My husband and I minister at the community center, where he is both a pastor of our campus church and the director. Early on, my husband and I would work the opening shift of the community center on Sundays. One particular Sunday, a community family booked a room to celebrate a birthday. After they had finished up, an angry and dissatisfied family member verbally attacked my husband unjustly and publicly while leaving a huge mess in her wake. I was shell-shocked and shaken by her meanness and sin against my husband. The next day, I found myself having a PTSD-type moment when I came across a similar-looking situation and family. I froze with fear believing there was going to be another escalation and hurtful interaction. This reaction to a one-time event seemed like a red flag to me. Why would such an event cause me to have such an adverse physical reaction? As I took a closer look at what was going on, this was not a one-time event but a series of ongoing spiritual battles of seeing the darkness of the world’s sin. My overreaction the following day was a symptom of weariness from multiple ministry and counseling occasions. It was getting harder to sift through the evil and suffering in the world. In my counseling room every week, I had women who were vulnerable and broken from abuse, some unrepentant and selfish, some with grief and suffering. There seemed to be no end. My experiences with facing the numerous ways people sin against one another affected my counseling and ministry. It caused me to doubt my abilities to offer help. I often dreaded meeting with my


To continue...read the full-length post originally published on this site.