particularly helpless this time of year when the longing for joy and peace collides with unwelcome anxiety and conflict. We may find despair in our family’s current “story.” Just when hope seems far-off  – God is with us. Immanuel. Two thousand years ago,…

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He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands

Do you remember the song “He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands”? Recently I was reminded of this song. As we approach Thanksgiving time, your world may be going in many different directions. You are going here and there, preparing for this and that. Then, on top of it all, your family is facing some difficult challenges as the holiday season approaches and worries start to overcome you. Worries come at a price. That is why God warns us, “Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body,…

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The “My Truth” Delusion

By Denise Shick You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, “You did not make me”? Can the pot say to the potter, “You know nothing”? Isaiah 29:16 (NIV) Can you imagine how shocked a potter would be if the pitcher she was shaping on her potter’s wheel suddenly shouted, “I don’t want to be a pitcher. I want to be a vase!” That’s impossible, of course. And maybe that’s one reason God used the analogy of a potter and a…

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