Dear Diary: Free From Condemnation and I Feel Fine

/ Grey Ministries/
Dear Diary: Free From Condemnation and I Feel Fine

It’s the end of the day and I feel as though I’ve been writing in my head for weeks. I have so much to say and so many times I have wanted to write but I am waiting for the right moments so I can write with wisdom. It’s been a difficult day and evening. I can feel that Satan has been taunting me but I am persevering in the Lord. Part of my covenant resonated with me today, “...so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light”.

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How One Heroin Addict's Death Led Two Hundred Souls to Jesus

/ Grey Ministries/
How One Heroin Addict's Death Led Two Hundred Souls to Jesus

As many of you know, I recently moved from Canada back to the USA. Same general area, different community. This time, I’m lucky enough to call the ever-popular Hillsong Church my family’s home church. It’s pretty cool, I have to say. If you ever get the opportunity to attend a Hillsong service, I highly recommend it. One of the things I love the most about the church is tho opens and welcoming attitude of the patrons. Everyone comes as they are. A big sign at the front says, “Welcome Home” and you’re invited in with smiles, jeans and a lot of really, great music.

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No Need to be a Scaredy Cat! Faith Guide for Crisis Situations

/ Grey Ministries/
No Need to be a Scaredy Cat! Faith Guide for Crisis Situations

I know I’m, “Preaching to the choir” when I say this but there’s nothing like addiction to bring a spirit of fear into your life. Whatever anxieties or insecurities may have been present before, that you were able to disguise, push through, convince yourself weren’t there, they all come back with addiction. They say addiction is a “family disease” and while I don’t believe in the disease aspect of it, I do believe it’s a family affair! 

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Dear Diary: A New Covenant Begins

/ Grey Ministries/
Dear Diary: A New Covenant Begins

Today, I'm jumping ahead in my journals about a year. My husband had just gone to treatment and I was home alone, new baby, recommitting myself to God. I thought my righteous behaviour would somehow "save him", and therefore save my marriage, but it was the beginning of God saving me. Things were very hard that past year. I will likely go back and reveal those journals but for now, I'm here. Up until this point, I had been living in New York since 2013. For the past year, I had believed my husband was an alcoholic.

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God Gave Us a Spirit of Power, Love and Sound Mind (So, why am I freaking out?!)

/ Grey Ministries/
God Gave Us a Spirit of Power, Love and Sound Mind (So, why am I freaking out?!)

"You're not listening to me!” 

“No, you don’t understand.”

“Can you put yourself in my shoes for just three [Un-Christian word] seconds?!”

“Ah! Never mind! I don’t even know why I try explaining to you, it’s useless!”

These are the things I find myself saying to my husband over and over again. As he fumbles and bumbles and tries to understand my range of complex emotions stemming from childhood wounds to the scars from our relationship to the present situation. He doesn’t know what to say and I know it.

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Top Five Books to Change Your Thinking While In a Crisis

/ Grey Ministries/
Top Five Books to Change Your Thinking While In a Crisis

When you have a loved one struggling with an addiction it can be really tough to find the right resources. There's a lot out there! Over the years, I've received both good and bad advice but every time I looked for help, the best advice usually found in books. That could be because I'm more comfortable reading a book than talking to a human being but with young kids, it can tough to find time to read! 

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You Can Love Your Child and Hate Their Substance Abuse

/ Grey Ministries/
You Can Love Your Child and Hate Their Substance Abuse

Blonde hair, blue eyes and a wealth of talent. She was my first born; Beautiful, funny, smart and excelled at anything she put her mind to from track and field, dance and figure skating. She had a beautiful voice and sang like an angel. She had the drive and determination of an Olympic athlete. She could have done anything she wanted but ended up doing none of the things she dreamed of because deep inside her lived a little girl who felt unworthy.

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Get the Fairytale Ending You Need to Succeed

/ Grey Ministries/
Get the Fairytale Ending You Need to Succeed

Every young girl dreams her own fairytale. Though each story is different we do all want the same thing. It isn’t that we all dream of being saved by princes, that’s not the case at all. What we really dream of is being the confident heroine of our story, admired for our inner strength, beauty and wisdom. We want to love and be loved. 

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Practical Ways to Pray for Peace When You Have Anxiety

/ Grey Ministries/
Practical Ways to Pray for Peace When You Have Anxiety

For the month of August, we’re going to be talking about anxiety and how to combat it God’s way. I’ll be grouping anxiety disorders in with “non-disorder” anxiety for the purposes of this article, even though I realize they’re very different but because spiritually-speaking, the treatment is the same. 

To prepare for the month ahead, I want to start by laying down a very basic understanding of anxiety. 

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You are Worthy of a Great Love

/ Grey Ministries/
You are Worthy of a Great Love

God only wants to be loved by you.

At church the other day, my Pastor called a woman up out of the crowd to the front of the church. He talked a bit about how important it was to give praise and to celebrate together the good that God does in our lives. 

The woman approached the front and it was obvious she was nervous. She said she had a feeling she would be called up, which tells me, it wasn’t planned. She began to tell her testimony of inner healing. She craved for God to touch her life in a big way...

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The Biggest Lie About Addiction (and why it's so dangerous!)

/ Grey Ministires/
The Biggest Lie About Addiction (and why it's so dangerous!)

The truth shall set you free.

My husband says I’m pretty, down-to-earth, sweet and sometimes, a little bit offensive. Being true to myself, I’m going to go ahead and publish this article. 

I know this is a highly-criticized point of view but I'm going to say it anyway... The biggest (and most dangerous) lie about addiction is that it's a disease.

Addiction is not a disease. 

There. Said it.

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You Ain’t Gotta Make Your Mind Up (Right Now)

/ Grey Ministries/
You Ain’t Gotta Make Your Mind Up (Right Now)

Don’t rush, no pressure.

Everyone who knows me well, knows I love Justin Bieber. I’m sorry if you just lost all respect for me but I'm Canadian so I’m going to claim ignorance. The Biebs has gotten wiser in his trials and there’s some real nuggets of wisdom in his songs (albeit grammatical errors but wisdom nonetheless). One of my favourites is, “You ain’t gotta make your mind up right now, don’t rush, no pressure”. 

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How to Get Out of the Storm

/ Grey Ministries/
How to Get Out of the Storm

Oh Jonah, what have you done?

There's a popular belief that being a Christian means we should be living exceptionally blessed lives. A belief that simply believing in God will open up the heavens and solve every problem. While God can solve every problem, not everything has a simple solution. Changes almost always come after a period of suffering. 

There's also a belief that once we become Christians we are expected to stop sinning completely and anything less than perfect is simply, no good.   

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Wisdom Is the Fruit of Fire

/ Grey Ministries/
Wisdom Is the Fruit of Fire

When life burns...

His eyes were red and bloodshot, his voice scratchy. His body was tense. He frowned to make a straight face. Every bone in my body was screaming, “I know you’re on drugs!”. With no stammering words, no track lines and no lingering smell of alcohol, there was nothing I could do.

“What?” he says.

“Nothing.” I lied.

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Are You Filled With Fear or Faith?

/ Grey Ministries/
Are You Filled With Fear or Faith?

Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away. 

My husband, my oldest son and I were all baptized on the same day. We also publicly dedicated our one and a half year old to Jesus. It was beautiful. 

Why did I get baptized, you ask? Honestly, I've just never done it. This is going to sound really stupid but I didn't want to get wet in front of all those people. I have this hair, you see....

Let's just say, it was an act of obedience.  

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Experts Weigh in With Practical Advice on Forgiveness

/ Grey Ministries/
Experts Weigh in With Practical Advice on Forgiveness

Forgiveness is one of those things I think we all have to struggle with at one point in our lives. No one is immune to being hurt so forgiveness becomes an important part of our human relationships. 

To get a better understanding on this often very difficult subject, I asked some of my favourite fellow bloggers, writers, speakers and Christian influencers: “What practical advice would you give to a women who’s really struggling with forgiveness?”

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