Search Results for: distorted images of god

by Juanita R. Ryan God is waiting around the next corner with a club to punish me. God has a mean face, I don't like to think of him looking at me. These descriptions of God come from deeply committed Christians. Neither person would have signed a doctrinal statement which described God as someone who carries a large club, or as a someone with a mean face. They both would have affirmed … [Read more...] about Seeing God in New Ways: Recovery from Distorted Images of God

Do you worry that God is disappointed in you?  Or that God is angry with you?  Does it seem difficult to trust God’s love for you?   Many of us suffer with private fears and distortions about God. And these distortions create spiritual suffering in our lives.  We may intellectually believe in a God of love and grace but privately fear that God is impossible to please, … [Read more...] about Recovery from Distorted Images of God — with Juanita Ryan

OTHER RESOURCES: Seeing God In New Ways: Recovery from Distorted Images of God by Juanita R. Ryan Recovery from Distorted Images of God A Bible study by Dale and Juanita Ryan. … [Read more...] about Recovery from Distorted Images of God

Regardless of the kind of abuse the central damage to an abused person takes predicable forms. The core issues almost always begin with the creation of a distorted image of the self. This distorted self image is reflected in a distorted image of God and in distorted images of others. One way of thinking about recovery is that it is the process of undistorting these distortions. Recovery from … [Read more...] about Dealing with Core Issues

by Dale Ryan There is a difference—sometimes an enormous difference—between the God of our doctrinal statements and the god we live with every day. Our theological convictions may be thoroughly orthodox, but we may actually serve a god who is quick to anger and slow to forgive. Or a god who shames his followers. Or a god who is punitive and rejecting. That was my experience. I was close to … [Read more...] about If your god is not God, fire him.

by Dale and Juanita Ryan A few days after Steve first attended a support group for adult children of alcoholics, a powerful image came into his mind. "I saw myself in a large crowd of people. God was holding my hand. But suddenly, God's hand pulled away and I was lost in the crowd. I was separated from God, abandoned, completely alone." When Steve attempted to honestly face the needs in his … [Read more...] about Recovery from Spiritual Distress

There is a lot of truth in an old slogan you sometimes hear in twelve step fellowships: "Talking about the spiritual part of the program is like talking about the wet part of the ocean". Recovery is an inherently spiritual journey. What people do when they do the twelve steps, for example, is a series of spiritual practices -- all of which have long histories in the Christian tradition (e.g … [Read more...] about Center for Spirituality and Recovery