A New Start…

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Welcome to my blog.  Call it new or call it version 2.0.  Whatever.  In any event, let’s just say that things are going to be a little different around here.

As you can see, “Hope, Households and Hockey Pucks” is no more.  But, before you try looking for my number to call and ask me if I had become an atheist, divorced or simply lost my passion for the game of hockey, let me testify as to what’s been happening to me over the past few months:

Back in either April or May, Shawna and I started attending a Sunday School class at our church called Shame Off You.  Shawna thought it would be an interesting class to attend and I thought I would join her for support.  Of course, I had no thought in mind that the class would apply to me.  My life in general, I felt, was normal.  Her life was the one that had the messed up childhood and that she needed help–not me.  As the weeks progressed on, I felt less and less attached to the class to the point that I had lost interest.  Later on as the summer commenced, Shawna wanted to sign both of us up for some personal counseling with the leaders of the class.  I bucked at first and thought that there was no way that I needed help.  So, it came as a great surprise when the first session of our counseling was completely focused on…you guessed it…yours truly.

By the end of the first session, however, the scales began to lift from my eyes and I was completely numb to the fact that I, too, was living a life of unhealthy shame.  My denial had soon become emotions of anger and depression.  I felt like the life that I had lived over the previous 30+ years of my life was life in Doomland.

Now, if you haven’t heard of Doomland, just imagine a Six Flags-like theme park where the devil takes your ticket, the balloons are all black and the fun rides are anything but fun.  (YOU MUST BE DOOMED THIS MUCH TO RIDE THE RIDES!!!)  Seriously, living a life of unhealthy shame is not fun at all.  But, we all must understand that life here on this earth is filled with pain, loss and failure.  We can’t escape it, but how we deal with the pain, loss and failure of life will either lead us into a life of victory or a life of doom.  For me, there was no way I could positively respond to the pain, loss and failure in my life.  I had felt that I wasn’t qualified to have that victory but, rather, be sentenced to having a lifelong pass to Doomland.

That was, however, until this summer when God began to work in my life and to show me that all I had been listening to were a bunch of lies from the “shame consultant” (a.k.a. satan).  Over the recent weeks, between the classes that I felt more involved in and the counseling sessions that Shawna and I continue to attend, more and more small victories are taking place in my life.  I know that God has much more work in my life, but I also know that it takes time and baby steps to fully understand all the promises that God has for me.  My outlook on my life is no longer negative but, rather, hopeful in what will happen for me and my family in the future.

Now, as far as the reinventing of this blog is concerned, I’ll be more than happy to share that with you another time soon.

To be continued…

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