Unforced Rhythms of Grace

On a social media platform one of the people I follow asked about whether we considered ourselves resilient and if we didn't, what got in the way.  I stopped and thought for a moment.  The answer is complicated because my view of resilience has changed without me noticing. In my early life I had more than my share of trauma.  People always said I was strong because I would keep on functioning at some level.  In a way, that is a form of resilience, the ability to keep on going in spite of what happened.  I honor that part of me.  The thing is, that keeping a stiff upper lip cost me in many ways.  So that even though I continued to function, I would be really struggling on the inside.  I didn't take the time to process what happened, so those events would creep up on me when I least expected it. Recently I have found that when something happens, I have the capacity to deal with it.  I find space to allow myself to process.  I reach out for help when I need it.  I say no when

Note: I received access to an extended excerpt of this book as part of the HarperOne as a member of the launch team.   In the year 2000 I did the Jesus prayer thing and started figuring out next steps.  One of the first things I did was purchase the TouchPoint bible at the church I was attending at the time.  It is written in the New Living Translation (NLT).  The NLT is a very readable version of the bible although it is not known for being the most accurate translation. I have purchased a number of bibles in other translations since then but, that TouchPoint bible remains my favourite.  At the time I loved it because it had bible promises for every issue I could think of.  Look up anger at the Helpfinder and it gives you a bunch of questions to think about and several verses like: "Stop your anger!...Do not envy others -- it only leads to harm."  Psalm 37:8, NLT I think I like it now because it is old and familiar...  and it is the only bible I felt I had permission

When I tell people that I have been exploring faith questions and that has lead me to leave the church community I was going to, the automatic question is something like 'so are you questioning your belief in God?'  They want to understand what I mean.  At the beginning I wasn't even sure what I meant.  I momentarily experimented with the idea of not believing in God.  I remember the moment in my car.  I was waiting for the light to change at the corner of St. Anne's and Bishop Grandin.  The experiment didn't last the light cycle.  Before the light turned green, I was back to believing in God.  I couldn't imagine life without believing in something bigger than me.  I believe that a higher something has some positive impact on the world. My big sticking point was the concept of sin.  I have found that by trying to avoid sin, I just made myself miserable.  The things I was doing that I labelled as sin were really just coping mechanisms.  I just focused on the

At the beginning of 2018 I set a goal to read 12 books and listen to 12 books.  I read and listened to many more than that.  Here are some of my favourites: The Obsession - Nora Roberts: I devoured this book while I was on vacation.  The story depicts a horrible coming of age for young Naomi as she learns her father's secrets.  As an adult the events still haunt her and of course, her nightmares start to become real. The Very Worst Missionary - Jamie Wright: Jamie's memoir about her experience as a missionary is honest, funny, and heart-breaking at the same time.  It opened my eyes to an 'industry' I didn't know anything about. Before We Were Yours - Lisa Wingate: I picked this one up on the recommendation from someone's list last year.  This book follows the story of children who were taken from their parents and basically 'sold' for adoption.  It is based on the real life scandal of the  Tennessee Children’s Home Society.   This book was so we

As a business graduate I know the value of specific goals.  If you have taken any course on goal setting you have heard the acronym SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, results-oriented, time based).  SMART goals are important in the business world.  They provide direction.  They make determining whether the team has met them is objective.  Motivational speakers apply the same principles to personal growth. It seems to work for a lot of folks.  For me, they can't be applied to personal growth without leaving me feeling overwhelmed and guilty when I don't meet them.  I am tired of judging myself against a specific goal.  I don't want to be numbers driven for my personal life. That doesn't mean I want to completely check out from thinking about direction for the next year.  Instead of resolutions or goals I refer to them as intentions.  Here are the ways I am thinking differently about intention than resolutions: 1.  It doesn't actually matter if I meet them. 

I have been thinking about re-starting my blog and I thought maybe I should re-brand, change the URL, start something new.  So I came back to this one. I read the description at the top. Have you ever met someone for whom kindness and faith seem natural? I know it may not actually be effortless for them, in fact I know it isn’t. But there is a difference between moving forward and pushing forward. I want to be the kind of woman who lives in unforced rhythms of grace. I am not there yet. Perhaps I never will be. My intent is to invite you along for that journey. Be forewarned that it will be a road with lots of bends and perhaps a little bit of traveling in reverse. I still want to emulate the people I know who show the Unforced Rhythms of Grace.  The articles I wrote are still true.  So what has kept me from writing for so long? For several years I have been posting sporadically, if at all, because I was trying to become someone I wasn't.  I was trying to think more l