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College students urge others to take pride in faith, ditch social media for God: ‘Cool to be a Christian’ | Fox News

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"Unquenchable Light" - JR Everhart

Inside the darkness of my struggles and rebellion is the light of God's truth shining.  There’s never been a time amidst my darkest sin that I couldn’t see it shining, and effectively convicting me of my sinful behavior.  It’s hard to comprehend God's desire to illuminate smack dab in the middle of my sin.  As such, I'm drawn to its warm glow.  Yet, I believe myself to be such a failure on so many levels and feel like I spend my whole life fighting off all the accusations of the enemy.  But honestly, some of them resonate!  They reflect the truth of my blackened, fleshly, uncircumcised heart of sin.  The enemy's accusations effectively remind me of it.  At times I yield to my flesh and find myself acting out of rebellion, straight in the face of a loving Savior.  Though I know the truth, I refuse to be obedient, continuing to do exactly the thing that only brings further regret into my life.  Therefore, the enemy’s accusations and call for judgement are 100% justified.  I am broken, I am a sinner, and I often choose death instead of life in hopes of feeling some sort of relief.  Relief from the abandonment and pain of never feeling like I’m truly worthy of love.  That being said, I refuse to lie about what I know is true regarding my behavior.  I’m fatigued in continuing to water down the sting of my sin because the death and decay it brings is never watered down or easy to deal with.  It damages a part of me each and every time, by kidnapping my mind and dragging me into a pit of self-hatred where suicide seems like the only escape from the stress and pressure of it all. 

But often I see a flickering light in the middle of it all.  From there, I start approaching that light.  I can hear it beckoning to me as if it knows me.  As if it wants to cleanse me in spite of the front row seat it's had relative to all of my dysfunctional missteps.  This supernatural response makes no sense to my carnal mind, yet my heart can certainly feel its pull.  I then find that it takes so little effort to reach out and grab a hold of it.  Instantaneously, I find myself standing inside of this light.  I’m completely engrossed in its warmth and comfort. 

This is analogous to Jesus meeting and subsequently incinerating away all of my pain and sorrow.  As a result of him comforting me, I fall before his mercy and grace, all the while shouting out my repentance. From there, I'm completely broken.  As such, he helps me back up and sets me on his firm foundation.  

This is what I know:  It’s only through him and his desires to never give up on me that am an overcomer.

In conclusion, I wish I could say this happened once to me and I never struggled again.  But along this particular pathway of JR's recovery, I go through this entire process at least once every 3-5 weeks.  I do, at times, feel like a lost cause, and that my faith may very well be in vain.  But those are the true lies of the enemy!  I believe true faith is believing in his love and acceptance smack dab in the face of our stumbling and clumsy gait.  Therefore, we must jettison any idea(s) of Earthly perfection.  Instead, our focus should simply be our own personal road to recovery.  All the while, setting out to do nothing to earn Gods favor whilst remembering that it’s only because of Jesus that I haven’t eaten a bullet or lost my mind.  

To summarize, it’s his comfort and continued light inside my darkness that keeps me going. 

“The Word (Jesus) gave life to everything that was created, and His life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.”

John 1:4-5 | NLT

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Lagniappe

"The No Bull Briefing" - Samson Society February Newsletter

 

THE NO BULL BRIEFING - February 2023

Help Us Keep the Lights On Samson House exists solely for the advancement of Samson Society. In order to keep Samson Society free, we need individuals committed to providing monthly financial gifts. We do not have dues, but we do have expenses. While we were thrilled to reach our matching gift fundraiser goal in December (which helped us meet end-of-year financial needs), the financial exigencies of our organization continue year-round. Please consider becoming a monthly financial contributor to Samson House, and help us keep the (metaphorical) lights on.  DONATE Celebrate 10 Years of National Samson Gatherings with the Samson Summit! In celebration of our tenth national event, Samson Society is throwing a party in Texas with The Place We Find Ourselves podcast host Adam Young.  Adam is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) with Master degrees in Social Work (Virginia Commonwealth University) and Divinity (Emory University). He currently serves as a Fellow with The Allender Center, and his approach to therapy has been shaped primarily by Dan Allender, Daniel Siegel, Allan Schore, Pat Ogden, and Bessel van der Kolk. LEARN MORE Soul Architecture The weekend will be a time to press into Aaron's books, Soul Architecture and Abba, seeking to clean up our gospel language and find out how each of our flesh is uniquely crafty in trying to subvert the beautiful sufficiency of Jesus and the perfect love of our true Father.  Our flesh tends to resort to feelings of unworthiness to be loved perfectly through shame, stories of inadequacy, and religiosity that keeps us trying to earn it instead of letting true religion flow from the "enoughness" of our Savior. We keep the group small (no more than 10) so that there is time for deep connection and reflection for every participant. There will be teaching and discussion, personal work, and times of processing that work with another individual or the group.  This time together is a chance to shed some of the burdens that have crept into our lives and have become a part of our narratives, and in the end, hopefully, find out a little more about what the abundant life that Jesus offered feels like, where His yoke is easy and His burden is light. REGISTER A Week-Long Traveling Retreat in England Recovery is not a solo activity, nor is it merely a mental one. This retreat is an opportunity for 10 men to walk together for an entire week along ancient paths in rural England, forming bonds, facing challenges, sharing meals and personal experiences.  In the process we will work our way through all seven stages of the Samson Society’s Path, taking time for deliberate work at each stage.    Space is limited to the first ten men to register. LEARN MORE Support Your Partner's Healing Journey Invite your wife to attend this year's Sarah Society retreat featuring Fight for Love Ministries founder and podcast host Rosie Makinney. This weekend of soul restoration and encouragement occurs April 14-16, 2023, in Nunnelly, Tennessee at a private lodge. There are limited spots left. So act today before they are gone! LEARN MORE Are You a Recovery Coach? Let Us Know! As the Samson Society continues to grow, we are committed to helping men reach higher levels of healing in their journey of recovery. We are in the process of creating an in-house directory of recovery coaches for Samson men to use as they seek deeper insight into the barriers and obstacles keeping them from finding freedom. If you are a licensed recovery coach, please let us know. Email us your contact information, credential information, and any other information such as specialized areas of focus you would like included in this directory. Scared of Our Shadows (an exerpt) By Chuck DeGroat Lent invites us to consider a very stark reality about ourselves - that we're a mixture of dark and light. The darkness - what some psychologists call the "shadow side" - is often unknown to us, remaining just beneath our awareness. We often think it's better left there, anyway. We're scared of those dark shadows. Do you want to know your shadow side? Just ask someone who knows you well - a spouse, a good friend, an employee. Consider this. A boss asks his employee, "How do you experience our relationship?" She says to him, "When I'm around you, I feel imperfect, unqualified, under-performing." Now, it might be true that the employee is sub par, but the wise employer will ask himself, "What part of my own shadow side am I projecting on to her?" Perhaps he'll discover his own perfectionism. Or, maybe he'll see his profound inability to trust others. In many religious traditions, this self-knowledge is rightly called "wisdom." However, today we're often scared to reveal our shadow. How many employers ask, "How do you experience me? How do I make you feel?" How many spouses check in regularly with, "How is my own psychological baggage impacting you?" What we learn, if we consider our shadow, is that much of what we judge others on is what we, ourselves, have not yet dealt with in ourselves. Our baggage is readily transmitted when unexamined, unacknowledged, unexplored. Chances are, if you're ready to blame or critique, even now, your own shadow might be more powerfully operative than you think. This is why the early Christians envisioned a season of Lent, a "springtime" of the soul offering new life through an honest acknowledgment of our heart's dark deception. There is soil to be turned over, depths to be explored. And in that most scary, shadow place, you might be even find a ray of light called Truth, with the smile of a forgiving Savior right behind it...  January 2023 Meeting Host & Sub Winner Thank you Chris Inman for hosting the in-person Mobile Samson Society meeting! We would like to give you a one-time 25% discount in the Samson swag store as a thank you for donating your time and talents! Please check your email inbox for your discount code. Each month we will draw one name, so be sure to complete the host form online every time you host or sub a meeting to be entered in to the drawing. You receive one entry for each time you host or sub during the month. Regional Retreat Opportunities Planning a regional Samson retreat? Let us know at samsonhouseoffice@gmail.com or drop it on the #upcoming_event channel on Slack so we can help you spread the word! Monthly Resource Corner Each month, Samson Society will promote a resource that you may find helpful on your journey. Feel free to share any podcast episodes, blog posts, books, or documentaries that you find enlightening!  After years stuck in the painful cycle of past abuse and ongoing addiction, actor and artist Blaine Hogan received the greatest gift: his life fell apart. No longer able to hide behind the veneer of success or find comfort in the shadows of addiction, Blaine was forced to look at the story his life was telling. And while he hadn't lost God, he'd lost himself along the way. Desperate to find hope, he gave up the career he was building and took a major life detour where he discovered that facing his past was the key to unlocking a new kind of creativity. In Exit the Cave, Blaine shares the stories that shaped him--his own, others', and God's greater story--while exploring how our relationship to our past defines the way we live in the present. Through powerful personal revelations and insightful takeaways, he invites you to take up the practices of radical imagination and real creativity so you can tell a better story with your life. If you've ever been stuck, addicted, ashamed, discontented, or lost, take courage--a richer, more whole, imaginative, and meaningful life is waiting for you just outside the cave. LEARN MORE Connect with us on social media! SUPPORT SAMSON

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