The class, Mending the Soul, has taken on a life like I’ve not seen before in teaching this class. Each and every man is contributing from their own background almost without any prodding. The Holy Spirit seems to be nudging and each one is responding. After leading this two previous times and getting little openness I knew if I were to do another class something had to change. What has changed the most for me is taking the time to reinforce the practice of complete openness from each member, allowing The Holy Spirit to nudge and respond to the nudge with obedience to share instead of to hide and then to keep talking. Lastly, as we walk away from class, we allow The Holy Spirit to speak to us during the week instead of going back into denial as soon as we leave the classroom. I love seeing The Holy Spirit working!

Yesterday’s lesson was expounding on the 6 areas of abuse. The last one was sexual abuse. We approached it in the last 15 minutes. As we did the room became quiet. It was as though there were no need to talk about it–each one knew the definition and the consequences of it. I found myself telling the group that this topic still sucks the wind out of my lungs. The damage of it goes so deeply into my/our souls. This is the topic I asked everyone to ponder with God during the week. We will start next week’s class with insights God has provided. My first insight this morning is that this abuse more than any other has been the one which falsely determined my sense of value to God and to man. When one is abused, one begins to believe he doesn’t have value. Why would someone abuse something valuable?