new site

Our new location is www.kavannahouse.com

we've moved.....

Just want to let you know the blog continues but will now be found on our website....

We would love to have you join us there. You can sign up to receive an email to let you know every time there is a new post. You can also find us on Facebook ( and we would love it if you would 'like' us) and also on Twitter.

You have no idea how much your support means to us and we hope you will continue to allow us to be a part of your spiritual journey.

Grace and peace -
Deb

transformation

The other day I was talking with a friend of mine and she was telling me how she was seeing God work. He has a very specific way of speaking into her life. She is beginning to notice when He wants to say something to her and she creates space in her schedule to listen, to journal, to process. The things she has come to know about herself and about God are beautiful.


I am in a place of feeling incredible gratitude for being granted the privilege to listen and be a witness to these kinds of stories…to have a front row seat to holy transformation…to sit in the midst of sacredness.


Thank you to God….and to my friend for allowing me to be a part of it all…


Grace and peace,

Deb

trust

Have you ever had the experience of praying for something and seeing, in your head, how it would work out? I do that all the time. But…you know what? It NEVER works out that way.

Or, how about this….you’re not sure what’s ahead, what’s around the next corner. You may be sensing that God is calling you into a new adventure but you cannot possibly see how it will come to pass. Or, you may be facing a very difficult situation that is full of uncertainty. If only you could see what’s ahead, then you could trust Him with whatever it is.

I used to fear these circumstances (sometimes I still do). I wanted to have more control, to be able to plan things out, to know what was coming next so I could better prepare. What I really wanted was for God to answer my prayers my way. This kind of living caused me a great deal of anxiety. But then, slowly, God began to change my perspective. I began to relax and truly trust that He knew what was best. I didn’t need to know everything.

I have been on this journey long enough to know that God always works it out. Not always in the way I want Him to and never the way I think He will, but, none the less, He works it out.

Now, instead of fearing what’s around the next corner, I am looking for the surprise. I know God loves me and that He will take care of me, even if it is in unexpected ways. So, instead of needing all the answers, I am able to live with the questions and anticipate the surprise, looking at it like a gift. It may not come when I expect it, be wrapped the way I think it should be or even be the gift I want…but it will always be the gift I need.

May your day be filled with “God surprises”. May you not be fearful and anxious about what lies ahead but learn to be open and excited about the surprises God has in store for you. Enjoy the gift; the gift of trusting Him with everything.

Blessings,
Deb

incarnation

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“When I hear people talk about what is wrong with organized religion, or why their mainline churches are failing, I hear about bad music, inept clergy, mean congregations, and preoccupations with institutional maintenance. I almost never hear about the intellectualization of the faith, which strikes me as a far greater danger than anything else on the list. In an age of information overload, when a vast variety of media delivers news faster than most of us can digest – when many of us have at least two e-mail addresses, two telephone numbers, and one fax number – the last thing any of us needs is more information about God. We need the practice of incarnation, by which God saves the lives of those whose intellectual assent has turned as dry as dust, who have run frighteningly low on the bread of life, who are dying to know more of God in their bodies. Not more about God. More God.

Barbara Brown Taylor
An Altar in the World

In chapter three, The Practice of Wearing Skin, Taylor explores how we live out our faith in our bodies. She erases the illusion of separateness between the spiritual life and the physical body. Approaching our spirituality from a more holistic perspective exposes the fallacy of increased knowledge of God resulting in transformation. Knowledge isn’t bad – it is just insufficient.

It is no accident that Jesus came as a man – a man with flesh, bones, muscles, blood, nerves and emotions. He came, wearing skin, just as we wear skin. It as much as part of His divinity as was His spirit…and so for us.

Today – do not seek more information about God – seek more of God. Notice how you might live out your faith, using your body as a gift offering back to God and to others. Thank Him today for the work your body allows you to do. And may you begin to see the wearing of skin as a beautiful spiritual practice.

Grace and peace,
Deb

only 3 more days on this site -

difficulty

“Life is difficult.

This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult--once we truly understand and accept it--then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.”

M. Scott Peck

I know so many friends who are going through difficult times. Often, as Christ followers, we have been taught that life will be good, absent of most difficulties, if we are living in God’s will. Where did we get such an idea?
Life is life. That means it will sometimes be better than we could ever have imagined and sometimes it will be more painful than we think we can survive. We live in a fallen world.

But, I believe that Peck is on to something. The more we struggle against the difficulty, the more it consumes us. When we look for God’s grace in the midst of the struggle, we focus much less on the struggle itself and more on the God we cling to within it. That is transcendence…moving into and through the difficulty where God meets us.

Grace and peace,
Deb

PS; Four more days of reading the blog on this site. You can find it at www.kavannahouse.com

the power of love

Often I strain and climb
and struggle to lay hold
of everything I’m certain
You have planned for me.
And nothing happens:
there comes no answer.
Only You reach down to me
just where I am.
When you give me no answer
to my questions,
still I have only to raise my arms
to You, my Father
and then You lift me up.
Then because You are my Father
You speak these words of truth
to my heart:

“You are not an accident.
Even at the moment of your conception,
out of many possibilities,
only certain cells combined,
survived, grew to be you.
You are unique.
You are created for a purpose.
God loves you.”

Celtic Daily Prayer, Aidan Readings

I recently met with a beautiful woman. I have known her for a long time and have had the privilege of watching her grow and bloom. There is a sad side to her story. Her family doesn’t recognize her unique beauty. They miss it completely. But, she is beginning to let God’s love in and also beginning to believe that others can truly love her. That love is transforming her – and I get a front row seat. What a lovely gift.

To my friend – continue to rest in God, soak in His love and celebrate your uniqueness.
Grace and peace –
Deb

Five more days for this blog.......then it can be found at www.kavannahouse.com

listen

“Many of us prefer listening to a pastor or a speaker rather than training ourselves to sit in quiet and listen to God.”


Jan Johnson

I wonder why this is? I think, for me, it is because listening to someone else speak is, for the most part, a passive activity. There is the ‘active’ piece of paying attention but because their voice is verbal and audible, we can take it in.

When I listen to God, it becomes more active even though I am silent and listening. It takes so much more of my resolve to listen to that ‘still small voice’. I not only need to be in silence and solitude, I need to bring something to this time. I bring the work of surrender. I need to abandon myself to the work of God and sit quietly and let Him ‘speak to me’. It is not audible but it comes in pieces through the days and weeks to come. It is a mosaic…a beautiful puzzle that I can begin to see parts of through circumstances, relationships, readings, movies, sermons and other surprises that come in all different ways.

Do not neglect listening to those who are in a position to speak truth into your life…but I invite you to not substitute it for listening to the One who created truth.

Grace and peace,
Deb
PS: This is the beginning of the end - for this blog. The last post will be this coming Saturday. For over a month I have been running identical posts on both blogger and on my website and beginning Monday, April, find me at Kavanna House at www.kavannahouse.com

eternity

Eternity is not something that begins after you're dead. It is going on all the time. We are in it now.”

Charlotte Perkins Gilman

I have been thinking about this for awhile. I am not sure why it never occurred to me before (maybe all of you have already had this revelation and I am just wwwway slow!). I always thought of eternity as something ‘out there’ or beyond now. But it really is ‘now’. I am in the midst of eternity. I am in a certain place in time within eternity.

I am also aware of how much I am caught up in time. Wikipedia, the ‘expert ‘source on everything, says that time is: "a nonspatial continuum in which events occur in apparently irreversible succession from the past through the present to the future." The part of that sentence that stands out to me is, ‘from the past through the present to the future’. That is time….that is eternity.

I am wondering how I might live if I were consciously aware that I am already living in eternity? How might it change my view of dying? Or of losing those I love?
Just thought I would share my musings with you.

Grace and peace,
Deb

shhhhhhhh

“Some of the most reverent people I know decline to call themselves religious. For them, religion connotes belief. It means being able to say what you mean about God and why. It also means being able to hold your own in a debate with someone who believes otherwise. They, meanwhile, are not sure what they believe. They do not want to debate anyone. The longer they stand before the holy of holies, the less adequate their formulations of faith seems to them. Angels reach down and shut their mouths.”

Barbara Brown Taylor
An Altar in the World

This quote is out of the first chapter, The Practice of Paying Attention. This is what my life feels like now. I have less and less desire to debate theological issues. I am less able to articulate what I know about God and why. There are some things I believe to my core – the truth about who Jesus is and that I need Him. The truth that God loves me more than I can ever comprehend. The truth that I am both an exquisite creature made in the image of God and a reckless sinner who lives under the curse of the Fall. The truth that tells me to love God and love others. The rest is mystery to me. Mystery I cannot figure out. Mystery that I do not feel the need to figure out.

It feels as if the closer I get to God the less I know. I do not feel I can adequately know what He is, who He is, how He moves. So, I try to just lean into what I do know. The rest I am content to leave up to those who enjoy the debate.

Some ask me why I do not talk as much as I used to…could it be that angels have come down and shut my mouth? I am not sure if that is the explanation but it sounds good to me.

Grace and peace,
Deb

sing

My life flows on in endless song above earth’s lamentations;
I hear the real though far-off hymn that hails a new creation.
No storm can shake my inmost calm while to that rock I am clinging;
while love is Lord o’er heaven and earth how can I keep from singing?

Tradition Quaker Hymn

prayer

A Prayer in ‘the Middle Years’ of Opportunity

Lord, help me now to unclutter my life,
to organize myself in the direction of simplicity.
Lord, teach me to listen to my heart;
teach me to welcome change, instead of fearing it.
Lord, I give you these stirrings inside of me,
I give you my discontent,
I give you my restlessness,
I give you my doubt,
I give you my despair,
I give you all the longing I hold inside.
Help me to listen to these signs of change, of growth;
to listen seriously and follow where they lead
through the breathtaking empty space of an open door.

Celtic Daily Prayer;
Prayers and Readings from the Northumbria Community

desire

Do you really want to live your lives,
every moment of your lives, in His Presence?
Do you long for Him? Crave Him?
Do you love His Presence?
Does every drop of blood in your body love Him?
Does every breathe you draw breathe a prayer, a praise to Him?
Do you sing and dance within yourselves, as you glory in His love?
Have you set yourselves to be His, and only His,
walking every moment in Holy obedience?

Thomas Kelly
A Testament of Devotion



How can one possibly live like this? For me, it isn’t a lack of desire. I so desire an intimate relationship with God. I know that I don’t ‘breathe a prayer’ every time I draw a breath (at least not consciously). I have ‘gloried’ in His love, at times, but I definitely don’t walk in obedience every waking moment. So, reading something like this can be discouraging.

But, I don’t think God wants us to be discouraged by these words. In fact, I think He wants us to be very encouraged as this is what we can aspire to. I used to give up after a day or two of trying to live up to words like these. In the last several years, I began to sense that God was only asking me to have the desire to live this way. He knows that, because I live in this fallen world, I will continue to struggle with brokenness and sin.

What I’ve noticed is that the more I desire intimacy with Him and set my intention on that, the more I realize I am living closer to the way He wants me to. Less effort, more change. It’s the Holy Sprit working in and through me…it is not because of my own efforts. Not that I don’t need to be open and cooperate with this work but it is so much less work when I let God take the lead.

I invite you to think about asking God to stir that deep desire in you for more intimacy with Him. It will be the beginning of a new season in your spiritual life. If you already have the desire for more, enjoy it and move with it as it takes you into a deeper place of being with Him.
Peace,Deb

salvation

“Although the word “salvation” has come to mean “eternal life” in most religious circles. It is helpful to return to the word’s Latin root salvus, meaning “whole”, “sound”, “healed”, “safe”, “well”, or “unharmed”, as a way to understand the spirituality of salvation. Salvation and spirituality and self are related – spirituality connects to us to the whole, allows us a glimpse into our place within God and God’s world, giving a new sense of health and well-being in our situations and identities. The idea of salvation need not be rejected; rather it needs to be brought back to a truer rendering of its root meaning. We need to come to an authentic sense of personhood, stitching together what was unraveled into a new whole. From a biblical perspective, that involves connecting to human well-being by asking “Who am I?” in relation to “I AM”. And that might be our salvation.”

Diana Butler Bass, Christianity After Religion

Salvation, many times, gets boiled down to a few words we say in response to a message or an invitation from a pastor. But, I love this definition; that salvation is more than a moment in time that decides our eternal fate but it is a process in the here and now of ‘becoming’….becoming more whole, more sound, more healed, more safe, more well.

Jesus did not come only to offer you an eternity with him – he came to offer you a rich and textured life, full of joy, pain, beauty, difficulty, laughter and tears. If you remember to ask, “Who am I, in this moment, in relation to I AM?”, you will begin to see that He is ever present in each and every situation, and that his desire is to weave salvation into each and every moment.

Grace and peace,
Deb
PS - I would highly recommend this book.

empty tomb?

“Leave yourself alone. Enter solitude. Be silent. Do your good deeds in secret. Make dead space into holy ground.

You will become less, it’s true. But you will also become more: you will discover your true self and meet more often, lose less often, the Lord of the holy wild. For out of empty tombs and dead spaces comes the living Christ. Be still and know that He is God.”

Mark Buchanan

“For out of empty tombs and dead spaces comes the living Christ”. How encouraging is that? I know that many days, I feel like an empty tomb. I feel as if I’m filled with dead space. I feel as if I don’t have one more good thing to give, to say, to do, left within me.

Those are the days that I know I am trying to do it on my own. I’m not consciously tuning God out…I’m just not being intentional about sitting with Him, about getting myself out of the way. When I try to be present with God, I am so much more aware of Him being the One who works in and through me and that what I am able to do is because of Him. It is in Him that I live and move and have my being.

Today…do you feel like an empty tomb? Do feel like you are hollow inside…filled with only dead space? Remind yourself that the Creator of the universe, the One who made the foundations of the earth, who crafted the mountains and carved out the seas….lives within you. And…that makes you the bearer of the Christ. Move and live and have your being this day resting in that knowledge.

Grace and peace,
Deb

it's a new day

“Is there anyone I can level with? Anyone I dare tell that I am benevolent and malevolent, chaste and randy, compassionate and vindictive, selfless and selfish, that beneath my brave words lives a frightened child, that I dabble in religion and pornography, that I have blackened a friend’s character, betrayed a trust, violated a confidence, that I am tolerant and thoughtful, a bigot and a blowhard, that I hate hard rock?”

Brennen Manning
Ruthless Trust

I think this quote hits home for all of us. I know it does for me. I was talking with a friend the other day. We were talking about how, sometimes, we can hardly believe that God doesn’t just smite us (don’t hear that word everyday, now do ya!), that we both have thoughts, attitudes and behaviors that we know aren’t what God would want of us. But, the amazing thing is that He waits…He waits for us to come around, to acknowledge those things within ourselves, turn back to Him and allow His love to enfold us, once again. He knows that we live and move in a fallen, broken world and that no matter how much we try, we will never be fully whole until we see Him face to face. That means we will never be free of the struggle that Brennan Manning describes but it also means that there is hope and forgiveness found in God’s love.

May today be a fresh start for you. Know that we all struggle with the ‘dark’ stuff in our hearts but also know that God is waiting for you, desiring you to move back toward Him. Allow yourself to experience His love today.

Grace and peace,
Deb

awareness

One of my favorite authors is Ken Gire. He has a way of helping me learn to pay attention to the movements of God in my life. He has written numerous devotional books. The first book I read by him is an excellent book called, Seeing What is Sacred: Becoming More Sensitive to the Everyday Moments of Life, (old title - The Reflective Life) that is written, specifically, to help you become more aware.

I want to share a quote from him:

"He[God] has much to say, not only from the Scriptures but from the circumstances of our everyday lives. However prosaic the pages of our lives may seem at first reading, within the lines or in between the lines God may be speaking. Every book we read, every movie we see, every person we talk with, every song we listen to, every moment in our lives, in fact, should be subjects for reflection and could be ways through which God is speaking."


Consider asking God to help you today...help you pay attention to where/how He may be speaking to you, perhaps speaking in ways you had not considered before. Feel free to share what you noticed.


May you see Him in a different way today.

grace and peace,

Deb

only Jesus

Taken from I Cor 1:

I have a serious concern to bring up with you, my friends, using the authority of Jesus, our Master. I'll put it as urgently as I can: You must get along with each other. You must learn to be considerate of one another, cultivating a life in common.
I bring this up because some from Chloe's family brought a most disturbing report to my attention—that you're fighting among yourselves! I'll tell you exactly what I was told: You're all picking sides, going around saying, "I'm on Paul's side," or "I'm for Apollos," or "Peter is my man," or "I'm in the Messiah group."
I ask you, "Has the Messiah been chopped up in little pieces so we can each have a relic all our own? Was Paul crucified for you? Was a single one of you baptized in Paul's name?" I was not involved with any of your baptisms—except for Crispus and Gaius—and on getting this report, I'm sure glad I wasn't. At least no one can go around saying he was baptized in my name. (Come to think of it, I also baptized Stephanas's family, but as far as I can recall, that's it.)
God didn't send me out to collect a following for myself, but to preach the Message of what he has done, collecting a following for him. And he didn't send me to do it with a lot of fancy rhetoric of my own, lest the powerful action at the center—Christ on the Cross—be trivialized into mere words.”

I am in the middle of a transition – only three more weeks in my present position. I am blessed that I am not merely leaving something – I am going to something, if that makes sense. I am moving out more fully into what I sense God calling me to.

One of the things that have come to light, as I leave, is that things will be done differently in my absence. There will be a different approach, a different philosophy regarding how to approach and guide people in their own spiritual formation. This can create some tension, in both those responsible for handling the transition and for those who will be impacted by the change. In navigating this transition, it is important to honor the process and to recognize that there is not ‘one’ way to invite people into a transforming life with Jesus. This is not a new tension. Check out your closest Christian bookstore – or look into the history and tradition of the church. You will find innumerable ways to approach spiritual formation. And, according to the Scriptures, it was a tension found in the beginning of the church. As humans, who are still impacted by the Fall, we have a tendency to want to divide and separate rather than create harmony and unify; to call one way right and another way wrong. Different teachers or leaders will have a different approach toward leading others into a vibrant life with Christ and there is beauty in that diversity.

Bottom line, what matters is that people are encountering the Living God in new ways and it is changing their lives. People may be drawn more to one way or another and some have deeply resonated with several approaches. As tempting as it might be to want people to follow me or my philosophy, it is not honoring Christ. As soon as I start paying more attention to who is following whom, I am no longer concerned with leading people to Christ but more concerned with leading them to myself.

Thank you, Father, for different leaders, different styles, different approaches and different philosophies - and may we all continue to point people to You – in the way that You have called us to.
Grace and peace-
Deb

just be

“If we begin to worship and come to God, again and again by meditating, by reading, by prayer, and by obedience, little by little God becomes known to us through experience. We enter into familiarity with God, and by tasting how sweet the Lord is we pass into . . loving God, not for our own sake, but for Himself.”

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux

When is the last time you “experienced” God? When is the last time you felt His love for you? When is the last time you sensed Him speaking to you?

If you haven’t experienced God this way, consider spending some time in silence, every day. Begin with several minutes and add time as it seems right. Let your only request during that time be “God… I want to meet with you here, in this moment”…and sit.

Even if you ‘feel’ nothing, know that He is answering that simple prayer and that your spirit is being refreshed by Him.

Grace and peace,
Deb

rest

“Sometimes the most urgent and vital thing you can possibly do is take a complete rest.”

Ashleigh Brilliant

Last week, I had the opportunity to guest teach at a nearby college. We were discussing different spiritual practices and the practice of silence came up. One of the students said, “Whenever I attempt to practice silence, I fall asleep after only a few minutes. Why do you think that is?” In all of my infinite wisdom, I said, “Probably because you are tired.”

We are all so used to running a hundred miles an hour that when we take few minutes to be still, we drift off. Rather than feeling defeated because you cannot stay awake and attentive, perhaps you should give yourself permission to rest. When you are physically depleted you cannot possibly bring all of your attention and intention to God.

If you find yourself falling asleep when you set time aside to be still with God, maybe the most spiritual thing you can do is take a nap.

Grace and peace,
Deb

silence

"But the LORD is in his holy Temple.
Let all the earth be silent before him.”

Hab 2:20 NLT


Silence. What a rare commodity. I am more and more convinced that living a life of intimacy with Jesus is near impossible without the commitment to spending time in silence.

Without it, we can do his work, we can talk about him, we can study him. But to hear his voice, we must learn to be still…to listen…to be silent. Unfortunately, we settle for work, talk and study. Somehow it seems easier.

If silence is new to you, begin with one minute a day. Just sit…no noise, no outward distractions. Just sit. That’s all.

Shhhhhhh,
Deb

power

More thoughts on power by Henri Nouwen –

“What makes the temptation of power so seemingly irresistible? Maybe it is that power offers an easy substitute for the hard task of love. It seems easier to be God than to love God, easier to control people than to love people, easier to own life than to love life…….The long painful history of the church is the history of people who ever and again tempted to choose power over love, control over the cross, being a leader over being led. Those who resist this temptation to the end and thereby give us hope are the true saints.

One thing is clear to me: the temptation of power is greatest when intimacy is a threat. Much Christian leadership is exercised by people who do not know how to develop healthy, intimate relationships and have opted for power and control instead.”
In the Name of Jesus

Do you relate to this – either from the vantage point of one who has grasped power instead of moving into love or from the place of one who has been hurt by someone choosing the easier road of control over caring?

I am what I call a reluctant leader. It has taken years for me to walk into this role and I am still navigating it. Relationships are also of the utmost importance to me so I think I tend to err on the side of love rather than power in leadership roles.

But I have been on the other end of things. I have experienced the abuse of power, the suffocation of control, the substitution of dominance over intimacy, and the choice of coercion over influence.
No matter where we find ourselves – as leaders or the ones being led – Jesus is our example and he always chose love over power.

Grace and peace-
Deb

power

“One of the greatest ironies of the history of Christianity is that its leaders constantly give in to the temptation of power –political power, military power, economic power, or moral or spiritual power – even though they continue to speak in the name of Jesus, who did not cling to his divine power but emptied himself and became as we are. The temptation to consider power as an apt instrument for the proclamation of the Gospel is the greatest of all. We keep hearing from others as well as saying to ourselves, that having power – provided it is used in the service of God and your fellow human beings – is a good thing. With this rationalization, crusades took place; inquisitions were organized; Indians were enslaved, positions of great influence were desired; episcopal palaces, splendid cathedrals, and opulent seminaries were built; and much moral manipulation of conscience was engaged in. Every time we see a major crisis in the history of the church, such as the Great Schism of the eleventh century, the Reformation of the sixteenth century, or the immense secularization of the twentieth century, we always see that a major cause of rupture is the power exercised by those who claim to be followers of the poor and powerless Jesus.”

Henri Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus

Power. It is a seductive mistress. It comes disguised in so many different packages; education, knowledge, title, position, influence. These things in and of themselves are not bad – but the way they are used to promote one’s own agenda or discount another’s opinions, feelings or beliefs is a misuse of power. We can justify, rationalize and explain why we have the right to our power and the right to use that power but power that is not tempered by the love of Jesus displayed in love and respect of others is abusive.

I have intentionally surrounded myself with people who I have given permission to speak into my life….and they do. I know they care about me and that they want me to be who I was created to be, so I trust them to call out the best in me. I hope and pray that they will help me notice if and when power becomes something I use inappropriately.

Do you have someone in your life that you have given permission to be honest with you? If they came to you today to tell you they feel you may be misusing your power, would you be open to that or become defensive? Jesus is our example of someone who had ultimate power yet he did not use it diminish others – except to dress down those who did.

More of Henri’s thoughts on power tomorrow….

Grace and peace,
Deb

tears

Help me, O God,
give me the courage to cry.
Help me understand that tears bring
freshly washed colors arching across the soul,
colors that wouldn’t be there apart from the rain.
Help me to see in the prism of my tears,
something of the secret of who I am.
Give me the courage
not only to see what those tears are revealing
but to follow where they are leading.
And help me to see,
somewhere over the rainbow,
that where they lead me is home….

Ken Gire

presence

“To care means first of all to be present to each other. From experience you know that those who care for you become present to you. When they listen, they listen to you. When they speak, you know they speak to you. And when they ask questions you know it is for your sake and not for their own. Their presence is a healing presence because they accept you on your terms, and they encourage you to take your own life seriously….”

Henri Nouwen

Who does this for you? Who is this presence in your life? Who do you allow to speak into your life with truth and grace? If you are fortunate enough to have this, offer up a word of thanks to God. If you don’t, offer up a prayer asking Him to send someone to you.

Grace and peace,
Deb

prayer

Celtic Evening Prayer

I lay my head to rest
and in doing so
lay at your feet
the faces I have seen,
the voices I have heard,
the words I have spoken,
the hands I have shaken,
the service I have given,
the joys I have shared,
the sorrows revealed,
I lay them at your feet,
and in doing so,
lay my head to rest.

John Birch, www.faithandworship.com

presence

“Spirituality is the sacred center of which all life comes, including Mondays and Tuesdays and rainy Saturday afternoons in all their mundane and glorious details.”

Christina Baldwin

God is everywhere and in everything. Every moment has something of Him in it. All we need to do is be aware and be looking for it.

He is not only found in those activities we see as ‘sacred’ but also in the mundane….the everyday tasks we do without even thinking about. Brushing our teeth, making our bed, doing the dishes.

When we begin to see life through these eyes, everything is sacred. Celebrate the sacred in your life.

Grace and peace,
Deb

leaning

“God is always leaning into us. If we imagine ourselves sitting at a table with any member of the Triune God (or all three!), God is attentive to us, seeing us through eyes of intense love and delight in who we are. It is the adoring parent listening to the delightful child explain something the child just learned or created. It is also the patient and loving parent discussing a breach of trust or boundaries with the child. The ‘leaning in’ is not impacted by the topic of the discussion, unless it is to draw even closer. There is no harsh judgment, even if there is disappointment. There is only love and welcome and a deep desire for the best for us.”
Joanie Taddeo

When I read this quote, it brought tears to my eyes. What a beautiful picture it paints! Can you imagine anything more wonderful than having God lean into you, listening intently to you? Or quietly speaking words of love or gentle correction into your life? It seems to me that this is exactly what God would want to do with us.

Prayer is intimacy with God. Today, take some time and reflect on what it would feel like to have God ‘lean’ into you. What would you want to say to Him? What do you need to hear from Him? Allow yourself to enter into that experience and see what comes up.

Grace and peace,
Deb

it's all about love

“God doesn’t want me to try to become more loving. He wants me to absorb his love so that it flows out from me. Only love is capable of genuine transformation. Willpower is inadequate. Thomas Merton reminds us that the root of Christian love is not the will to love but the faith to believe that one is deeply loved by God. Embarking on the journey of Christian spiritual transformation is enrolling in the divine school of love. Our primary assignment in this school is not so much study and practice as it is letting ourselves be deeply loved by our Lord.”

David Benner

How are you doing at letting yourself be deeply loved by God?

Grace and peace,
Deb

questions

“To be a Christian does not mean knowing all the answers; to be a Christian means being willing to live into the part of the self where the question is born.”

Wendy M. Wright

There was a time in my life when I felt as if I needed to have all the answers…in case a friend…or worse yet, someone who was searching out the faith, asked me about something. What would it say if I didn’t have the answer they were looking for? Would it reflect badly on God?

I have come to a place in my life where I am much more comfortable living in the questions. I love the God of mystery and He holds all the answers. What I can do is to be with others as they learn to live the questions.

Grace and peace,
Deb

presence

“When you sit with a crying woman on a train, just sit with her. Do it with all your mind and heart and soul. Be fully present to her without this other agenda going on at the sidelines. In other words, do it without passing judgment on her, wanting to convert her to your point of view, desiring her appreciation, wondering what others on the train might think, worrying about the weather, or generally getting caught up in one’s own feelings, desires, and opinions of the moment. Do it the way Mary sat at the feet of Jesus – with an undivided heart.”

Sue Kidd Monk, Firstlight

There is no better gift you can give to another human being than your undivided attention. It is so much more than just giving them eye contact. If you are honest with yourself you know that you have the ability to be with someone without being with them. From the outside, it seems like you are fully present but your mind is going a hundred different directions.

Most of us have an agenda. We would never say that we do because, first, we may not realize that there is something we want from an exchange with another….their attention, to feel good about ourselves, or even looking good to others. Or perhaps we are thinking about our next meal or the plans we have for the weekend.
Being present is a learned art. The first step is acknowledging that you don’t already do it. Acknowledge that your mind is world of its own and it is difficult to tame those thoughts. Begin slowly, taking even 5 minutes every morning to be in complete silence. Focus on your breathing to give your mind something to concentrate on. When you find your mind wandering, just go back to your breathing. In time, you will be able to be more present.
You also might want to ask the Spirit to help you stay present with another. Sometimes a moment or two of silence before you move into a situation will help you focus on what is at hand.

This practice not only allows us to be more present with other people, it helps us be more present to God.

Grace and peace,
Deb

humility

“How do we know if we are choosing well or poorly? Our problem begins when we believe that we can know, with any reliable accuracy, whatever is fully and completely true about any given moment, situation and circumstance.”

Wayne Muller, A Life of Being, Having and Doing Enough

Have you ever heard the story about the blind men and the elephant? One version of the story says that six blind men were asked to describe what an elephant looked like by feeling different parts of the elephant's body. One man feels a leg and says the elephant is like a tower; another one who feels the tail says it is like a rope; the one who feels the trunk says the elephant is like a large snake; the one who feels the ear says the elephant is like a fan, and the one who feels the side of the elephant says it feels like a wall.

Who's right? Well, actually all of them are. They each have a piece of the truth as they know it from their perspective. Ah, but there is the kicker – THEIR perspective. I am sure that each of them thought that had the full picture.

Have you ever done this? Been faced with a situation in which you build a conclusion off the information you find in front of you? I have – too many times. It just seems all too natural. Here are facts as I see them - I will build a story to fit those facts. The only problem is there are always more sides, more facts, more of everything than I can see. And one small detail may change the whole picture.

What if we lived life in such a way that we would begin with the premise that we never have access to the whole story and it might be prudent to hold our interpretation of the story loosely until we have more information? Who knows – the other pieces may fit into our story perfectly and may even confirm our version. But as good as that is, it is even better not to rush to a wrong conclusion because we think that what we see or believe tells the whole story.

Grace and peace,
Deb

The Lord is My Shepherd....

I am working through the Ignatian Exercises with my spiritual director. This past week I spent time on the 23rd Psalm. I was moved in a way I haven’t been before by this passage. I was prompted to re-write it to express how I sense God meeting me at this time in my life:


My Beloved sustains me,
there is nothing else I need.
You create time and space for me to rest.
You offer me endless ways to refresh myself.

You provide just enough light
for me to see the way ahead ~
the way you want me to go.

Even when I cannot sense you,
because of the impact of the Fall,
whether it be because of loss, illness, death,
or even because of my own actions,
you are there right next to me.

If I take the time to be aware,
evidence of your presence is everywhere.
You create opportunities for me
to offer my gifts to the world
in a way that suits how you made me
and you do this in spite of those
who have said I am wrong.

You have chosen to give me a gift
and as I walk into it,
I am overwhelmed with your love and your favor.

You continue to pursue and woo me constantly.
This is the place I wish to dwell
every moment of every day.

waiting

“Waiting is certainly a kind of prayer, especially if you can stand howling, wide open spaces.”
Barbara Brown Taylor

Why is waiting so hard? I think it is because we realize, in the waiting, that we are not the one in control. It is a helpless place.

I have several friends in the midst of waiting right now. Waiting for medical results. Waiting for work situations to change. Waiting for husbands to come home. Waiting for a child to return. Waiting. Waiting can seem like a howling, wide open space where we can’t seem to find the boundaries, the edges. It feels too open, too spacious. It feels as if we might just get lost in the waiting, unable to find our way back.

Patience is always attached to waiting. It describes how we are waiting….or not. Are we pushing against the waiting or are we resting in the waiting? I think that might be what patience looks like….resting. Which, seems to come right back to trust.

Are you ‘waiting’? What are you waiting for? The test result? That phone call or email? That job offer? What would it look like to wait patiently? To trust in the waiting? To sense God’s loving arms wrapped around you in the middle of the howling, wide open space?

Consider praying not only for your situation but also for your waiting. Resist making the waiting a negative place but consider allowing the waiting to be a place of formation – the waiting itself a place of rest and trust.

Grace and

presence

day has come.
night releases her hold on the earth
and allows light to illuminate the land.
and so every 24 hours, a day that has never been before.

a new beginning.
a fresh start.
a chance to be present.
a chance to be real.
a chance to be open.
a chance to be.

i take this for granted.
i forget.
i move and do without thinking, automatic.

may i not waste today.
may i be present.
may i be real.
may i be open.
may i be.

Grace and peace,
Deb

paradox

Richard Rohr says of the spiritual journey –

“The ordinary path is a gradual awakening and an occasional quieting, a passion for and a surrendering to, a caring and a not caring at all. It is both center and circumference, and I am finally not in control of either.”

Everything Belongs

This life with God is a paradox. It seems that in the beginning of the journey we are hungry for knowledge of God. We want to, and for good reason, learn as much as we can about who God is and how we do this thing called the Christian life. We settle into a routine of serving God and can become quite content. Then, there may come a time when our arsenal of answers don’t seem to fit our life circumstances. Something is wrong. We can’t quite put our finger on it. The Spirit is on the move.
This is/was part of my journey. It seems my days are made up of gradual awakenings – times when I feel I am waking up to the reality of God breaking through. Then there are those times of occasional quieting, sometimes planned and sometimes unplanned, as if God, Himself invites me into silence so that we can have an undistracted moment. I find I have more passion for Him than I’ve had at any other time in my life. I also find myself more surrendered to whatever God has for me, looking for the gift in every situation. And I care – more about Him, more about others, more about the world and yet I can hold everything lightly, acknowledging that everything comes from Him.

He is the center and circumference of my life. Each day I realize how little I know about Him and about myself and each day I am more open to learning. I am willing to let my own image of God die and allow Him to re-shape it into whatever I need right now.

How are you with paradox? Can you hold two seemingly opposing views at the same time?

Awakening and quieting?
Passion and surrender?
Caring and not caring?
Knowing that God is the center and circumference but not being in control at all?

Consider how God may be speaking to you through paradox today.

Grace and peace,
Deb

authenticity

“One of the best ways to reach our culture is to live compelling lives.”

Gary Thomas

The people I come in contact with are not in need of my words, my take on what is wrong with culture and what is right with God. They are in need of seeing me as a person who lives what I believe. They need to see integrity. They need to sense love and compassion. They need to know I care…not just about them coming to know God and becoming more like Him, but that I care about them right where they are. They need to see something in me that draws them to Christ.

I am convinced that they will not come to God because of Christians ‘preaching’ at them but because they see us living lives that defy explanation. They need to see us living in peace when our circumstances may look chaotic. They need to see us slowing down when life is frantic. They need to see us living authentically, not pretending that a life with God is always easy.

Today, may you live in integrity.

May you live in a place of compassion and love.

May you reflect Christ to those around you in a compelling way.

May you ‘walk the walk’.

Grace and peace,
Deb

true transformation

“Evangelicals are passionate about personal sin – swearing, adultery, gossip, drunkenness, lust, anger, and so on. They have significantly less interest in systemic sin – racism, greed, selfishness and repression of women.”

Jim Henderson, The Resignation Of Eve

OUCH. It wouldn’t hurt so much if it weren’t true. We could add to this list nationalism, classism, and lots of other ‘isms’. Yes, there are exceptions in the Evangelical world (like Jim Henderson and notable others) but I think for the majority this statement is true. I know it was true of me for more years than I care to acknowledge.

My calling in life is to invite people into deeper intimacy with God through contemplative practices. I create spaces, processes and experiences for those who desire to be intentional in their spiritual life. But, this work is not limited to ‘personal’ spiritual formation but is connected to the larger world and to social justice concerns.

As I have done spiritual direction with individuals, I have seen many of them come to a deeper understanding of God’s desire for them to enter into the arena of social justice issues…not for the purpose of merely standing up for something but more because they begin to see beyond what they have been taught or led to believe – they realize that Jesus is not only interested in our personal transformation but He is interested in us living out of that transformation and in turn having a part in transforming our families, our churches, our communities and our world to reflect His desire that we love and honor one another as human beings. May we live that out today.

Grace and peace,
Deb

intentionality

“A diminishment of intentionality decreases our self-presence because our choices are no longer experienced as a conscious response to life, but as a knee-jerk reaction to it. Life becomes a disconnected series of events devoid of meaning.”

Marc Foley, The Love that Keeps Us Sane


This is a lesson I continue to learn. The less aware I am of the present moment, the more I tend to attach meaning and motivations to what is happening around me that, most likely, are more of a ’knee-jerk’ reaction than a Spirit-lead response.

In fact, it just happened yesterday. I was going about my business when – poof - I was confronted with something that could have derailed my day. I sat with my initial reaction and noticed that I was resistant and to use the expression of a friend of mine, ‘crunchy’ ( loosely translated as irritated or bent out of shape). I decided to hold myself in check until I had time to explore it with God. After reflection in prayer and journaling, I came to see the gift that was wrapped up in the issue I was struggling with – in fact, I did a 180. I found myself thanking God for this situation as it helped me to see more deeply into how He had made me and for what. It provided clarity about moving forward. I was able to see more of the connectivity between different events in my life and how God was using them to continue to direct me on the path He has for me.

Today, take stock of how intentional you are being about remaining in the moment. Notice when you are tempted to ‘react’ to something and try to create some time and space to notice where God is with you in the situation. May you ‘respond’ in a way that reveals your trust and confidence that He is acting in your best interest.

Grace and peace,
Deb

the longest short journey

Are you tired of knowing an awful lot about God but precious little of God?”

Gary Thomas


I can know about God without knowing God. One of my desires over the past several years has been to move what I know from my head…to my heart. I have fallen in love with God, and feel loved by Him. They say that the 18 inches from the head to heart can be a very long distance. But there is no more important journey.


May you begin to experience His love in a new way.


May you have passion in your relationship with Him.


If you recognize if you are living your life with God from your head and not your heart, may you make the 18 inch journey.


Grace and peace,
Deb

Photo by Sterlic http://www.flickr.com/photos/sterlic/4299633060/

more than eternity

“Maybe “accepting Christ” isn’t so much a one-time thing we do as a formula for escaping hell in the afterlife, but rather a lifelong process of learning to depend on the sufficiency of Christ within for what we most deeply need and desire. His life fills our empty moats of worth, purpose, and love.”

Jim Palmer, Divine Nobodies

There was a time in my life when I saw my relationship with Jesus as my ticket to the better side of eternity. It is like someone said, “Hey Deb – that train right there is the one that goes to heaven. Now you won’t know for sure when it is leaving the station but you know for sure where it is going. If I were you, I wouldn’t wait any longer to buy your ticket. Once you get it, you’re good to go.” And while I was waiting for this trip to heaven, in the time I had, I was to work on my sins. And while I wait, I could also do good things for others.

For the majority of my Christian life, that is what I did. I ‘worked’ on my sins and I tried to do good things for others. Any transformation in me would surely come by my hard work, with the Spirit’s help. And, maybe God would see my good deeds and I could get some extra credit. Now, mind you, if anyone asked me if I believed in a ‘works’ mentality, the answer would have been a resounding ‘no’.

What I have come to believe is that although my yes to Jesus meant something to my eternity it meant just as much to my present. Any chance for transformation did not depend on me, with the exception of acknowledging that I was in deep need of said transformation and that I needed to open myself to that work. Transformation is the work of the Spirit. And – good deeds are – well – good. But they also should flow from our relationship with God so that we are not in danger of believing we are the initiators.

May today be a renewal of our desire for Christ, knowing that he alone ‘fills our empty moats of worth, purpose and love.”

Grace and peace,
Deb

dance

“I’m dancing the song of my Savior God.”

Luke 1:47

This is part of Mary’s response to finding out she would bear the Christ. What would it be like to ‘dance’ with God?


he is my partner.

in rhythm,
he leads.

our dance tells a story.


sometimes the dance is fast and full of passion ~ fun and free.


sometimes the dance is slow and intentional ~ flowing.


sometimes it is a lullaby where i rest in his arms ~ he carries me.


sometimes he sits back as i dance for joy before him.


sometimes, someone else is invited.



You are invited to a dance….an intimate dance with God. Accept, relax and let Him lead you.

Grace and peace,
Deb
http://www.flickr.com/photos/christilou1/5143581050/
Photo by christilou 1

past to future

Taken from Celtic Daily Prayer…

‘I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, to give you a hope and a future’ (Jer 29:11). God can take events of the past and weave them so skillfully into a new plan for us that not only do we find there is a future for us after all, but it is if there have been no wasted years.
CHRIST BEHIND ME
There He walks in your past. He walks in all the dark rooms you pretend are closed, that He may bring light. Invite Him into your past. Experience His forgiveness, His acceptance of you. Offer especially all that you are ashamed of…all that you wish to forget…all that still pains and hurts you….all the hurt you have caused others. Walk there in the places you are afraid of, knowing that He walks with you and will lead you on!

CHRIST BEFORE ME
He forever goes before us to prepare a place for us. He is on the road we tread. Wherever life is leading us, He has gone before. Perhaps we have no clue about what lies ahead; we know who is ahead of us, so the future is not quite unknown.

~ by David Adams, The Edge of Glory

beginnings

I Tremble on the Edge of a Maybe

O God of beginnings,
as your Spirit moved
over the face of the deep
on the first day of creation,
move with me now
in my time of beginnings,
when the air is rain-washed,
the bloom is on the bush,
and the world seems fresh
and full of possibilities,
and I feel ready and full.

I tremble on the edge of a maybe,
a first time, a new thing,
a tentative start,
and the wonder of it lays its finger on my lips.

In silence Lord,
I share now my eagerness
and my uneasiness
about this something different
I would be or do;
and I listen for your leading
to help me separate the light
from the darkness
in the change I seek to shape
and which is shaping me.

Ted Loder, Guerrillas of Grace

heart issues

“The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering.”

Ben Okri

I’ve had a post-it note sitting in a note holder on my desk for the past several weeks. I look at it every time I sit down to work. It simply says, “break down or break open”. I think it is a profound saying. One thing I know is that to fully engaged in life means encountering difficulty and suffering. Sometimes that is due to the loss of someone in our life – maybe through death, maybe through divorce, maybe through abandonment.

We can be hurt by others. Through their actions or words, they tell us that we are not enough, that we are not worthy, that we are not wanted, that we are not included, that we are not needed.
Sometimes our suffering is through our own choices. We willingly and wantonly choose what God would not have for us and then reap the consequences.

And sometimes, suffering comes to us through illness and on-going health challenges – our own or in those we love.
In all these circumstances we have a choice. We can either allow our heart to ‘break down’ or to ‘break open’. ‘Breaking down’ means pulling away, closing off and living in a state of dis-integration. To ‘break open’ means moving towards, opening up and allowing for deeper and deeper integration. Breaking open means we are trusting God’s work in our lives, no matter what may happen. We are willing to trust that our hearts will be enlarged by our suffering…that through our suffering we can become people known for our deep compassion, generous love and capacity for forgiveness.

What struggle are you dealing with right now? As you consider the idea of breaking down or breaking open, where do you find yourself? If you tend to ‘break down’, what could you do today to allow your heart to ‘break open’ and encounter God’s love, grace and transformation in the midst of the suffering?

Grace and peace,
Deb

Photo by Charlotte Dee
http://www.flickr.com/photos/66517237@N04/6377650365/

true transformation

“Transformation: Through it all, God gradually and slowly “captures” the inner faculties: first the heart and the will, then the mind, the imagination, and the passions. The result is the transformation of the entire personality into the likeness of Christ. More and more and more we take on his habits, feelings, hopes, faith and love.”

Richard Foster, Streams of Living Water

Where do you see yourself in this quote? Do you feel that God has “captured” your heart? What about your will? Your mind? Imagination? And you passions? Consider spending some time reflecting on where and how God has ‘captured’ you.

Grace and peace,
Deb

belief vs practice

“We must move from a belief-based religion to a practice-based religion, or little will change. We will merely continue to argue about what we are supposed to believe and who the unbelievers are.”

Richard Rohr

In my 30- some years as a believer I’ve had a lot of interactions with Christians…some good, some not so good. Many of them were very sure that they had all the right answers, that their theology was superior to anyone else’s. If someone threatened or brought any part of that theology into question, it was reason for a defense to be mounted. It might even lead one to discredit their ‘opponent’ to fortify their own position. This is the result of a belief-based religion. Our beliefs become more important than our actions.
A practice-based religion will always put more emphasis on how others are treated, how one moves in the world, how they reflect Jesus. They understand that actions speak louder than words. They believe that how they act is more important than what their theology may be.

Now – there is no doubt that what we believe informs how we practice our faith. But if our beliefs eclipse our practice, we have our emphasis in the wrong place. Does the term ‘Pharisee’ ring a bell? They certainly had their doctrine right but totally missed the mark in practice. And Jesus dressed them down for it (and that may be putting it mildly). Yet, some uneducated fishermen and – believe it or not – women, lived out ‘right practice’ and were seen and acknowledged by Jesus.

Perhaps it may be a good idea to take some time and ask yourself what has been more important to you – right doctrine/theology or right practice.

Grace and peace,
Deb

lent

Repentance is the doorway to the spiritual life, the only way to begin. It is also the path itself, the only way to continue. Anything else is foolishness and self-delusion. Only repentance is both brute-honest enough, and joyous enough, to bring us all the way home.

Frederica Mathewes-Green, The Illumined Heart: The Ancient Christian Path of Transformation

Today is the first day of Lent. It is a time of preparation, reflection and repentance as we look toward the cross. I encourage you to take some time today to consider what may be pulling your heart away from God. What are your idols? What keeps you awake at night? What is the first thing you think of in the morning?

Grace and peace,
Deb

transparency

“With regard to God, people often say, “There’s no need to tell him how I feel or what I desire because he already knows.” What is in question is not God’s knowledge but my trust in him, my willingness to be as transparent as I can be before him.”
William A. Barry

As a woman, I love to hear my husband say, “I love you”, or “If I had to choose all over again, I would choose you.” And, when I ask him why he doesn’t say it more often, he says “You already know it.” Sometimes he thinks that if he says it once or twice, it’s sufficient, or that implied love is the same as expressed love. But…even if I know it, I still like to hear it.

I wonder if that is what it is like for God. Even though he knows everything, he still wants to hear it. Not only how much I love him, but that I also know that I fall short. And I think he not only wants to hear me talk of it in generalities but in specifics. That way, I am ‘speaking’ it. It makes it more real to me. And it shows my trust in him. When I let go of my defensives and stand emotionally naked before God, he knows that I trust his love for me. He knows that I want to be real, to be transparent in front of him. And…I think he loves to hear me speak it.

Today, consider what it is that you are not saying to God. What are you hoping he ‘just knows’ to save yourself the pain of speaking it? Tell him…tell the One who loves you more than any other, the One who already knows, but wants to hear you entrust it to him.

Grace and peace,
Deb

trust

“If we lack confidence that life is trustworthy, that a life of live encounters will take us towards wholeness, then we will forever feel the need to manipulate, and goal setting will be one of our major strategies.”

Parker Palmer, The Active Life

This quote struck a chord within me. I can be the master manipulator. And I know how to make it look oh so good. Know what I mean? I actually can make it look like it is for your good. I am not proud of this. I think it is a coping mechanism I picked up while trying to find my way through some challenging times in my early days.

Over the past couple of years, I have begun to find freedom in allowing God to set my agenda. Not always easy, not always comfortable, not always my first inclination. It is not easy for me to give up control. But then I realize I really don’t have all that much control.

This doesn’t mean that I sit in a chair all day long and wait for things to drop into my lap. I do have hopes, dreams and aspirations. What is does mean is that I try not to push into things. I want to look, pay attention and notice what God may be leading me into. I try not to create the outcome I want. I try to be open to whatever God has me. I hold my goals with open hands willing to let go of that which doesn’t fit with God’s plan.

May you trust that God will provide you with a life of awesome encounters that will take you towards wholeness….the wholeness He desires for you.

Grace and peace,
Deb

ancient future

“The sons and daughters of modernity are rediscovering the neglected beauty of classical Christian teaching. It is a moment of joy, of beholding anew what has been forgotten, of hugging a lost child. One of the most promising developments among evangelical Protestants is the recent ‘discovery’ of the rich, biblical, spiritual, and theological treasures to be found within the early church.”

Chris Armstrong

At times, I lead a class on how to approach the Scriptures in a transformative way ~ lectio divina. It is an ancient practice that has been a part of monastery life for over 1500 years. But, it is being ‘rediscovered’ in evangelical circles. And, it is to our benefit.

For years, I have approached my Christianity in a rational manner. I had knowledge of Scripture, knowledge of Jesus, knowledge of God’s character. But, when I began, several years ago, to practice a more contemplative spirituality, it is like my spiritual life was awakened from a deep sleep. The Bible now breathes hope into my spirit. Jesus now is someone I have an intimate relationship with rather than someone I have pledged my allegiance to. And I can picture God singing over me because He loves me. My spirit has new life.

We do not need to fear what the ancient church mothers and fathers passed down through the generations. If we can find a place, within our rational faith framework, for the possibility that we do not have it all figured out, and be open to learning some new ways to experience God, we may find ourselves moving closer to the Lord than we ever thought possible .. . not just with our head but with our heart.

Grace and peace,
Deb