This is more on the personal side, coming from experience with a type of behavior I have encountered over the years. On the surface, it appears noble and Christian-like, but in reality, it can be very harmful. Have you had a family member or friend go through a really rough season? Have you sat there and listened to what they needed to say, held them, cried with them, let them get out what’s stuck in their head? Or…. Do you ask them how things are going, and then when they start to talk to you, do you say things like: “Lift it up to God, He’s got this.” “Just keep praying,” “Pray and give it to God.” “It’ll be ok, God’s taking care of it.” I would assume most have said something along these lines before. Now, I want to shift your perspective and have you consider it from that person’s point of view. Imagine, every time you tried to talk to someone, that’s all you heard? Weekly, daily, sometimes multiple times a day. Sit with that thought for a couple of minutes. Imagine needing to talk, only to receive the same pre-scripted phrases repeatedly. Eventually, you stop sharing and keep it all inside because you know what response is coming. You will feel as if you are not Christian enough or strong enough, or that you suddenly need advice on your relationship with God. It starts to sting. No one is perfect, and sometimes we may not know what to say. But in situations like this, focus on what the person needs in that moment, not what you think they need. And if you’re on the other spectrum and think you need to constantly say these things, zip it and reevaluate. Repeated comments like these can and will shut a person down. Intentional or not, they can make someone question their faith, wonder if something is wrong with them, feel like they have no right to be a human with feelings, and feel that struggling is unacceptable. God made us to want companionship with one another; this is a part of that. Just take a little time and reflect on how you respond to a person in need is all I ask. © Jane Isley

I’m going to take you on a visual tour of a new way to think about the whole God being silent ordeal and those mantras out there that we’ve all been through at least a couple of dozen times in our lives. First, no. He is never silent, even when you don’t hear Him, no matter what anyone tries to say. The other night, my daughter was not doing well. For background, I am her caregiver, and medically, things often go south on her, and we were packing for the Antarctic that night. I was trying to talk, encourage, comfort, and distract her. I brought it all that night, the whole nine yards, but nothing was helping. So I sat there for a few minutes feeling defeated and a bit useless, and just watched her. Then a thought popped in my head, so I started scooching my pillows and butt out of the way and asked her to come over. I had moved around so she could sit on the recliner with me and curl up so I could hold her, like I had done when she was a child. We sat there like that for a long time that night. I held her tight, rocked her, used my hands to rub her back, squeezed her hand, and soothed her. I just kept sitting there holding her, and it felt right to be doing that at that moment for her. Many like to say God is silent during our storms for incorrect reasons, and that can be harmful. When we can’t hear Him talking, He is somehow “testing us.” He wants to see “how strong” we are on our own. He is silent because He is “teaching us a lesson.” (btw, a crap storm going on in your life is not the same as God trying to talk you and you being dense. Don’t worry I put myself in that category and that’s not the issue I’m addressing here.) Believe it or not, not every storm is a deliberate action, test, or strength challenge from God. Storms naturally occur because of life. But we can turn those into lessons as we survive each one with God’s help. Here’s the thing to realize: when you are in a storm, and in the back of your mind, you remember all those phrases said about God being silent. They are not all good and have the potential to worsen your loneliness and damage your relationship with God because you are thinking about it the wrong way. There’s a big difference between quiet and true silence. For God to be truly and utterly silent towards you, He would have no choice but to leave, not just you, but everyone, everywhere, all for all time. As in His presence would have to cease to exist. Let me give you a visual. With my daughter that night. I was quiet, but I was never silent. My presence, my touch, my acceptance, and my heartbeat were my communication. Not all situations call for a voice; some call for simply accepting love. Not additional words that the person can’t process properly during their storm. She needed me to be quiet. As humans, we are (or should be) aware that we do this all the time in our lives when interacting with other people. We spot cues that let us know when to just shut it for a while. Where do you think we got that natural ability to sense when to be quiet? In Genesis 1:27 we are told we are created in the image of God. Why would God create humanity without the same set of emotional reasoning as Him? Truly, it would defeat the purpose of us connecting with Him and vice versa if they weren’t the same. I remember being told once during a depressive storm that God wasn’t talking to me because He was testing me and He wouldn’t talk to me again until I was willing to listen. 🤦‍♀️ Because yes, that apparently is what you should be telling someone during a storm, that you aren’t willing to listen to make them feel better. 🤦‍♀️ Life is always ripe with storms, even if you are the cause. But never ones that He leaves you alone with. Looking back, I’m surprised I survived that intact because I truly believed God had abandoned me; it was awful. I had no concept of what I know now, and that is God is everywhere and in everything. He is in the comfort of the blanket you are wrapped in, the tissue for your tears, and the pillow you may cry in. He is quiet because He knows you need the quiet. Just keep your gaze locked on Him and trust that He knows what you need right now. Don’t strain and frustrate yourself listening for a voice. Trust me, God is perfectly capable of making His voice heard when He wants or when you need it. Take comfort that He is holding you and respecting you. Our minds are all unique and process storms differently. So, no, God is never silent. Just quiet at times. Remember this during your next storm, and see it for the way it actually is. Look for the communication that is beyond words and visualize Him holding you like I held my daughter that night. Sometimes, the most beautiful gift to give someone when they are hurting is your quiet present presence. © Jane Isley First published in Never Stop Writing on Medium.

A long time ago I chose to start the journey to forgive the people who had abused me in my childhood. It was part of my healing process that God led me to and has been guiding me through since. Yet I had started to feel over time that something was still missing in my prayers. I just didn’t know what it was and I started to ask God what was I missing. Then, I got the first part of His answer one day and it hit me like a brick. The person who had abused me was also hurting in their own way. Most likely worse in some ways because they haven’t found God yet. That was hard to stomach. To have to acknowledge that he also had feelings. After I had time to accept and understand this new awareness, I continued in my prayers for him. Each time I lifted him up to God, I would ask God to descend upon him and wrap him in a hug so tight he couldn’t possibly ignore His presence. I wanted God to open his eyes to the love, forgiveness, and peace that only He could bring him. A transformation that can only come from God. Then, I got the second part of His answer and it also hit me like a brick. I hear the words: “Father, please let me see people how you see them.” I had never prayed that before, or anything similar. That concept, to see him, and anyone else who had hurt me as God sees them was very hard at first to wrap my mind around. But those words came through very clearly, and there was no ignoring that God was still answering my original question to Him about what I was missing on my journey of forgiveness. It did take me longer to process this, but then something happened when I put both of His answers together and trusted Him with what He was showing me. I felt a type of compassion for my abuser and all the people who hurt me over the years. A compassion for their soul. It was me who was transformed. This transformation in me probably makes no sense to some, is hard to fathom, and goes against our very human nature. I truly do understand that and the difficulty of reading what I am writing about. But I also understand that raw pain, the sorrow, and those broken pieces left behind by abuse and the need for peace. None of what I am sharing today is meant to minimize that or pretend that it doesn’t exist because it does. The thought that our abusers have feelings and having a compassion for them, their soul (core worth as I call it) goes against everything within us. It’s a knee-jerk reaction. But it is in line with what God teaches us. However. This does not mean we are to employ the “forgive and forget” strategy that people like to push and let our abusers back into our lives. I haven't, not do I intend to ever. I was meant to learn these two lessons because I was ready and yet at the same time, I absolutely did not let anyone back into my life. This was meant for me and my healing and the peace that I needed. God would not have shown me these two things if He didn’t believe I was ready. I want my abuser to feel the peace and the forgiveness that only God can bring them, the same peace and forgiveness He has given me because I too am a sinner. I see him and all those who have hurt me now as people with core worth, He loves them just as much as He loves me, and I want them to be transformed by God. I may never know what will become of my prayers for each person, but I won’t give up on those prayers. This next part is harder to hear. The people who have hurt you are worthy of His salvation and Heaven. As much as we want to believe the opposite, there are no ranks, no pedestals, and no inequality in God’s eyes. Your worth is the same as theirs in God’s eyes. I will not bold that last part, because some reading this are still not there yet and struggling with what I am saying, and I don’t want to make this any harder. Before anyone wonders and starts questioning my sanity. None of this came quickly or easily for me. It took me many painful years to even get to the point of wanting to go through the process of forgiveness and then even more years going through that journey. This is an intimate journey for each person, only you and God are what matters in your healing process. Some come to the stage of wanting to start that journey to forgive quicker than others, and there is no race to get to where I am now. I am still human though. With everything I just shared, I believe it is important to know there are still times when a memory can still throw me off balance and I also live in the same general area as my childhood abuser. It has happened where I have run into that person and they will attempt to approach me, but I do not allow it. After I am away from them, I involuntarily react. Mentally, I get thrown back into my past and relive years of abuse, this is built into our bodies now, and usually, I end up sick to my stomach or vomiting. But it is far easier to recover from that than ever before. Even with that reaction, I am still able to see him as a person who needs a transformation that only God can bring him. I still pray to this day for him; I genuinely want him to be healed, to ask forgiveness from God, and to be better. I was originally going to end this with a verse from the Bible. But I am choosing not to because I had so many verses thrown at me, some well-intentioned and some not, while I was recovering, and it mucked things up at times. I simply just needed someone to listen as I worked through the years of abuse, what it did to me physically, and how it changed me mentally. I had to work on that first before I came to my point of learning how to forgive. All those unnecessary verses being thrown at me made me feel like something was wrong with me because I wasn’t “progressing” at someone else's presumed pace. And I won’t be a part of doing that to someone here. Healing is a personal journey between you and God. All I ask is that you not give up. © Jane Isley Revision and first published February 2025 in Know Thyself, Heal Thyself on Substack.

It’s not easy to admit when you do something wrong, but I did. To my embarrassment, it was recently brought to my attention by God that many struggle, some really bad, with His answer of “be still.” He pointed this out to me because I had become blind to those feelings and for that, I am truly sorry. I openly accept His answer of “Be still” with more trust and patience than I ever did in the beginning when I first encountered this. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no saint, I still struggle, just nowhere near what it used to be. I would sum it up as a 300° turnaround instead of a full 360°. What He Pointed Out I had forgotten my battles and struggles to get to where I am today. I took that for granted when talking to others and forgot just how hard that can be for some people. I felt like I’d be in this “preaching” mode, so to speak, sometimes, instead of just sitting and listening to them. I’d say “be patient,” or “just keep praying” and leave it at that. For some, this wasn't an issue, but for many others it was and I was negligent in my responses to them. I sometimes forget how my brain works, and I have to continually remind myself that I simply don’t think or talk like most people. In my mind, it makes sense to “just believe” and leave it at that. Guess what that could possibly lead to? Coming off as a cocky, know-it-all jerk that diminishes their struggle, and drives them away. You know what they need, though? During their “be still” struggles, besides sitting, they need to know they are being heard. They need to hear your personal struggles, the times you were still and had to wait. What did it feel like to you? What did you do to help you through the “be still” part? Give them examples. Be a real person. Not everyone is to the point you may be in your faith and understanding of the Bible. Be aware of that and remember your own struggles. Your story is someone else’s life raft. I want to propose a different way of looking at “be still” for anyone struggling. “Yes”, “no”, and “be still” are all solid answers from God, with yes and no having obvious meanings. But what I want to describe is a different point of view to that sometimes dreaded “be still” answer. When we are going through a storm and need direction, feeling the call to give but don’t know where, struggling with a minor or major life decision, and the many other things life can throw at us, we pray and request an answer from God, and we want that answer in 5–7 business days. Then “nothing” happens, it feels like God took a vacation. Instead of getting frustrated or thinking He’s not hearing you, try this. Change the focus from just yourself and your situation to seeing that God is having you wait and be ready for something. He wants your continued prayers. He is in the process of guiding another person or situation to also be ready. Then, when both you and the other person/situation are ready, God will create an intersecting point of contact, and you will receive your answer. © 2024 Jane Isley First published in Know Thyself Heal Thyself on Medium.

I was once told by a psychiatric nurse that I should tell my story. I scoffed at her, and trust me, I was very rude, but she didn’t give up on suggesting it. At that time, though, I wasn’t in any mood to consider it or anything; I was desperately just trying to survive what my body was doing to me. This all happened while I was a voluntary patient in a psychiatric ward. Long story short, COVID did one hell of a number on me. First, it went after my heart. Landed me in the hospital for that one, and a heart monitor, because my heart rate was dropping into the lower 30s/ upper 20s at times. All I could do was lie there and think and cry. I made and sent videos to family and friends as a will for my daughter. Then it hit my kidneys. Another hospital stay, acute Kidney Injury, they told me, I think my function dropped to 23%, or 25%, can’t remember which. But I do remember signing that DNR. And finally, last but not least, rounding out to a full-blown final destruction of my already comprised GI tract and nervous system. I admitted myself to a psychiatric ward for that blowout and to protect myself because I knew what I wanted to do was not right. I was hospitalized three times within four months. By the time I met this nurse, I was exhausted, burnt out, lost, and done with life. From time to time, I had thought about telling my story, but I always thought it meant sitting down and writing a book from beginning to end. Just the thought of that and writing anything about my life at the moment was repulsive to me. Turns out I was wrong, and she saw something in me that I didn’t know was there. I’ve begun to heal countless parts of my life, body, and soul that I didn’t even realize were still injured by writing. A person’s story doesn’t need chapters or a neat beginning-to-end arc. My story is broken up into many pieces and told out of order. Every day has a villain, and every day I wake up is part of my story arc. Now, I write. I break my story into bits and pieces to give hope, reassurance, and encouragement that this, too, shall pass. You are never alone. I survived what hands down should have been an un-survivable time in my life, and it wasn’t me who did that. To God: Thank you for sending her to me that day. To the nurse: Thank you. © Jane Isley (Revision)

Girl With a Pearl Earring, painted by Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer around 1665, is considered one of the most beautiful and priceless masterpieces in history. Johannes Vermeer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Now imagine someone taking that canvas and painting right over it, covering the unique brushstrokes, brilliant lighting, and her timeless expression. The thought alone feels wrong to me. It would ruin everything unique about her and permanently erase the original. You don’t have to be an art lover or collector to know that would be a travesty. When we honor a masterpiece, we respect its story, its meaning, and its history. But when someone paints over it, they aren’t just adding their own “version.” They’re destroying the original and trying to replace it with something that never was. Now, to the point - Why is it that we wouldn’t dare do this to a painting, but so many are quick to hop on board and do this to the Bible? Scripture is being pulled apart, rewritten, and rebranded to suit feelings and modern taste buds. The truth is being stripped away, painted over with new ideas that are often unrecognizable from the original. At this point, why not just write your own book and leave the Bible alone? If you dislike what it says so much, why attempt to rewrite history as though you can change God’s word and believe He’s going to let you? I’m baffled by it. I think people believe they can sanctify their sins by reshaping Scripture. Deep down, they still want the hope of Heaven, but don’t want to face the parts of God’s word that call for repentance and obedience. Then others use Christianity as a PR stunt, reshaping it for personal or political gain. Whatever the reason, the result is the same: the truth is distorted, and what remains is no longer Christianity at all. The Bible is not meant to be cut up, relabeled, and stitched back together. That is what is called false teaching. My faith cannot be rewritten. You can deny it, reject it, or ignore it, but you can’t change it into something it never was. If God’s word confronts you, that’s not a Bible issue; that’s a you issue. You can pander to feelings. You can normalize sin. You can try to bend truth into whatever shape makes you most comfortable. But you can’t change the Bible and expect God to give you a 👍🏻. © 2025 Jane Isley Press Ctrl + P (Windows) or Cmd + P (Mac) to print this article or save it as a PDF.

I like to call them “fly-over chapters”. Maybe you have heard the expression referring to some American States. “Flyover states” describe the central regions of the United States that people typically fly over when traveling between the East and West Coasts, such as between New York and Los Angeles. These states are viewed as less significant culturally or economically by coastal elites. In other words: boring. Fly-over Bible chapters are the same. We start them, see there is a genealogy, and quickly lose interest, skipping to the next chapter. The action of the Bible is compelling. It’s sexy. Digging deep into the Word to find profound spiritual truths in genealogies is not. I wonder how many Bible readers skip the first nine chapters of 1 Chronicles to get to the death of King Saul in chapter 10. How many Christians blow through the genealogy of Jesus to get to the astonishing miracles? When I was new at Bible study, I would sometimes ask, “Why is that even in there?” and skip it. Now I ask God, “Why is that even in there? Show me.” And He does. Numbers 33 is the story of your life. It starts this way: “These are the camping sites in the journey of the People of Israel after they left Egypt, deployed militarily under the command of Moses and Aaron. Under God’s instruction, Moses kept a log of every time they moved, camp by camp:” Vs 1–2 And then the chapter goes on to list all forty-two places the Hebrews stopped in their 40-year pilgrimage. Why? It states that God instructed Moses to list them all. What does God have in mind by making sure we know about every stop in the journey of His chosen people? Nothing in the Bible is wasted. Nothing is meaningless. There must be something in Numbers 33 for us now, today. If you Google the name of each place listed, most of them don’t even exist anymore. Some Bible scholars will speculate. But there are no archaeological ruins to pinpoint exact locations. Some of the names have changed. And many stops were in desolate, nomadic regions that leave little trace. Of the forty-two locations mentioned, only five can be identified on a map. Ten to fifteen of them have a strong traditional or historical case for the location. With at least twenty, we have no idea. Ramses, Succoth, and Nebo can be visited today. Hashmonah and Tahath, not so much. The Secret Must Be in the Math. There were fourteen stops in the first year alone after leaving Egypt. And there were eight stops in the last year after Aaron’s death. They were heading to Canaan. However, for most of their 38-year lives, they made twenty different stops. Each stop was different. Each one had challenges and joys. There were new neighbors, different views, and each could be considered a fresh start. God always provided for them. There was daily manna and water. They were covered by a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Their clothes didn’t wear out. They had everything they needed. Living in twenty separate places in thirty-eight years meant there were no deep roots to lay down. Although two years is a long time to stay at a place, it was still temporary. They weren’t to be established there. They were on a journey. The deep roots would come when they reached their promised land. Canaan was destined to be the place where they could have lasting rest. The other stops were a part of a narrative of their lives. Did they ever sit around a campfire, reminiscing about their time at certain stops? Some places had ample wood. Others took arduous work to keep the family going. Did an aging Grampa recount the story about giving the Amalekites a serious beat-down at Rephidim to the young kids? How did they remember the golden calf? Or try to describe the day the earth swallowed Korah and family? Could they still hear the screams in their mind? Maybe That’s What God Is Showing Us in This Fly-Over Chapter. What if it is not a list of strange places? But the story of us. What if we are on a journey to a promised place of rest and peace? And with each stop in our lives, in each chapter, we have been led there for a reason. It was beautiful, but it was temporary. God doesn’t want to read about our birth, skip to the day Jesus became real to us, and then skip again to the day we joined Him in heaven. No, those Elementary School years, the dating tears, that failed business, being Angelically saved in a car wreck, the bad, the good, the rebellion, the promotion, and the bankruptcy are all important to Him. Because they are all stops in our Exodus through this age. Each experience is necessary. Every tear is important enough to be saved. “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” Psalm 56:8 Will God Fly Over Our Story at the Judgment? Imagine the scenario as recorded by John in Revelation: “I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books.” 20:12 Will God say: “Yeah, yeah, yeah, skip all that and cut to the good parts.” Nope! He knows the number of hairs on our head (Luke 12:7), and all our days were planned before we were born (Psalm 39:4). Each chapter of our lives is methodically woven into a tapestry of joy and sorrow, pain and pleasure, love and loneliness, freedom and bondage, lack and abundance, stress and peace…and ALL of them are important. They are a part of our story. They are a name in a list of a chapter called “Life”. Next time you come across a scripture like Numbers 33:24, “They left Mount Shepher and camped at Haradah,” pause for a second. Don’t just fly over it. It’s important. They left a beautiful mountain to camp at a place called “Fear” before they headed to the next beautiful mountain. I would love to know more about that stop. Because we have all had seasons in a valley of fear before we headed to the safety of the next mountain. Wherever you are camped today, it is temporary. Stand firm. Rejoice always. Endure. Appreciate. Conquer. Love fiercely. Pray. Sing. Share. Believe. Help your fellow life campers. Because where you are, what you are doing, what you see, and who you are with is temporary. And when the cloud or pillar of fire moves, it’s time to go to your next assignment. You have a long chapter left to be written. Enjoy the trip. © I.M. Koen Thank you for reading to the end. You might also enjoy: Why God Eavesdrops on You. Why Did God Choose Me? I’m Broken. Does Your God Stoop?

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!” Philippians 4:4 If you’ve ever read that verse and thought, How? How am I supposed to rejoice when my life feels like a painful, overwhelming mess? You’re not alone. I used to stumble over this all the time. For the longest time, I thought rejoicing meant forcing a smile and pretending everything was fine. I believed I had to stuff down my worries and hide my pain, because if I admitted to struggling, it meant something was wrong with me, or worse, with my relationship with God. Along the way, I got the idea that Christians were supposed to have it all together, and if problems didn’t magically disappear, then clearly I was the problem. (this was reinforced many times w/in churches) But that’s not what Paul was saying here at all. Joy Vs Happiness Paul isn’t commanding us to feel happy every second of every day. Happiness is tied to circumstances. But Joy? Joy is way deeper. Joy is an anchor. It comes from knowing the Lord is near, even when the storm rages on. This is the same Paul who wrote these words while imprisoned, not on a chillax vacation or during an easy season of his life. That tells me rejoicing is not about ignoring our pain, it’s about remembering God’s presence within it. Choosing Rejoicing Rejoicing is an active choice, and it's definitely a hard one to make. It’s choosing to thank God for every breath you're taking, even when anxiety wants to tighten your throat. It’s choosing to sing praises while your face is damp and your nose is still clogged from crying. It’s choosing to trust that God’s promises are always stronger than today’s problems. Definitely not easy things to do, sometimes beyond hard, but when you can do them, even in small ways, it will shift your whole perspective. Because rejoicing reorients us. It pulls our gaze off the chaos and fixes it back on the Lord, who holds us steady. It doesn’t erase the struggle, but it reminds us that the Lord is our refuge, our fortress, and our friend. A Psalm To Hold On To “The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart triumphs, And with my song I shall thank Him.” Psalm 28:7 So, if you’re struggling today, I want to encourage you to rejoice. It doesn’t mean that “fake it till you make it” crap. It means pause, breathe, and whisper, “Lord, I know You are here.” And that whisper of faith? That’s rejoicing. © Jane Isley Press Ctrl + P (Windows) or Cmd + P (Mac) to print this article or save it as a PDF.

I’ll be honest, I do not blame anyone for leaving a church that went off script. I also understand if they hesitate to do so, or hesitate to look into another church when they leave. This is a very personal and sometimes an extremely emotional decision, one that must be made with God at the lead. But when you start sensing something is off, pay attention to that. We have the Holy Spirit, and we are given discernment for a reason. To ignore His prodding because we don’t like change, have been going there for years, have friends there, etc….. is not an excuse to stay anywhere God doesn’t want you to be or somewhere God is no longer welcome. It is ok to leave a church if you must. That building does not define you. Your heart does, God will lead you to where you need to be, and it may look completely different from what you imagined. This is my personal experience. Our recent experience When I married my husband, he introduced me to his church, the church he served at for years, one he helped build, and define their charter. I was so excited, a community of believers to build a life with. But it wasn’t meant to be. We left, we had to. We actively pray for the church and the pastor, but we had to leave after what happened. It hurt my husband more than me because I was new and not as emotionally invested as he was. But it hurt me deeply to see him hurt that day when we knew it was all over. Now this decision was not made lightly, and not made without God. We stayed through a lot, we waited, we prayed, and we watched. But one day, it was simply the last day, we had asked for clarity, and we got it. You must remember this: Harmful church incidents/issues are not from God, so don’t blame Him for how people act “in His name” because it’s really in their name they are acting. Don’t use it as an excuse to hate Christianity and leave Christianity. Get back to your roots, the Bible, we have it for a reason. Don’t take what has happened in the past with a church, or what you have seen, and believe that it is from God. In fact, I believe deep down you know better than that, you know people have taken the Bible and abused and trashed it. That’s a people problem. Not a God problem. You still need a community, though. Go out and find fellowship with others, and it doesn’t have to be a church. It can be a coffee study session, a library date, a home group, an online Bible study, or it can be your friends getting together and starting a study. God is there when two or more are gathered. “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” Matt 18:20 Isn’t that amazing! You don’t need the pews, you don’t need the traditions, you don’t need anything but people getting together in His name. That is church, that is community, and honestly, that is what this nation needs to get back to. Here’s that slippery slope. If leaving the church is where you are at right now, do not get comfortable not seeking, do not get comfortable being angry at that church, and do not get comfortable slipping away from God. It is on you to seek His direction, it is on you to surrender any hurt you experienced to God, it is all on you, your free will in action. Pray, listen, read, and be open to whatever and wherever God wants you next, you may be surprised what God has planned for you. Leaving the church does not mean leaving God and if He is the one leading you out the door then trust that He already knows exactly where He is taking you next. © Jane Isley Press Ctrl + P (Windows) or Cmd + P (Mac) to print this article or save it as a PDF.

Sitting down at a Bible study, the last topic I expected to debate was cannibalism. But that is exactly where the evening went, and I suspect it won't be the last time a conversation catches me off guard like that. It started with a gentleman who had questions. Somewhere along the way we landed on the subject of people eating people, and he shared that a former Evangelical church had taught him 2 Kings 6:28–29 as proof that God endorses it. Every jaw in the room hit the floor. "Then the king asked her, “What is your problem?” She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ So we boiled my son and ate him; and I said to her on the next day, ‘Give up your son, that we may eat him;’ and she has hidden her son.” To his credit, he is in the middle of tearing down what he was wrongly taught and rebuilding it on Scripture itself. That is precisely the work he should be doing: reading, questioning, and testing what he hears against the text. So we walked through that passage together, along with the other places cannibalism surfaces. The point we kept returning to is simple. Scripture records these events because they actually occurred, not because God signs off on them. Sometimes the Bible is just reporting history, and sometimes it is exposing how far sin can drag a person. In 2 Kings 6, the horror unfolds during a brutal famine and siege. Reporting it is not the same as blessing it. Wherever cannibalism shows up in the Bible, it is cast as pagan, monstrous, and a marker of judgment, never as faithfulness to God. We got that settled. And then someone in the room aimed a comment at me that was meant to hurt my feelings, for no reason beyond my just being there and I highly suspect because I am a woman. I had said that no level of hunger would ever drive me to eat another human being. The reply came fast: starvation changes the brain, so I supposedly can't claim I wouldn't. You can guess how that sat with me. I granted the point that starvation does affect the mind. But I noted that untold millions of people across history have starved to death and never once turned on a brother or sister. It takes a heart profoundly severed from God to commit an act like that. My heart is anchored in God, and I have no uncertainty about where my salvation rests. I know who I am. When a person's heart is not right with God, cannibalism becomes possible, and Scripture makes that painfully plain. I'll be honest, the jab discouraged me, because it came from malice rather than love or truth. I answered politely, though with a little spice, because there are moments when rudeness has to be met head-on, especially in front of someone who has just realized that something he was taught about God was flatly wrong. © 2025 Jane Isley Want more content like this? Explore more articles in Exploring Scripture. Press Ctrl + P (Windows) or Cmd + P (Mac) to print this article or save it as a PDF.