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Author: jamie

By Posted on Posted in fear, God's love, God's word, grace, shame No Comments

A visit to the eye doctor this week reminded me of the importance of looking through the correct lens. Even the smallest adjustment can affect how we see the world! Far-off road signs and the fine print might not be accessible without finely tuned lenses.

Perhaps something we rarely consider is the lens through which we see God and His Word. Whether we know it or not, our life experiences and core beliefs about ourselves have a considerable effect on how we interpret the Bible. If we look at the scriptures through a lens of fear, shame, self-condemnation, rejection, perfectionism, abandonment, or feeling responsible for everyone, that lens will affect how we read, understand, and apply the spiritual principles there.

For so many years I viewed this passage in Galatians through the lens of shame and perfectionism:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things, there is no law.  Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

Galatians 5:22-25

My version would have read something like, “Be loving, joyful, peaceful, etc. or you are not a real Christian. Crucify your flesh and stop sinning or you won’t be good enough for God or anyone else. Show the Holy Spirit that you can be like Him.”

Can you see how the lens of perfectionism and shame didn’t allow the full truth to come through? Once God started removing layers of these lenses, I saw that the Galatians passage highlights the Spirit of God as the SOURCE of the qualities I was trying to perform on my own. The power to crucify the flesh belongs to the Spirit, who leads the transformation of our hearts and minds as we keep in step. We are not in charge of our own spiritual transformation. It is our job to yield and participate in what God is doing in us.

Sadly, at one point in my life, it just became too painful to read the Bible. It felt like one shame storm after another as I found countless ways I had fallen short and endless expectations to be something I wasn’t. I actually had to take a break from reading for a while because it wasn’t good for my mental health.

Once I began to ease back in, I kept to the Psalms because they are so full of the emotions I was feeling at the time. Then I moved to the Gospels to see Jesus in action. God challenged me to look through the lens of love and grace. What does this passage say about God’s love? What affection is He showing me right now? How is His grace evident here? It was like reading the Bible for the first time!

I learned another new approach to the Bible when the Lord whispered to my heart that He wanted to read a passage to me. He changed some of the pronouns and the point of view so that the message was coming straight from Him to me. This has been such a powerful practice for me that I started a new podcast doing this very thing! If you’re intrigued by this idea, you can try the first 8-minute episode of “Pressing In with Jamie De Silvia” on all the major podcast platforms.

Some might think that I am watering down the Word of God. However, I am trying to remove the lenses that are keeping us from really seeing and understanding the Word. There is a mountain of truth to be discovered in the Bible. Some of it is hard truth, spoken explicitly! I’m not trying to remove the truth, but merely the added dysfunction that affects what we hear and read.

Recently, I was reading in the book of John in the Passion Translation and this jumped out at me:

Moses gave an intimidating set of standards, but Jesus is unveiling truth wrapped in mercy. He has some hard things to say, but He does it in a loving way. Keep that mercy in mind as you read His words.

Friend, do you have any filters that might be affecting the way you see God or understand His Word? If you’re not sure, ask the Holy Spirit to show you. A word or two might pop into your mind.

Lean into these words and talk to God about them.

It is not your job to remove the filters. God will remove them one layer at a time with His healing hands. Lean into His loving transformation. You can trust Him.

By Posted on Posted in brokenness, healing 4 Comments

Not too long ago, I found myself observing someone’s behavior and thinking with all the judgment in the world, “What is wrong with her?!” The Holy Spirit broke into my thoughts and whispered a better question… “What happened to her?”

It is such an excellent question, one we ought to consider as we are relating to people. Humans are often driven by fear, anger, shame, pain, and the like. Even as believers, we can easily be driven by deep-rooted trauma and hurt, rather than the God we have committed our lives to. Salvation is an amazing gift, but it is not an immediate cure for our brokenness.

Perhaps what most powerfully impacts our relationships, choices, and trajectory in life is how we handle our brokenness. We’ve all experienced our share of hurts, disappointments, and trauma. Some of it comes from people, but living in this world brings all manner of injury to our souls as well. Wounds leave marks on us in several ways:

  • Wounds leave us longing for justice, to understand why these things happened, who is to blame, and what can be done to make it right.
  • It’s common for a sense of powerlessness to accompany trauma. We may respond to that powerlessness by trying to control our lives in unhealthy ways.
  • Trauma leaves us looking for ways to numb the pain. Our brokenness leaves us vulnerable to the promises of easy fixes and pain relief. This world offers no shortage of temporary escape from what ails us.
  • The core beliefs that we have about ourselves, our world, and God are very much shaped by our trauma. We may have core beliefs that are absolutely untrue, but they feel true because those beliefs helped us make sense of our trauma.

The road to healing begins with acknowledging and embracing our brokenness. The more we try to hide it and cover it up, the worse it gets. We often make the mistake of thinking that our brokenness disqualifies us from God’s presence, but the Bible actually presents it as a gateway to God’s presence.

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Psalm 34:18

Bring your brokenness to God. Don’t try to cover it up or dress it up as something else. He wants to comfort, heal and transform your heart.

For years, I thought my sin was a bigger problem than my woundedness. What I didn’t understand was that many of my recurring sins actually came from my wounded places. Think of how many of our struggles with sin can be traced to:

  • attempts to numb our pain
  • the desire to protect ourselves from further pain via control and manipulation
  • fears that took root in the midst of our trauma
  • knee jerk responses to triggers from our past

Jesus didn’t die on the cross just so that we could be forgiven for our sins. He wants more than that. God wants us to be free from the brokenness that fuels our unhealthy behavior. He wants to work from the inside out, healing what drives us into sin.

We tend to think that sin is what wrecks our lives, and while it’s true to a degree, it’s really unhealed trauma causing the issues. The quality of our lives will improve to the degree that we allow God to heal us.

How are you, my friend? Take a deep breath.

Open up to God about what is rising to the surface in your heart and mind right now. He is waiting to surround you with healing in His wings.

Ask the Lord to show you the next step in your healing. Don’t get overwhelmed with all of it. Consider the ONE thing He wants you to do today.

You may need to pray for the courage and willingness to take that step. That’s okay.

You are on your way, my friend. I’m praying for your healing.

By Posted on Posted in Christmas, God's presence, Jesus No Comments
jesus mary joseph photo

It has taken some serious effort for me to focus on the true meaning of Christmas. I’ve allowed myself to get overwhelmed multiple times with all of the things to do and all of the places to go. Yesterday at church, I decided to press in (with all the strength I could muster) to Jesus for the hour. I yearned to put my complete focus on Him and to push out all of that other stuff.

As we sang beautiful songs about His birth and His light, I closed my eyes and imagined myself walking into a rough stable. I was both years and miles from anywhere familiar, but when I saw Him– when I knelt beside Him– I felt immediately at home.

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