Category Archives: Christian Spirituality

Can You Imagine being Mary?

Posted on by under Christian Spirituality

It is written, “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4-5) 

Can you imagine being Mary? Watching as your son is tortured? Feeling pain in the depths of your being as there’s nothing you can do to help? Then seeing him die on the cross…

When Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Do you think Mary knew of Psalm 22? That this would be the fulfillment of a prophecy? 

Do you think her heart sunk with thoughts of her son’s abandonment? Or of her own? Can you imagine the mix of emotions as she trusted in her son when He said, “I’ll come back”? Would he? Is revival actually possible?

What does it look like to wait in anticipation? To be faithful during the “in between”? Can our hearts be both broken and expectant at the same time? 

…Can you imagine being Mary?

The Meaning of Christmas (and a Poem)

Posted on by under Christian Spirituality, Poetry

As Christmas is fast approaching, my prayer is that we don’t get so caught up in our own celebrations that we forget the meaning of this special holiday. We celebrate because Jesus Christ purchased salvation for both the Jews and the Gentiles. Christmas would be meaningless if He didn’t purchase salvation for sinners. He lived a perfect life and died in our place. And then He rose from the dead! This is the meaning of Christmas. This is the reason we celebrate. And it sure is cause to celebrate!

God’s children are all across the Earth, in a variety of seasons and circumstances. May our hearts be grateful and generous this Christmas season as we reflect not only on our own lives, but also on the lives of others. Below is a poem I wrote entitled, “The Many Faces of Christmas.” Enjoy and Merry Christmas to all!

Cold streets, winter nights

Warm windows, wrapped with lights

Loneliness and hands that freeze

Mistletoes and sparkling trees

Santa Clause finds some, not all

Some are at the Christmas Ball

While some are huddled close together

Under bridges, facing weather

Some are warm, by a fire

Some at stores, the constant buyer

Some in Church, singing praise

Some are gone, been so for days

As you join family and friends,

Think of all the faces that Christmas lends.

And don’t complain, whatever you do

There’s always someone who has it worse than you.

How Else Do We Bring Glory to God?

Posted on by under Christian Spirituality, Daily Inspiration, Poetry

How else do we bring glory to God, 

if not by having hope in a world sown with fear? 

…If not by remaining calm in a sea of chaos 

…If not by knowing peace in the midst of uncertainty, 

how else do we bring glory to God? 

If we don’t offer kindness in a society full of hate 

…If we don’t act with gentleness in a world that pursues power 

…If we don’t call upon His name, sing His praises, and dance in worship, 

how else do we bring glory to God?

If we don’t use whatever gift we have, with all the strength God gives, to serve others, 

how else do we bring glory to God? 

What to Do in Times of Crisis

Posted on by under Christian Spirituality

Sometimes the only right decision is to stop making decisions.

When we’re in a state of crisis, we often try to fix things with certainty. We want answers.

But this state of being is akin to quicksand: The harder we try to climb our way out, the lower we sink. The only way to survive is to make no sudden movements, to get comfortable with the discomfort, and to find peace without answers.

We can never glimpse the end of a path, but if we squint hard enough, we can see the next step. We squint by being still and quiet for a few minutes every day, through prayer.

We ignore the big decisions, knowing that they’ll make themselves, and we focus on the small ones. The ones right in front of us.

Crisis comes from the word meaning “to sift”. During times of crisis, if we let it all fall away, we’re left with what matters. What matters most cannot be taken away.

And maybe what we don’t know, we’re not supposed to know yet. More will be revealed. So we just do the next right thing, one thing at a time.

Why Does Loss Happen?

Posted on by under Christian Spirituality

Why does God let us hurt? Why does He bring us people or animals to love when He knows we’re going to lose them?

Maybe because we don’t love people or animals simply because we’re going to have them forever. We love them because loving them changes us. It makes us better, kinder, healthier, more real. Even if people leave us, or animals die, loving them still makes us better.

So we keep loving. Even though we’re going to lose. Because loving teaches us and changes us, and that’s what we’re here to do. We’re here to become better lovers and to learn how to be loved. So when we get to heaven, we’ll be prepared for the place where everyone loves each other perfectly.

Control vs. Letting Go

Posted on by under Christian Spirituality, Daily Inspiration

There are really two ways of going about our day to day lives.

Either we’re striving and trying to maintain control (a fruitless effort, by the way, which leaves us exhausted). Or we’re relinquishing control to God, and trusting that He will bring us what we need each day.

There’s a distinct and noticeable difference between how good our days are, depending on which mode of being in which we’re acting.

When we’re striving, the people around us can tell. It says to them that there is something more important which we need to accomplish. Something more important than being present with them and letting God work. When we’re trusting God with all of our needs and desires, we’re at rest. And people around us can see this, too. They wonder how we’ve found such peace within the whirlwind of our daily lives. We’re a living testament of what it’s like to know God.

What it really boils down to, is that all of our striving and trying to gain control, makes the statement: “I don’t trust God.” And that hurts Him.

He’s already proven to us His goodness, grace, and love. Why would we not trust Him to take care of us on a daily basis?

Life becomes so much easier when we learn to let go, and let God. With every single aspect of our lives.

A Woman being pursued is most beautiful

Posted on by under Christian Spirituality, Daily Inspiration

Have you ever noticed how a woman is most beautiful when she’s being pursued? When she’s falling in love…

This is because that’s when a woman’s most important questions are being answered. At the core of every woman are the questions of, “Am I beautiful? Am I captivating? Am I worth fighting for?”

When a woman is being pursued, she lights up from inside because her questions are being answered. Yes, you are beautiful, captivating, and worth fighting for!

Think of Toula in My Big Fat Greek Wedding. When Ian finds her and begins to romance her, she comes alive. There’s a new shimmer in her eyes and her beauty begins to radiates from within.

Contrastingly, when a woman feels unloved and not worth pursuing, her inner light dims. She goes about her days hiding her innate beauty, believing that she’s not beautiful or worth it.

What if we could have this glow that comes from our most important questions being answered, regardless of our circumstances?

We can.

In fact, as women, we’re supposed to.

We were designed to be beautiful, radiating, captivating, and worth pursuing.

And guess what? The God of angel’s armies is totally and completely in love with us. He’s pursuing us everyday. He thinks we’re captivating, beautiful and worth fighting for.

The Creator of the universe has already answered all of our most important questions!

If we can truly understand and internalize this truth, then we become free to share our beauty with the world and our inner radiance will never go dull again.

Women of the world, we’re beautiful.

 

A Woman’s Prayer

Posted on by under Christian Spirituality

I’ve just finished reading Captivating by Stasi Eldredge. Highly recommend it. One of the parts that stuck out most to me is a prayer that’s quoted from one of her peers. I’ve written my own version of it below.

(“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” Eph. 6:10-13)

I put on with gratitude the armor which you’ve provided me as woman. My need to be pursued and fought for in all of my vulnerability. Thank you for pursing me and fighting for me every day. I wrap in truth my desire to be irreplaceable in a grand scheme of Yours. Help me to be present each day so that I might see what you’re doing in my life and that I may live in the big-ness of your story. Help me to offer life through my beauty and gifts, which you’ve given to me. Continue to reveal and confirm in me what you desire for me to do with these gifts. May today be an offering of love poured out before you on the altar of my life. 

Amen. 

 

Desire

Posted on by under Christian Spirituality, Daily Inspiration

Desire is a funny thing. It can range from a slight want to an all consuming obsession.

But it’s always in our head. And our minds can play tricks on us.

Think about a time when you’ve wanted something so bad and finally got it. It wasn’t exactly what you thought it’d be was it?

For example, I really wanted another dog. I mean really wanted one. The desire almost took on a life of its own- keeping me awake at night, scrolling through photos of shelter dogs in need. Eventually, I got another dog. But I forgot about the totality of what this means. Housebreaking, chewing, barking. Sure, it’s great having another dog, but there are drawbacks to it, as well.

There always are. For everything you gain, you lose something else. And we tend to forget this when consumed by desire. We forget to look at the totality of the picture and how our want fits into that.

I think it’s important to remind ourselves of this whenever we begin to feeling the aching of desire. We can never see the whole picture but we can do our best to look at our wants through a larger lens.

Most importantly, we should be grateful for what we already have and remember that what we have right now, is all we really need.

Imagination and Prayer

Posted on by under Christian Spirituality, Daily Inspiration

As we age, imagination either overtakes logic/memory or logic and memories overtake our imagination. Imagination is the road less traveled but it is the pathway to prayer. Prayer and imagination are directly proportionate. The more you pray, the bigger your imagination becomes.

A good test of your spiritual maturity is whether your imagination is getting larger or smaller. The older you get, the more faith you should have because you have experienced more of God’s faithfulness. It’s God’s faithfulness that increases our faith and ultimately, our imagination and dreams.

God wants us to keep on dreaming until the day we die. If we keep praying, we’ll keep dreaming. And vice versa. In fact, praying is a form of dreaming and using our imagination is also a form of prayer.