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COURTING MRS. HYDE

By Steven Butwell Leave a Comment

Photo Credit: Leo Hidalgo | Flickr (Creative Commons)

It started out small. She would come out with me on the weekends. She gave me the courage to be louder, more bold in my declarations, and even go to the extent of humiliating myself in the presence of my peers. She laughed and cheered alongside me, offering support and courage as I continued in my path of debauchery. I was captivated by her, and she by me. Our relationship was reciprocal. I would show off her potential to be the best motivator in the world; encourager of wiles. I flaunted this new life of freedom, self-abandon and careless speech. She would whisper; “I am with you.” “I love who you are when you are with me.” “Steven, look at what I inspire you to do.” “You’re a complete man with me by your side.” I loved her. I was powerless under her charm. I craved more of her each and every moment. I loved the man I was while she intoxicated me with her smooth words; words of encouragement to continue more into the night. I never stopped to consider who or what I would harm, either physically or with words, all I needed was her word that it was going to be exhilarating and that when the morning came all would be forgotten. I wanted more of her.

Alcohol and I began seeing each other more frequently. What began as weekends of fun turned into five days of fun, with periodic breaks from one another in between. She and I were in many fights, arguments, and even spent a night in jail together. Even so, she remained with me through the toughest times in college, and leading into my twenties, she stuck right by my side almost daily, helping me to navigate through my various pains.

I remember when Alcohol introduced me to her friend: Vicodin. This was her mistake. I ended up falling for Vicodin and shoved Alcohol to the side. Still, whenever I wasn’t constrained to Vicodin, I would call Alcohol, and she would be right there, in the blink of an eye, at my beck and call. She was my faithful friend, my trusted confidant; she was my lover, and I had to have her back. Alcohol quickly forgave the relationship I had with Vicodin, and dove headlong back into our relationship–we became even more intense than before. The near seven months we spent apart didn’t stop her from making a theatrical appearance on my twenty-first birthday. Singing together on stage in front of dozens, we brought the place down with laughter. Later that evening, we even slept outside the door of my house because we were too tired to open it. It was fun when my mom found us the next morning. Oh, what memories we made.

Alcohol had even more of a wild side when she would introduce me to other women. Seducing them with smooth words and laughter, either I would take them home and the next morning not remember who they were, or I would take them to my college dorm where they would leave the next morning, never to be seen again. There were even times when we randomly collided with them by chance, sometimes never obtaining their name. Alcohol showed me just how capable I was of womanizing and she helped me get good at it. 

Our relationship remained hot and heavy throughout my teens and early twenties. However, it slowed to a halt when I met Jesus face-to-face. As a response to him, I put my intoxicating relationship with Alcohol on hold for a good many years. Her voice was silenced and Jesus’ was heard. An irritated Alcohol would make attempts to seduce me back into our old ways. The harder I pushed her away, the stronger her next attempt to woo me would be. The harassment continued through my mid-twenties. Whether I was on a mission trip overseas, preaching and distributing food on the streets in Hawaii or living in Sri Lanka as a missionary; it didn’t matter where I was, incessantly she would whisper in my ear, or send me messages. Her obsession knew no bounds.

The move from Sri Lanka to California introduced me to my future wife. Alcohol turned fierce, fiery, relentless and insanely jealous of her. I firmly stated she wasn’t a part of my life anymore, and she reluctantly conceded. I was married on September 30, 2012. As my wife and I grew closer, of course, Alcohol would check in. She would ask questions like: “How is your wife treating you?” “Is she encouraging you enough?” “Can you be vulnerable with her like you were with me?” “Does your wife have the qualities of an intimate lover, a trusted confidant?” I would answer: “My wife and I are in love. Our relationship is strong, in Christ, and with each other.” Nevertheless, Alcohol found a kink in my armor. In a moment of weakness, Alcohol convinced me that my wife wasn’t enough. So, we rekindled our relationship, again. The encounters were one night stands. Nearly every time we met my wife caught us. The affair broke my wife’s heart, breaking mine. I had to put Alcohol in check, establishing a boundary that Jesus, my wife, and my marriage were more important to me. I was setting a new course for my life, one of a hope and a future. An unenthusiastic Alcohol conceded and our relationship ended once again.

Not long ago, Alcohol contacted me asking specific questions regarding intimacy: “Is the sensation as exhilarating as when you and I would live out wiles of youth?” A foolish Steven confided in Alcohol. The intimate confessions resulted in Alcohol coming over July 27, 2015, and the affair resulted in my wife leaving. Consequently, l shattered. I was utterly devastated, broken, humbled, and ashamed of what I had put my wife through. Yet again, I was powerless over Alcohol’s smooth enticements. A relationship that had started out as weekends of fun, lead into weekdays of merrymaking, and ended in co-dependency, and misuse. The abuse had finally caught up with me.

The anger of being found out by my wife drove me back into Alcohol’s arms the next day, and another to follow. Despite our affair being uncovered, and a loss of employment due to my lack of responsibility, these hiccups didn’t deter me from running back to her for consolation. She was always an incredible comforter, even though frequently her words would leave me with a headache. The headaches didn’t bother me. I was addicted to her, so I endured the pain.

As my actions had culminated at a dreadful place, I had every intention of ending my affair with Alcohol at the end of July 2015. I stayed away from Alcohol for a solid three months, even though she beckoned me each and every day. I was determined to work through the damage that Alcohol and I had done to my marriage and relationships. Even so, after a solid period of sobriety, she again seduced me through the anger I had harbored. I see now (they say hindsight is 20/20) how seething I really was. A man filled with insurmountable anger, resentment, hurt and fear. But Alcohol would always provide solace, comfort, and temporary relief from the pain. Yet again, the relationship between Alcohol and I backfired. Our actions landed me in a pit. Feelings of shame and guilt plagued me. Thoughts kept replaying in my head of what I had done, said, and put my wife and others through. I was full of regret; tired of being sick and tired.

I started the painful process of making amends to those I hurt. Like a battered dog, I crawled back to the people I had put through nights of anxiety, some even fearing that I had taken my own life, and gave them the same sob story: “I won’t do it again,” a lie that had been perpetrated countless times before. I deceived those I claimed to love, again. I hid Alcohol with ease, or at least my twisted mind thought I did. I was good at manipulating people and proud of this. Today, I am appalled at the man I was. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Steven Butwell: a strange case indeed.

I aired my dirty laundry. My affair with Alcohol was now public knowledge. We disclosed the true nature of our business days prior to Christmas 2015 to both friends and family alike. I decided since Alcohol was out of the picture that I would contact an old fling: Vicodin. Some were aware of our history but didn’t realize how intense we had gotten. She and I have much more a history than I ever let on. In fact, she and I concealed our secret so well, no one ever was the wiser. We were together nearly every day I could get my hands on her. Like Alcohol, Vicodin was causing dependency. I would have withdrawals when I wasn’t with her, unlike Alcohol, she made my body shake.

A jovial Vicodin was eager to touch my lips again, and a month of dissipation ensued. Almost as soon as it started, she ran out on me near the end of January 2016. So, I contacted Alcohol again. Little did we know, this would be our last four day stretch of indecency together. Our reignited romance, more intense than before, set off shock waves through family and friends. Like a stone being thrown into a still pond, the ripples started off small and expanded across the scape of my life. I found myself quitting a position I had held for four and a half years, ruining relationships, causing and shedding tears, sleepless nights, threats of violence, and countless moments of anxiety to both myself and others. I was killing myself, and the hearts of others. This toxic relationship had festered long enough. It was time to end the sixteen-year marathon. I was tired of running.

It was time for a change. Sadly, a change I had promised countless times before. The boy who cried wolf; Steven Butwell. Alcohol (and Vicodin), having played a divisive, and predominate role (a choice I equally made) in severely damaging (but not destroying) my witness for Jesus, my marriage, my closeness with Jesus, countless personal relationships, numerous family relationships, loss of two jobs (one of which I was confident was my career), trust, integrity, character, body, mind, personality, spirit, loss of a beloved home I shared with my wife, and much more. In the end, loved ones, a beautiful orchestration by Jesus, and a willing heart to change is what landed me in treatment. The sixteen-year love affair that started out small and became a monster was over.

This decision to call it quits was not without consequence. As they say: “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorn.” Hell. A hopeless place with descriptions varying from “an unquenchable fire,” “a place of torment,” “a pit, or abyss,” “a gloomy darkness,” and a place where there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth” for all eternity. All are true. I relate to the weeping and gnashing of teeth; a symptom of my self-inflicted grief.

The moment I made the conscious choice to finally put Alcohol out of my life, my own personal hell and my road to the cross, and death of self, began. The woman scorned unleashed a relentless attack of guilt, shame, condemnation, and failure. Once a trusted friend, now a tenacious adversary. Alcohol had now lifted up her heel against me and brought me to a new low by reminding me of all the times I had lied and cheated others of knowing the truth. The truth that for so long I had hidden this secret love affair.

Leaving Alcohol meant exposing my true hurts and fears to myself and to others. I had used her as I had used countless others, but in her case, I had used her to bury and push away those issues that so desperately needed to be dealt with. The secrets were killing me, and simultaneously, I was allowing my love affair with Alcohol to kill me. The amount of energy spent on covering up the lies was draining. She used the words, the actions of friends, co-workers, my marriage (and pending divorce), and family members against me in an attempt to lure me back. She used my deep hurts against me, my worst fears, my actions, and thoughts. The fear of abandonment and rejection, all used as tools to chisel away at my very soul.

Dumping Vicodin was no different. She attempted to offer solace and reminded me that she was right around the corner if I wanted to pick her up. Vicodin reminded me of how many times she had seemingly refueled me with fleeting comfort. I wanted so badly to take her up on the offer. So many times before she had taken away the hurt and fear, but in reality all she did was make it worse and force me to perpetuate an even bigger lie, to myself, and to others.

I knew the only way to escape their continual nagging was to surround myself with, openly confess to and be brutally vulnerable with people of like mind who had experienced similar love affairs. It didn’t matter if their affair was with Alcohol, Heroin, Meth, Xanax, Marijuana, or Vicodin. All our affairs brought us to the same place: treatment. People from all different walks of life, who were spinning themselves an intricate web of lies that even if they wanted to find the origin of their lies, it would be an effort made in vain. Much like them, I myself didn’t necessarily know what was true anymore. The only truth I knew was that I needed help to break this vicious cycle of addiction that had accrued a number of casualties, myself included.

In detoxification, Alcohol’s attempts to draw me back into the poisonous relationship were relentless. Vicodin was shameless. Awful sleepless night of loud whispers returned: anxiety over all the loved ones we had hurt, withdrawals from their intoxicating effects, memories of our escapades. Working together, these mistresses of mine reminded me of the countless failures I had incurred, and taunted me with the question “How could you have ended up here?” “You’re not an addict, are you?” The constant outpour of shame, guilt, and condemnation nearly crippled me. The two sporadically taunt me with soft whispers to return to their side to this very day.

A healthy relationship with Alcohol is suitable for many. A toxic abuse of that relationship is another story. I personally abused alcohol and it took a toll on my life. This doesn’t mean all people will. Jesus doesn’t condemn the use of alcohol (see John 2:1-11, 1 Timothy 5:23). He does condemn the impairment alcohol can and will cause if overly abused — drunkenness, debauchery, and the like (see Ephesians 5:18, Romans 13:13, Luke 21:34, Galatians 5:19-21, 1 Peter 4:3, 1 Thessalonians 5:7-8) — all of which I lived and experienced. I allowed Alcohol to provide me relief from life’s sorrows, temporary relief from my hurts and my pains. I drank up her words to bury what I myself didn’t want to face. I used her (and Vicodin) to run from my fears. I have never had a healthy relationship with either Alcohol or Vicodin.

Jesus died to abolish sinful repetition. God the Father desires us to be dependent upon him, and him alone. I put Alcohol and Vicodin in the place of God; who gave all for me. They were what I drew encouragement from. They gave me solace, strength, courage, and relief from life’s trials and tribulations. Jesus said; “In me you have peace” (John 16:33). I had made Alcohol and Vicodin idols, and God loves me too much to leave me worshipping false gods. I now place him at the forefront of my life, giving him all the praise, glory and honor due him.

Alcohol or Vicodin are just things. They have no inherent value. Jesus graciously gave them to us to be used in a responsible manner, whether enjoying a celebration, treating certain ailments, or improving our overall health. Drunkenness and abuse are the issues: dependance upon them to get you through the day. The good news is, we have Christ to lead, guide, and give us the strength that has always been obtainable through him and his promises. The strength that I relied on Alcohol and Vicodin to provide for so many years.

I willingly entered rehabilitation to purge Alcohol and Vicodin from my life. I reflect on this daily: the resurrection couldn’t happen without the crucifixion. The crucifixion was ugly and torturous. It was also necessary. Necessary to offer freedom. Freedom for those whom have been held captive for so long in their vices, their secret love affairs, their addictions, their sin. Jesus set the captives free by becoming a captive for us and dying on the cross. Because Jesus lives, I can live (John 14:19). Steven needed to die in order to live. Jesus told his disciples (as he does today) “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul” (Matthew 16:24-26)?

Entering treatment was humbling. It meant denying myself. Taking up my cross. Following Jesus. Saving my life. Finding life. So, what have I got to lose? 

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New Identity | Exploring Faith
We're happy to announce that the Fall/Winter 2020 We're happy to announce that the Fall/Winter 2020 Issue is out today! There are some great articles inside that we hope you'll love! Enjoy! 🤗 #linkinbio⁠
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Prayer isn’t about making the things we selfishl Prayer isn’t about making the things we selfishly want happen; it’s about making us want what God wants.⁠
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✍🏽: @sarahjoysly in "Prayer - The Alignment of Our Souls With God"  Continue reading at newidentitymagazine.com⁠ by visiting the link in our bio and tapping on the image.⁠
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“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it th “The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.” – Haldir⁠
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In Lothlorien, Haldir is encouraging a downcast Fellowship with a glimpse of the larger story in which they find themselves. His words reflect the apostle Paul’s encouragement to the church, that we “do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope” (1 Thess. 4:13). For there is a form of grief from which there is no recovery – one in which there is no resurrection of the dead. If death is the final word, then we must suffer grief without hope, grief that diminishes our love for life because of the crushing weight of the loss we’ve experienced. But Tolkien believed that death was not the end; therefore, we may experience the beautiful juxtaposition in our own lives of deep sorrow mixed with rivers of joy. Instead of crippling us, our grief may actually help to cultivate in our character the virtues of faith, hope, and love that are necessary to continue to carry our heaviest burdens. ⁠
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The Bible stresses that despite our differences we The Bible stresses that despite our differences we are called to love each other above our political positions. “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity” (Colossians 3:12-14). You may feel like how politics and religion intersect in the public sphere communicate the exact opposite of this, and you’d be right. Media outlets report drama and conflict. Gracious and loving political opponents are not newsworthy.⁠
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✍🏽: Matthew Hamilton in "Our Identity In Christ Is Always Greater"  Continue reading at newidentitymagazine.com⁠ by visiting the link in our bio and tapping on the image.⁠
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The trees, with their bark, the skin of the forest The trees, with their bark, the skin of the forest, with its scars and wrinkles, lean toward me, and brush me with their limbs. The leaves beg me to examine their veins. “Have you seen this?” Each different, but each spectacular. The infinite busy creatures. The carpet of green, the dome of blue.⁠
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A few moments later, I feel like an amazing creature in a world amazingly made. I feel the astounding power of God, where the smallest thing around me, a leaf, an ant, is more complicated, and alive and amazing than anything humanity has ever thought of.⁠
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Really, there is nothing like it. The author C.S. Lewis noted that the best place to take a non-believing scientist or a real thinker is nature.  Eventually the noise of God in nature is deafening.⁠
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Once you’re in that place, just a few minutes into your walk, your mouth will hardly be able to keep from pouring out praise to God. It becomes so easy. Connecting to God like that, in praise, as a consequence of observing nature, is so freeing and so empowering that you will return to your office balanced and ready, clear headed and encouraged.⁠
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The prayer that most blesses God, most blesses the one who prays it. And there is almost no easier way than from within the sanctuary of nature, which itself raises up its branches to him in prayer with every sunrise.⁠
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✍🏽: Tom Koel in "Muting The Noise of the World - Deconstructing The Prayer Hike for City Dwellers"  Continue reading at newidentitymagazine.com⁠ by visiting the link in our bio and tapping on the image.⁠
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Each person comes to a Bible passage with his own Each person comes to a Bible passage with his own culture, language, and historical understanding. Sometimes we use these to interpret the Bible, but the hard work of bible study requires that you get rid of those things and interpret the passage by allowing it to speak for itself in its own language, cultural context, and historical background. In other words, interpretation is hard work because you are trying to to discover what the passage meant to its (original) audience 2000 years ago (even though we are reading it today). ⁠
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✍🏽: @the_christopherscott in "How Anyone Can Study The Bible"  Continue reading at newidentitymagazine.com⁠ by visiting the link in our bio and tapping on the image.⁠
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Everything we do should be done for the ultimate e Everything we do should be done for the ultimate enjoyment of God. For instance, our enjoyment of a loving relationship with our spouse is a reflection of our relationship with God, and is therefore something God uses in order for us to better understand his love and how we can love him better.⁠
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This entails that God has given us the Bible as a means to an end. The point of reading the Bible is to come to enjoy God better and more fully. It might seem odd, or even a little sacrilege to think of the Bible as a means to an end. This is because we rightly think of the Bible as holy or sacred. But, it is not God. It is holy and sacred insofar as it is the word of God, given to us so we can better understand who God is. ⁠
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By reading Scripture we learn more about God, his work in the world, his plan for us, and his expectations for us. This is one of the means God has provided for us to enjoy him more. In fact, St. Augustine of Hippo believed that if a Christian could hypothetically enjoy God perfectly in this life, that they would no longer need to read the Bible. Of course because we will not come to love God perfectly in this life, reading, meditating on, and yes, memorizing scripture, will regularly be a source of knowledge that help us to love God more. However, Augustine wants his readers to remember, that knowledge is not the goal for reading the Bible.⁠
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✍🏽: Jeffery Porter in "How A Roman Bishop Changed The Way I Read The Bible"  Continue reading at newidentitymagazine.com⁠ by visiting the link in our bio and tapping on the image.⁠
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People with unbelieving hearts only seek after wha People with unbelieving hearts only seek after what prospers them. Apart from Jesus, we set in motion lives filled with harm, with no hope and no future. A person can only have hope and a future when life is lived out for Christ. We get light through reading the Bible, prayer, and fellowship with other Christians. This light of life can be obtained through an open line of communication with the one who gives it—Jesus. Apart from him, life can appear meaningless. Our purpose in life is to glorify God with who we are and what we have. –Steven Butwell⁠
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"No one who trusts in you will ever be disgraced, but disgrace comes to those who try to deceive others." –Psalm 25:3 NLT⁠
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✍🏽: Steven Butwell in "The Light Christ"  Continue reading at newidentitymagazine.com⁠ by visiting the link in our bio and tapping on the image.⁠
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What’s your favorite article in the new issue? F What’s your favorite article in the new issue? Follow the link in our bio to read it online or download it free to your tablet. ⁠
Even as God demonstrated love by sending Jesus to Even as God demonstrated love by sending Jesus to die on the cross to take punishment for our sins, God reminded people of the importance of fearing him. God is not only our savior, comforter, and friend who promises to be with us always (Hebrews 13:5; Matthew 28:20), but also the most powerful being in the universe. There is a place for the right kind of fear—the reverential awe and respect—in our lives.⁠
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✍🏽: Délice Williams in "Fear The Lord?" Continue reading at newidentitymagazine.com⁠ by visiting the link in our bio and tapping on the image.⁠
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Like the Psalmist, John describes Jesus as God’s Like the Psalmist, John describes Jesus as God’s Word who brings light and life to the darkness. Jesus is God’s Word that comes to us, to those who are dwelling in darkness. In fact, this is exactly what Jesus declares his mission to be in John 12:46: “I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.” This Light and Darkness imagery pervades the gospel of John. People love darkness because they don’t want their actions, thoughts, motives to be exposed by the light. But the truth is that deep down we need (and want) to be seen. We want to be loved despite our dirtiest deeds and foulest feelings. We need to restore the relationship that Adam and Eve once had with God–complete openness, and deep love–but we can’t do it on our own. Only God can (and did through Jesus) bring that relationship back.⁠
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✍🏽: Brandon Hurlbert in "The Light of God's Love"  Continue reading at newidentitymagazine.com⁠ by visiting the link in our bio and tapping on the image.⁠
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In John 15:1 Jesus says that God is the gardener a In John 15:1 Jesus says that God is the gardener and he prunes every branch that does not produce fruit. A person stuck in his or her ways of sin is like a prickly shrub growing a lot of branches with no fruit. These branches must be removed so good fruit can grow. In the same way as a bush is unable to prune itself, a person who is living in sin is unable to remove all the unfruitful branches in life. Paul described this condition in chapter seven of Romans when he called himself a wretched man and realized only Jesus can change him.⁠
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Jesus provides the essential elements for growth; he gives us his Word (the Bible) for fertilizer, other believers for sunshine, and the Holy Spirit for water. When our roots begin to receive this new water, sunshine, and fertilizer, new branches begin to grow. This time the branches are not prickly bushes, but beautiful new branches adorned with the fruit of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self control,” (Galatians 5:22). Our old acquaintances will marvel at who we have become. When we allow God to be the gardener, he will shape us into his design.⁠
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✍🏽: Delbert Teachout in "God The Gardener"  Continue reading at newidentitymagazine.com⁠ by visiting the link in our bio and tapping on the image.⁠
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As new creations, those who have been forgiven by As new creations, those who have been forgiven by and reconciled to Jesus, we now have the task of being reconciled to each other. As Christians, we are not just called to forgive others in our hearts but keep them at an arm’s length away. No, we are called to be of one heart and one mind (Acts 4:32) with our brothers and sisters—we are called to be reconciled.⁠
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✍🏽: Brandon Hurlbert in "Repairing Broken Bridges"  Continue reading at newidentitymagazine.com⁠ by visiting the link in our bio and tapping on the image.⁠
We are faced with a challenge: to make God the cen We are faced with a challenge: to make God the center and purpose of our lives in a world of demands. God asks us to listen for his voice, and it’s no wonder why he chose to speak to Elijah in a “still, small voice” in 1 Kings 19:12-13. He doesn’t always shout at us because he wants us to choose to listen, to put other things aside so that all of our focus is towards discerning his will in the specifics of our lives. We have his will for us in general, as communicated in the Bible, which is to make disciples of all nations, to glorify the one true God, to serve no other gods, to love our neighbors as ourselves, etc., but sometimes we need to figure out how those general plans fit the specifics of our lives. Hearing God’s voice is part of how we relate to him, but in those moments of uncertainty, quieting ourselves becomes even more important.⁠
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✍🏽: @sarahjoysly in "Listening For A Whisper"  Continue reading at newidentitymagazine.com⁠ by visiting the link in our bio and tapping on the image.⁠
📷: Photo by Jara from Pexels⁠
Imagine if every Christian started praying to God Imagine if every Christian started praying to God and asking for him to bless us with gifts of encouragement for the sake of the world around us. The Church would make an immediate impact on the lives of people.⁠
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✍🏽: @lukegeraty in "The Gift of Encouragement from the Great Encourager"  Continue reading at newidentitymagazine.com⁠ by visiting the link in our bio and tapping on the image.⁠
📷: Photo by Lum3n from Pexels⁠
Everything sad will come untrue because we are not Everything sad will come untrue because we are not doomed to be forever parted with those we love, nor will our souls simply turn to dust and fade with the memory of those we leave behind.⁠
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✍🏽: @slimkeman in "Memorable Middle Earth - Why I'm Always Tolkien In Movie Quotes"  Continue reading at newidentitymagazine.com⁠ by visiting the link in our bio and tapping on the image.⁠
📷: Photo by Dirk Förster from Flickr
"Remembering God's promises and his faithfulness a "Remembering God's promises and his faithfulness as a community will help us to endure our sorrows for the night, for joy comes in the morning." @slimkeman from his article The Beauty of Community & The Beast of Isolation 🌤 Can you name some of God's promises that keep you encouraged and grounded? We'd love to hear in the comments below - and just maybe it might be the hope someone else is needing right now! 🤗⁠
“Every night I lie in bed, the brightest colors “Every night I lie in bed, the brightest colors fill my head. A million dreams are keepin’ me awake. I think of what the world could be, a vision of the one I see. A million dreams is all it’s gonna take. A million dreams for the world we’re gonna make.” ⁠
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As P.T. Barnum sings these words to Charity in the beautiful montage of their young lives, we are captivated by the hope that they share, the possibilities of their bright future, and the chance of their love overcoming the wall between privilege and poverty that keeps them apart. The Greatest Showman asks us to wrestle with the quest for the holy grail of our modern world: success and happiness. ⁠
What is the good life? If a million of our wildest dreams came true, would we truly be happy?⁠
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In Jesus, we find a man who invites us into his presence with these words: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). He is the only one who can fill “the infinite abyss” of desire in our souls. When you have fully devoted yourself and your dreams to your Creator, you will discover that “everything you ever want” and “everything you ever need” is “right here in front of you” in Christ Jesus.⁠
{Steve Limekman}⁠
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✍🏼: by @slimkeman in “The Greatest Showman”  Continue reading at newidentitymagazine.com by clicking on the link in our bio ⁠
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📸: from newidentitymagazine
Every day in sub-Saharan Africa, one child in ten Every day in sub-Saharan Africa, one child in ten under the age of five dies of a preventable cause, and nearly every day in America eight in ten adults consume coffee. What do these numbers have to do with each other? A lot, according to the One Cup Project, which is using America’s love for coffee to reduce the number of children dying in Africa by converting coffee profits into life-saving aid.⁠
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The One Cup Project started in 2010, when Christian Kar, the founder of an award-winning Seattle-based coffee company, partnered with the Christian humanitarian aid organization, World Vision.Remarkably, every dollar spent on One Cup Coffee generates a dollar of aid for Africa.⁠
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Buy some coffee, put up a post on your Facebook page, ask your church, local café, or workplace to change their coffee, or run a One Cup Fundraiser. In doing so, you just may help hurting people find healing, hope, and life. Change the world for the better, one cup at a time.⁠
{Thame Fuller}⁠
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✍🏼: @thamefuller in “One Cup Project”  Continue reading at newidentitymagazine.com by clicking on the link in our bio or click on this link to take you directly to the One Cup website: https://onecup.org/our-story/⁠
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📸: by @AftaPuta from Pexels
When someone accepts Jesus, they leave their old p When someone accepts Jesus, they leave their old priorities behind and make Jesus the center of their life. Jesus calls each of us to share the good news with the world. He came to give living water to a thirsty world, and we have the honor and privilege of sharing his message by the power of the Holy Spirit (John 7:37-39).⁠
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The most important thing you can do is enter each conversation with a posture of prayer. Pray for the person you’re sharing with, that God would open their heart to accept him. Pray that God would give you the words to say. And a loving way to say them.⁠
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Expect God to work in your relationship and use you to share Jesus through your friendship in his own timing. No matter how long you have been a believer, you can share Jesus with the confidence that he is with you and that he will use you for his glory.⁠
{Eric Gulley}⁠
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✍🏼: Eric Gulley in “Sharing Your Faith”  Continue reading at newidentitymagazine.com by clicking on the link in our bio ⁠
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📸: by @OliverSjostrom from Pexels
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