This Side of Life…

As Conner went public with his story today, I’m pretty emotional. Reading back through what he went through is hard. On this side of life, I knew from the first conversation he had with the leaders of Resurrection church in Boulder about being a member, that something was wrong and that he was being mislead. During this time, someone I worked with also directed me to an article about one of their offshoots that confirmed my suspicions. My spiritual sensitivities were on hyper-alert.

One day, Conner left his Bible study material (written by the lead pastor at the main church in Arizona) on the dining room table. I read through the entire thing. The teaching was not wrong, just incredibly twisted… It was hard to wait for God to show Conner that this group of people couldn’t be trusted! I wanted to take things in my own hands. It was hard to watch him wrestle and discover things for himself, but I knew he had to discover some things on his own and I kept praying that God would show him how wrong they were. As he tried to pull away from us, I decided that I would focus on our relationship – not on the unscriptural teaching, manipulation and control. I didn’t want to push Conner away. I needed to retain my relational credibility because I knew the day would come when I would need that relationship to confront him in a more direct way about the leaders of Resurrection. I confided in several people that were praying against the enemy on Conner’s behalf.

The day came on October 28, 2015 after 2 1/2 years of watching him process things for himself. Praise the Lord for a connection that happened only through God’s amazing power. I’m so grateful. All the gaps were filled in by a very concerned former staff member of these churches and I finally had the proof and confidence to do what I needed to do. Several faithful friends that love and adore Conner were praying for us when we went to lunch that day… If Conner wasn’t receptive to what I had to say, then we had planned to do an intervention with a team of people. It was God’s timing. I praise God he was so open on that day. If you want to read Conner’s story about his journey with spiritual abuse, click HERE. I don’t want anyone to go through what Conner went through and what we went through watching it all unfold…

I’m so thankful for where Conner is in the whole process today. I’m thankful for the amazing people that have come around him, received him, loved him and showed him an overwhelming amount of grace and truth so that he can heal and grow. I am most thankful for our Savior who loves us and shows us what His sacrifice on the cross truly meant in so many different ways. This side of life… freedom in Him is such a gift.