My name is Larry Thompson. I’m am simply a pen that prayerfully writes what God inspires me to think and share. It is my sincere prayer that none be lost and that all should accept the saving grace of God in the gift offered to all of us through the death, burial and resurrection of Christ Jesus. Peace and Blessings be with you. Medium

One would think the answer is no, but alas, why should it be a surprise that I even have a reason to be writing this article? Some churches are known for requiring or specifying specific prayer postures. I, however, do not believe a church has the right to dictate a person’s prayer position, for any reason. I consider it quite rude and controlling to do so. As well as it limits the Holy Spirit from being able to engage with that person fully if there is a demand or script to go along with prayer. When I am praying, I do what my body tells me is right. By that I mean I might be in my office chilling and praying out loud to God, and something deep comes over me and I want to go to Him differently. I’ll move, and either bow my head, clasp my hands while sitting, lift my arms up to Him, go for a walk, or get on my knees. I do what I feel is needed in my prayers to God. It is a personal and intimate moment that is between just God and me, not a man. I walked into a discussion about “how are we supposed to pray?” Well, that was soon followed up by being told (during a sermon) we were now being expected to pray a certain way, and anything less meant we were not doing it right according to the gospel of that pastor. No explanations, and no verses to support doing just that one specific posture all the time. It was forced on us within the matter of a few seconds, and I watched as 97% of the congregation went along with it, like the pastor's word was God’s word. This forced situation confused me to no end, and no, I did not comply. The Bible gives us examples of many positions people have prayed in to God, He didn’t care what their body position was; He just cared about where their heart was positioned. King David went and sat down. The Levites said stand up and praise God. Elijah paced back and forth. Nehemiah praised the Lord, and then they bowed down. Men lifting up their Holy hands in prayer. Peter got down on his knees. Moses prostrated himself before God. You can even keep your eyes open and look up when praying, Jesus did. Then here, I spotted that Solomon stood at an altar with his arms spread out, and then he changed positions. All sorts of positions are listed above, not one mentioned as superior to the other. Next, we have Jesus teaching us how to pray. (who btw, prayed in a variety of different postures Himself) When Jesus taught the disciples how to pray, it was words he taught them, not a posture. I don't read anywhere where He leads with “first you have to get in xxxx position, only then can you pray. No, He starts by saying, “This, then, is how you should pray,” and “When you pray, say:” In fact, Jesus doesn’t specify any particular position. I believe this is done for a reason — to stop churches and leaders from dictating how we are “supposed” to “pray properly.” Let’s not forget: We are created in God’s image, He gave us abundant ways to communicate. You're really going to unbiblically try and tell me I’m supposed to pray a certain way? I think not. It’s the position of the heart that matters when praying to God, do not let any person or church control how you pray. “But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7 © Jane Isley

I’ve been plagued lately with sadness at what I see happening within many churches. To me, they are no longer churches, just fancy buildings full of people who have not just lost their way, but purposely go their own way, and think they can convince God to go along with it. Many debates have already happened, and even more will continue as people pursue themselves and increasingly push God aside in pursuit of life, liberty, and the lies they want to hear. The same people who can quote Psalm 23 without a moment's hesitation with a faithful adoration are willingly choosing to ignore other parts of the Bible. Both the leaders and the congregants are equally guilty. “This is the fate of those who trust in themselves, and of their followers, who approve their sayings. They are like sheep and are destined to die; death will be their shepherd (but the upright will prevail over them in the morning).” “But to the wicked person, God says: “What right have you to recite my laws or take my covenant on your lips?” “You hate my instruction and cast my words behind you.” “You use your mouth for evil and harness your tongue to deceit.” “[…]But I now arraign you and set my accusations before you. “Consider this, you who forget God, or I will tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you:” I don’t need to elaborate, explain, or break down the language. God couldn’t be clearer. If you can not bear this, you are not of Him. If you are angered, you are not of Him. If you cannot hear Him, you are not of Him. Ignorance is not bliss. No one is stopping anyone from reading their Bible and having courage in God to stand faithfully to His words. © Jane Isley Reference Verses and recommended reads: Bible Gateway; NIV Psalm 49 & Bible Gateway; NIV Psalm 50

Caregiver burnout, boundaries, and God You will stumble, you will fail at times, you will cry and grieve what you once had. But you will also excel in something so complex that only you are the expert. You will soar and sing praises when mountains are moved, you see their smiles, and have those precious good days. And you will become the advocate you never knew you were. From me to you, you are doing the hardest job in the world. I am a parent and a caregiver to my disabled adult daughter. There is a difference between the struggles and frustrations that come with being a parent versus those of a parent caregiver. At some point, we all believe our children will leave the nest. They will go their own way independently of their parents and make a life in this world. No more scheduling their doctor’s appointments, making sure their homework is done, or doing their laundry. Being a caregiver can be a whole other type of hell. If you’ve been one or are one, you know exactly what I mean. Your life is forever intertwined with the person you are caring for. Your mind does not rest because it’s always in caregiver mode. Even if you get the chance to get away for the evening, your role never clocks out; you’re either keeping an eye on your phone, having random thoughts of them throughout your evening, and inevitably, at some point, the person you’re caring for is brought up in conversation. This Role Never Leaves You I have been my daughter's primary (and for a long time, only) caregiver for 12 years, when everything changed for her in an instant when she was 11. I have no career to speak of, no finished college degree, a very sad 401(k) that I try to contribute to, no sick days, vacation days, weekends off, and not even earned credits towards my social security if I get the chance to retire. Man, Do I Miss Fridays When I knew I had two full days to sleep in, chill, and take a break. I get sad over that when I think about it. I haven’t had a Friday in 12 years. I know I could have stepped away from this role and not taken it on. I’ve seen it done before, but I love my daughter with everything I have; those job perks above I leave to the Lord. He put us together for a reason, and I trust His reasoning for that, but wow, some days I do get frustrated, sad, and exhausted. I am forever thankful for God’s grace and patience, and knowing He goes beyond just loving me on my worst days, to carrying the burden of this role that can weigh me down, and providing me the restful peace I need amongst the darkness of compassion fatigue and overstimulation. Many people surround me, and I’m sure you’ve had the same throughout your time as a caregiver. However, as caregivers, we also understand that the ones who surround us do not understand those weights in the same way as we do. It is an experience that is uniquely ours. You know it’s ok not to be ok at times, right? At one point, the stress of being a caregiver got so bad that I broke down. Everyone around me seemed so willing to “help,” but all they wanted was to stay and chat, then they’d leave the moment something happened with my daughter. Leaving me crushed, hurt, and broken. Everyone who was with me when things started to get bad for my daughter did this. They left everything on my shoulders and a few loved to toot their horn about being a caregiver when in fact they did nothing. When I say I broke, I mean I broke. I sought out medical help and was admitted to the hospital. I lashed out at people after that, not cruelly or maliciously, but I did chew some serious butt. I started calling them out for what they were doing, I fought back, and I demanded better. I also distanced myself from the ones who saw no wrong in their behavior and only brought their drama over to our home. No one saw me. They saw what they wanted, which was the person who took care of everything for my daughter. It was easy peasy for them because they didn’t have to lift a finger. I wasn’t a person anymore, I was a handy commodity. I still feel that way sometimes now, when certain situations arise, but I’ve since fought back and have been starting to reclaim parts of my life again. How do you reclaim your life when it’s intertwined with another’s? The answer is you don’t, you never will be able to. But you can carve out chunks here and there and build on those. That’s what I had to learn to do for myself, and what I had to fight for. I need those chunks, those are my Fridays now. The moments I look forward to. That’s how I reclaimed a life for myself, and a new path was forged by God. My days will never be what they once were, or what they could have been. But my days now are so much better because I am no longer afraid to cry, and say “not today”, I’m not afraid to say I need someone else to take care of their own life, and I’m absolutely not afraid to give it to God and lean on Him to take a breath. That is the most beautiful gift He has given me. I put up a healthy wall, built a new foundation for myself with God’s help, and put people in their place if they try and take advantage. I tell my family now what I need when I’m struggling, even if it means leaving things messy or ignoring calls. I may be a caregiver, but I am more than that, and so are you. We are people with wishes, wants, and dreams that got sidelined in a way few understand, a sideline that will forever become a part of who we are now because our lives are wholly entwined with another person’s life. But we are more than caregivers; we are unique, loved, and worthy of forging a new path with God. © Jane Isley First Published in Never Stop Writing on Medium.

I fell off my chair. Literally. When I regained consciousness, my eyes opened to a mosaic of the faces from my Bible study. They brought me juice and a blueberry muffin. As the study continued, I cringed in embarrassment. Little did I know that God was beginning a good work in me. Falling off my chair was Day One in Sanctification 101. When a person comes face-to-face with death, it’s not a bad time to ponder one’s purpose in life. Prior to Day One, my sole purpose in life was me. My happiness. My pleasure. My fulfillment. You only live once, make the most of it! If that’s true, then when my body is lowered into the ground and the first shovelful of dirt tossed on my coffin, then that’s it. There is nothing more. Nothing more to life. It’s a sad thought. Why get out of bed if there is nothing more? Every Cell Tells a Story I look at my hands and think of all they have accomplished in over 50 years of blood running through my veins. Thump-bump, thump-bump. I feel the near-silent pulse of my heart pumping blood through my body; the assembly-line of iron-rich red blood cells swimming past the alveoli to pick up oxygen, which they will carry to every cell in my body. Oxygen is the necessary ingredient in combustion reactions, which provide the energy needed for me to think, walk, talk, type, read, move, and breathe. It’s kind of miraculous, if you ask me. But some will say we evolved and have no purpose. A World That Points Beyond Itself But it’s not just the miracle of the human body, but the miracle of the Maple tree outside my kitchen window. Without a heart, the tree’s xylem and phloem transport water, nutrients, and sugars throughout the tree. The fruit trees will produce blossoms, which birds and bees will assist in fertilizing, until we pick the ripe fruit and eat it; more energy for my body’s cells so I can think and walk and talk and type and read and move and breathe. It’s a miracle, if you ask me. And our planet, Earth, on which these fruit trees grow, is 93 million miles from the sun. If we just happened to be 5 million miles closer to the sun, Earth would not be habitable. It would be a great sauna, too hot to sustain life. No xylem and phloem in trees producing fruit. No blood carrying oxygen to my cells. No life. Nothing. Lucky thing we’re just the right distance from the sun? No. Luck isn’t involved here, just a brilliant Creator. If you ask me, He’s a miracle worker. In His Image And that brilliant Creator created me. I look in the mirror. It’s the same face I have seen every day for over 50 years. Looks pretty normal, yet I am created, “in the image of God.” I may not ‘look’ like God, but He created me with some of His attributes. I have a natural moral grounding, an innate knowledge of right and wrong. I desire relationship with others. I have intellect and the ability to reason. These are gifts from God, which are used to fulfill His purpose in my life. But despite these gifts and my knowledge of right and wrong, I do not stand on a moral high ground. Every day, I get out of bed and sin. I sin in my words. I sin in my thoughts. I sin in my actions. If I had evolved, the one thing that should have been bred out of the DNA of humans is sin, but it never leaves. Every single person who has descended from Adam has the sin disease. Every person except Jesus. Judgment, Mercy, and a Savior God looked down at His sin-filled creation, making a mess of everything. When things got really bad, He destroyed every living thing on earth by flood, preserving only those on the ark. When things continued to go downhill, He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. And when things continued to crash and burn, He showered Mercy down upon us. He didn’t give us the punishment we deserved: death. Instead, He came down to Earth in the bodily form of Jesus Christ. The God-man. God Incarnate. God in the flesh. Jesus lived a perfect life and died a sinner’s death. It is only a perfect sacrifice that can redeem a world of sinners, and that’s what He did. God allowed Himself to be nailed to a cross, begging forgiveness for those crucifying Him. It is my sin and your sin that held Him there. If there had been another way, Jesus would have taken it, but there was no other way. He died so that we may live. Eternally. With Him. In Heaven. Forever. All we need to do is believe. The Question of Faith But, but, but… I hear you. It’s a leap of faith to believe that God came to Earth as a man and died on a cross to save me. It’s also a leap of faith to say there is no God; that we were all created by random chance; that we just happen to have blood in our veins that has iron in it that picks up oxygen from our lungs and carries it to where it’s needed in our bodies; that we evolved from trilobites. The geological column verifies it, right? I Know Where I Am Going I lay flat on my back on the hospital bed, being wheeled into the surgery room, staring at the lights embedded in the ceiling. As I had my last conscious thoughts before the anesthesia kicked in, I knew it took more faith to be an atheist than a Christian. If I didn’t survive the surgery, I knew where I was going. That’s why I believe. © 2026 Tessa Lind from Pursuing Perfection on Substack

I’m going to discuss something I haven’t touched on before, and it’s been traveling around in my head for some time now. I know I can’t be the only one who’s wondered about this. It has always felt that what our children went through and felt during those turbulent years was never fully acknowledged. Think about it: one day, they’re planning sleepovers, prom, and graduation. The next day, they are told they can’t leave their house for “2 weeks,” and if they do, they better mask up. I’m stating for the record: I am not talking about conspiracies or my views on the vaccine, nor will I respond to those. This is about what our children went through and the ripple effect I watched happen. I had the opportunity to have a conversation with a young lady about her personal experiences during the pandemic since she was in school at the time. I asked her to tell me what she felt and what she remembered the most. I learned she was at the tail end of middle school, going into high school, when masking and the various mandates went into effect. At first, it was just the basics she was telling me, like a person would when asked how their day went. As she kept talking, though, I watched her expressions and her body language start to shift. At one point, she crossed her arms together and ended up hugging herself, and stayed like that for the rest of our conversation. Then came the use of sarcastic humor. The kind people often use when talking about something difficult or painful, but don’t want to get emotional about. I’m not attempting any in-depth psychological interpretation for every micro-expression or movement I saw. I’m not an expert in any field, but I could see her; I know what I saw. Something was still left behind, not the same as the haunting of a traumatic incident, but not nothing either. She opened up about her struggles of having to teach herself sometimes with the assistance of Google and the constant frustrations of not being able to raise her hand and having a teacher come over to help. Her grades slipped from a 3.7 to 1.3; this was quite upsetting to her, and I don’t blame her. Could you imagine watching your hard-earned grades drop like that? That, all on its own, is a huge hit mentally and emotionally for a student, to be doing so well and watch it slip away. She talked about how students took advantage of online classes, learning how to trick the settings to look like they were active but instead were watching TV or playing video games. As more weeks of mandates kept getting added many students became overly disruptive and generally a pain in the ass. With the accountability structure gone, why would we expect anything less from kids? Some of the more distressing things she told me were how friends were separated from each other based on their last name when they started school classes again. Everyone had to line up 6 feet apart; no sitting next to each other, eating lunches together, venting, playing, whispering, hugging, or holding hands. They were always lined up in sync with the mandates while their smiles were hidden away for years. Only the eyes were seen, and our eyes show our sorrows. The worst for her was when she would get called by the office, told to grab her things, and to leave. Because an anonymous student sitting 6 feet away from her tested positive. She told me how this happened one time, moments before an important test, she begged them to let her take it, but they said no and sent her home for two weeks. She never did end up taking that test. This is just a very brief sample of one young student’s experience, and it left an impression on her that I don’t believe will ever go away. We now have a nation (primarily young, but all ages have been affected) of people who don’t know who they are and believe every emotion they feel has to be validated by everyone around them. While there was already a lot that contributed to this pressure point finally boiling over, COVID-19 was the final trigger that needed to be pulled. The world was thrown into pandemonium, not just for 2 weeks but for years. The constant fear of getting sick, death tolls around every corner, planning out even the smallest errand, socialization taken away, watching parents' jobs be threatened, watching them lose jobs, and vaccine mandates that some did not want to be a part of. Our children witnessed this for years, their minds absorbed everything. End of part 1. I will be following up on part 2 by talking about trauma responses, groupthink, social contagion, PTSD, and more. © Jane Isley Sources: (1) Mind.org (2) U.S. Dept of Veterans Affairs; PTSD: National Center for PTSD; Common Reactions After Trauma (3) Mayo Clinic; Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (4) PubMed Central (5) Henry Ford Health: Why Is TikTok Giving Teen Girls Tics? (6) Verywell Mind; How Groupthink Impacts Our Behavior

To read part one, click here. In that article, I began exploring the subtle but lasting impact the pandemic had on our children. Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to speak with a young woman who was in school when COVID first hit our nation. Listening to her experiences, it quickly became clear that the disruptions, isolation, and constant fear left lasting marks that she still carries today. This second part delves deeper into the psychological and social effects of those years. I propose that our country and, specifically, our children, have gone through a trauma. I suspect that nearly everyone went through something that they never thought would happen to them. Then layer that with the constant warning signs everywhere, being treated like a walking contagion, apps that connected you with infection rates in your area giving out alerts, businesses going out, non-stop social media posts, death tolls up on every news station, and being blocked from even participating in holidays, birthdays, weddings, or funerals. I don’t think I need to go on. Our entire country came to a screeching halt. Now, let’s add another layer to that trauma that our children went through. Mandatory Masking. While I get the purpose of needing to mask up when sick, we all know this did not pan out as well as we were all told it would. I’m not here to go into that side of things; just pointing out that it didn’t work as well as planned. We went well past the 2 weeks we were all told. We were required to wear masks far longer than any of us expected. So we have people experiencing a high level of constant fear and stressors now, also being required to cover their faces. So here are my connect-the-dot moments. Traumatic Event- “Trauma is when we experience very stressful, frightening or distressing events that are difficult to cope with or out of our control. It could be one incident, or an ongoing event that happens over a long period of time.” (1) “Covid-19 has destroyed and remoulded me into someone I am still trying to figure out. It has completely changed my outlook on life and it has broken a part of me which I am still working hard to heal, with the help of my colleagues and loved ones.” (1) Here are some of the common reactions after a trauma. (2) Losing hope for the future Feeling distant (detached) or losing a sense of concern about others Being irritable or having angry outbursts Getting easily upset or agitated Blaming yourself or having negative views of oneself or the world Being unable to trust others, getting into fights, or trying to control everything Being withdrawn, feeling rejected, or abandoned PTSD- “Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that’s caused by an extremely stressful or terrifying event — either being part of it or witnessing it.” (3) “Post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms may start within the first three months after a traumatic event. But sometimes symptoms may not appear until years after the event. These symptoms last more than one month and cause major problems in social or work situations and how well you get along with others.” (3) Here are a few common symptoms. (3) Severe emotional distress or physical reactions to something that reminds you of a traumatic event. Negative thoughts about yourself, other people or the world. Ongoing negative emotions of fear, blame, guilt, anger or shame. Feeling detached from family and friends. Irritability, angry outbursts or aggressive behavior. Social Contagion- “the spread of behaviors, attitudes, and affect through crowds and other types of social aggregates from one member to another. Adolescents are prone to social contagion because they may be especially susceptible to peer influence and social media.” (4) “Given their developmental stage, adolescents are a population prone to social contagion not only because they may be especially susceptible to the influence of social media [9], but also to that of their peers” (4) Group Think- “Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon in which people strive for consensus within a group. In many cases, people will set aside their own personal beliefs or adopt the opinions of the rest of the group. The term was first used in 1972 by social psychologist Irving L. Janis.” (6) Here are some of the signs to watch for with this phenomenon.(6) Illusions of unanimity lead members to believe that everyone is in agreement and feels the same way. It is often much more difficult to speak out when it seems that everyone else in the group is on the same page. Unquestioned beliefs lead members to ignore possible moral problems and not consider the consequences of individual and group actions. Rationalizing prevents members from reconsidering their beliefs and causes them to ignore warning signs. Stereotyping leads members of the in-group to ignore or even demonize out-group members who may oppose or challenge the group’s ideas. This causes members of the group to ignore important ideas or information. Direct pressure to conform is often placed on members who pose questions, and those who question the group are often seen as disloyal or traitorous. Here’s something personal I’d like to bring up. I do not know how many remember this, but a while ago, there was a concern, for lack of a better word, when teenagers started showing up at the doctor’s office because they developed Tics/Tourette's syndrome symptoms. It made the news for a while, and doctors learned that these teenagers were watching influencers who truly had a Tic disorder or Tourette's syndrome and then were starting to mimic them; their brains did this to them. I remember this and watched it play out because my daughter truly has Tourette's syndrome. I will be honest, it was saddening and also frustrating. No one knows the hell Tourette syndrome can actually be, and here are kids being so influenced by stuff online that their brains literally started copying them. “Then, because they’re watching these videos so often, their brains start to mimic the tics. “What these teen girls have are called functional tics — it’s a functional neurological disorder,” says Dr. Danoun. “We’ve seen this before in children who have parents or siblings with seizures.” (5) “Functional neurological disorders are often associated with anxiety, depression and/or trauma, so people with these mental health conditions may be more susceptible to developing functional tics.” (5) Why am I dropping all these definitions? I know it’s not as cut-and-dry as these definitions, but we have a problem. When I see reports of teens developing tics just from watching too much TikTok, we have a problem on a much larger scale in our country if that can happen to our children. I can see that there’s a large population suffering from trauma, and they are all reacting quite loudly and rudely; they are reacting as if they experienced a trauma. As a survivor of trauma, I can see and recognize these actions, and I can understand them internally in a way those who haven’t experienced trauma cannot. Take all these conditions (there’s more btw, but I stopped) and throw in a couple of years of masks, fear, isolation, and trauma to young children, teenagers, and adults. You can not convince me that they came out unscathed. I am 42 years old, and I have never seen a reaction so substantial, forceful, and potent in this country until the mandates went down and people went back to “normal” lives. I know I can not be the only one who saw this. © Jane Isley Please consider supporting my work; all donations go to running this publication. Sources: (1) Mind.org (2) U.S. Dept of Veterans Affairs; PTSD: National Center for PTSD; Common Reactions After Trauma (3) Mayo Clinic; Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (4) PubMed Central (5) Henry Ford Health: Why Is TikTok Giving Teen Girls Tics? (6) Verywell Mind; How Groupthink Impacts Our Behavior

The Olympics definitely went off with a bang this year, but what I’m seeing from some Christians is even more deeply concerning. Screenshot from YouTube video “Symbolism Explained: The Olympics Opening Ceremony is Worse than You Thought” by Jonathan Pageau. Used under fair use for commentary. Many are defending this, claiming it wasn’t really a Last Supper parody, that it’s just “artistic expression,” it was only about the god Dionysus, not Jesus, and that people need to calm down and be more inclusive. Basically, we’re being gaslit into thinking outrage over clear moral violations is overreacting. The harsh truth is, it doesn’t matter whether the parody intentionally referenced the Last Supper or not. The point is: the excuses being given to justify this as “okay” are meaningless in the face of what was actually presented. The point is what it openly promoted: the LGBTQ+ community, drag queens, the feast of Dionysus (the god of wine, fertility, and revelry), sexuality, gluttony, drunkenness, and immodesty, all in front of children. It normalized a culture of blatant sexuality, sensuality, and revelry under the guise of “art,” making a spectacle out of behaviors Scripture clearly condemns. If you call yourself a Christian and support this, it’s time to reevaluate your faith, and I mean that quite literally and seriously. It’s not about being judgmental; it’s about aligning with the truth of God’s Word. The Bible makes it clear: there is no middle ground when it comes to defending behavior that glorifies sin. The only “middle ground” some claim is a false one, designed to allow people to live however they please while excusing what Scripture forbids. Stop defending this monstrosity of an “artistic” expression. There is no place for it in Christianity. It is a stark reminder that the world will continue to push boundaries, but our faith calls us to stand firm, sober, and vigilant. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” 1 Peter 5:8 © Jane Isley Consider supporting my work; all donations go to running this publication. Image Source: The Symbolic World by Jonathan Pageau

Akunna James-Ibe is a writer who works as a medical doctor on the side—but most of the time she is a Christian who earnestly seeks to attain her full stature in Christ through Christ everyday. Amongst other things, Akunna loves to read, sleep, sing, sleep, and learn new things. She also has broad interests ranging from the arts to the sciences. You can find her on Medium, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X, or just good old Google as Akunna James-Ibe.