Religion – Page 2 – Andrea Arthur Owan

5 Steps for Spiritual Health and Renewal

I’ll begin this blog post with the same question I asked last week: Does your spiritual life feel non-existent, bland, or in dire need of a spiritual revival?

Then I went on to discuss how living solely on daily devotionals can cause your spiritual life to degrade to blah.

But what else might be missing in your spiritual life? How can you improve your spiritual health and be renewed?

That’s what we’ll look at today.

Feeling Disenchanted with your Christian Life?

Many Christians find their initial fervor in the faith wanes after a few years, and their hearts feel a little dulled. If you find yourself facing that dilemma, rather than just consider it normal, or trying to brush it aside, or convincing yourself that your spiritual life is really okay, you should ask yourself the following questions:

Are you consistently listening to or watching good, solid Bible preaching? The kind that challenges and stretches you; reinforces your faith. Gets you excited, or even convicted.

Just as daily physical nourishment is required for good health, you need to feed yourself with the solid word of God for your spiritual well being. No offense to the power of positive thinking crowd, but that kind of preaching doesn’t delve deeply enough into the meat of the gospels. The whole Bible. Find a good Christian radio station to listen to, a television or streaming program with strong, biblical preaching to watch.

Do you have a circle of strong Christian friends you fellowship with regularly?

Iron sharpens iron, and this fact can’t be missed, or dismissed. Even Jesus had his twelve and then his inner three, although the joke is that He had Peter, James and John follow Him around because they were the most likely to get in trouble, and He had to keep an eye on them.

Belonging to a solid, Bible-teaching congregation is critical to spiritual health. Find one and become an active participant.

Find a Bible study group and be sensitive to others that you feel connected to. Seek them out. Join them for coffee or lunch. Get your hearts knit together. You don’t need an army of them. Two or three friends that stick together, lift each other up, make you feel safe and blessed are what you need.

I wouldn’t be able to survive without mine.

Have you been baptized?

Getting Holy water dribbled on you as a clueless baby is a lot different than taking the full plunge in front of witnesses as an adult.

You’re making a statement, a formal commitment to Jesus Christ. Proclaiming yourself to be a follower. It’s a serious matter and incredibly joyful and freeing event.

Your church doesn’t submerse? It doesn’t have to be the Jordan River. Ask a pastor to join you and some friends in a backyard pool.

Are you partaking of Communion?

Every time you gather with other believers to profess Christ’s body and blood given in sacrifice for Christians, you are remembering the Lord and what He has done for you, and everyone else gathered there. It is a community event. It means you accept Him as your groom as He proposes to you, His bride.

It is also a time of introspection, since no one should come to the Lord’s Table without a repentant heart.

And let me go out on a limb here and say that I believe it to be perfectly acceptable to pour yourself a small glass of grape juice, (or wine), and snag a small piece of bread or a cracker (as a side note: the bread Jesus used would have been unleavened, not some fluffy loaf we think of), open your Bible to the passages on the Last Supper or verses remembering that event, pray fervently, and partake of Communion on your own.

Or ask a friend to join you. My husband and I and another couple did just that a couple of weeks ago, as we sat in our living room watching a live stream worship service that included Communion. The pastor encouraged it. And it was a particular joy to celebrate it with dear friends in this continued COVID distancing.

I know. I’m going to get some flack on that one, especially from denominations that believe only a priest is allowed to bless the elements, and that they must be properly blessed before consumption. If you are horrified at what I’ve said, please leave a comment and tell me why you believe that to be true. And please back it up by Bible references, not extra-biblical writing.

Finally, do you have an active prayer life?

After reading and studying His word, this is the primary way to connect with the Savior.

There is nothing like reading Scripture, praying it, praying for yourself, others, the body of Christ, your leaders, your neighbors, your friends and your enemies. And seeing those prayers answered, whether yes or no. It’s life changing. Like walking with God in the cool of the day. Pouring your aching heart out to Him. Getting down and dirty and honest about your life.

It’s how life is won—on your knees.

It gives you unexpected revelations, opens your eyes to truth. Helps you recognize and utilize God’s life-giving power.

It helps you understand just how deeply and profoundly and unconditionally you are loved by the Creator and Savior.

Invitation—

If you’re not using any of these steps to strengthen your spiritual life, I invite—and encourage—you to start now. You can jump into all five of them with both feet, or tread more slowly, selecting one or two to incorporate and pursue. But do pursue them!

And if you have another discipline that helps you strengthen your spiritual life, please share it with us in the Comments box.

And if you don’t yet have a relationship with the Savior and would like to know how to have one, text me at 520-975-6109 and leave a brief message. I’ll be in touch. Or email me at:

andreaarthurowan@gmail.com

Easter is a marvelous time to commit your life to Christ!

NEXT WEEK: As we approach Easter, we’ll look at the importance of the Cross. Without it, there is no Christianity.

Until then, take the next steps to deepen and solidify your spiritual life.

Blessings,

Andrea

“Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, jut as your soul prospers.”


Andrea Arthur Owan, M.S., A.T., R., is a health and fitness pro, speaker, award-winning inspirational writer, memoirist, and senior-ordained chaplain (IFOC). She helps people thrive physically, emotionally and spiritually and recover from grief, loss and trauma.

Devotionals: Do You Live on Spiritual Sound Bites?

Does your spiritual life feel non-existent, bland, or in dire need of a revival?

If you answered yes, one possible reason is that you’re trying to live and nurture your spirit only on daily devotionals—hyper-short, spiritual sound bites that are really nothing more than soul snacks.

It’s become more and more of a problem as we’ve taken the easy way out and become a society of sound bite snackers, a reflection of our current bent in society—microwave and fast food, snippets of entertainment, 15-minute news shows (after you account for the incessant, interrupting commercials), Facebook tidbits, Twitter feeds, and out-of-context, twisted quotes.

And through all of that, statistics show that we’re becoming more disengaged, lonely and frustrated with life.

And our souls are taking a beating for it.

What’s the Problem with Daily Devotionals?

Nothing.

And plenty.

Don’t get me wrong. I like devotionals and even get paid to write them. But they can’t sustain you spiritually, and they shouldn’t be a substitute for nurturing yourself with larger, more satisfying and sustaining meals of full Bible reading and in-depth Bible study.

Devotionals simply don’t—and can’t—provide the deep, sustaining nourishment your spirit desperately needs.

It’s like our physical bodies that need to be fed more complex meals to grow and flourish—proteins, carbs, high quality fats. And even if you do choose to snack your way through the day with complete proteins, good fats and complex carbs, you wouldn’t stay healthy very long if you limited your daily snacking to one, fifteen-minute snack and nothing more.

The same can be said of devotionals. While they may help you focus on a single topic and give your soul a little satisfying taste or sample of God’s word, it’s not long before your soul is famished and craving nourishment again.

In order to have a rich and deep spiritual life, like well-nourished and tended soil a healthy plant flourishes in, you need a better, more soul-nourishing sustenance than devotional snacking gives you.

Another problem with a devotional is that the Bible verse associated with it is too easily forgotten. And the verse is often not connected with the broader context of the passage it was plucked from.

You miss deeper meanings. You miss full understanding. You miss the life-giving, life-changing, life growing “meat.”

It’s also like joining a group of people who’ve been in deep conversation about a topic for a while and having to quickly get brought up to speed with the discussion by asking the others what you missed, in order to hang in with them as they chat on. You get the elevator speech, but you usually never feel as though you’ve fully connected to the discussion.

Devotionals + More Nourishing Spiritual Food—

If you want to get to know something or a subject well, you spend time reading about it, researching it. Mulling it over. Going to source material to study it from eyewitness accounts.

If you want to get to know someone well, you spend time with her; get to know her intimately over tea, telephone conversations, heart-sharing moments. You ask her questions about her life history, her likes and dislikes, hopes and dreams. You watch her as she interacts with others. You listen intently to what she says and how she says it.

Like our ancestors knew a hundred years ago, you sit on the front porch with a friend and enjoy an iced tea or checkers and chat. Cell phone off or put away.

Love Devotionals?

If you love using devotionals, keep using them. But consider them snacks, short pick-me-ups in your day, not the main course. They’re appetizers for a larger, more satisfying fare—the whole word and picture of God and His Son, Jesus Christ.

Living off devotionals is spiritually risky. But there are rich, eternal rewards for taking time to immerse your mind, heart and soul in God’s word

Don’t miss out on the five-star meal!

Invitation—

Turn the devotional snack into a meal by opening your Bible and reading the entire chapter the verse was taken from. Learn the context, the before and after. The bigger picture and deeper meaning.

It’s good soul food.

Remember: Living on devotional snacks leaves your soul anemic and sick. If you want to have a satisfied soul and healthy spiritual life, dig in to the whole word of God, every day.

NEXT WEEK: More encouragement on how to have a richer spiritual life than daily devotionals can give.

Until then, make time in your schedule for enjoying the spiritual appetizers AND the main course!

Blessings,

Andrea

“Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, jut as your soul prospers.”


Andrea Arthur Owan, M.S., A.T., R., is a health and fitness pro, speaker, award-winning inspirational writer, memoirist, and senior-ordained chaplain (IFOC). She helps people thrive physically, emotionally and spiritually and recover from grief, loss and trauma.

Grief, Positivity and Hope: Saying the Right Words at the Right Time

(This post is the last in a series on toxic positivity.)

Is your life missing peace? Does your soul feel empty and hungry? Does it feel as though the light in your life has been snuffed out?

At one time or another, most—if not all of us—have felt completely hopeless and experienced all the side effects of it. Chaos, sadness, depression, a lack of purpose or promise.

And we often need to express those scary feelings to another person. The kind of response we receive may end up making us feel worse and wondering if there is anyone, anywhere who understands our pain and is willing to walk alongside us while we’re groping and fumbling to get back into life.

In these times of heartache and trouble, what we need is not a pious platitude or super upbeat “think good thoughts and be happy” response. We need reality, and a reminder that goodness is out there, and we can find and have it.

The right response to deep grief and anguish—

For the last month we’ve been exploring a too-positive response to someone’s expression of grief and heartache and the problems this kind of response can cause.

And I also noted that too often Christians are the first to chime in with cheery, smiley, bordering-on-superficial responses. While the Bible passages they might share are true, they are shared improperly or at untimely moments.

Today we’ll take a look at how a writer of the Bible chose to response to the most horrendous of circumstances, with the reality of the situation, and the truth about God’s character.

The Lamentations of Jeremiah—

While we can find outpouring of heart and grief in the Psalms, one only need turn to Lamentations to locate funeral or dirge poetry and outpouring of grief so deep, the reader wonders how the writer can even go on living.

The dirges are for a people snatched from their homes and beloved city and dragged off to another country. He bewails the crumbling and destruction of their magnificent house of worship. The words recount a once-beautiful city and the ruinous state it now lies in. The tone and setting are dark and dismal.

Yet even after his outpouring of grief in his honest words of how he feels beaten up and bruised by God, Jeremiah calls to mind a sense of hope and where it comes from.

He reminds himself and the people that God is unchanging and faithful.

For twenty verses the prophet pours out his spiritual, emotional and physical agony, and then writes the well-known verses:

“Yet this I call to mind

and therefore I have hope:

Because of the LORD’S great love we are

not consumed,

for his compassions never fail.

They are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.”

And he continues:

“I say to myself, ‘The LORD is my portion;

therefore I will wait for him.’

The LORD is good to those whose hope is

in him,

to the one who seeks him;

It is good to wait quietly

for the salvation of the LORD.”

For the rest of the chapter, which is a total of sixty-six verses, Jeremiah runs between profound lament, calling on God and voicing faith in Him, extolling God’s faithful character, and admitting to the people’s sins that brought on some of this calamity in the first place. He is raw and honest.

And keep in mind that the people were suffering unimaginable torment; in a time so bad they had reduced themselves to cannibalism. It is ugly, it is desperate, and it is grievous.

It certainly would not be a time for anyone to throw out “Look on the bright side. It’s not as bad as you think. God is good. All the time, God is good.”

And yet that is exactly what Jeremiah boils it down to: that God is indeed good and faithful and just, and this devastation they’re living through will not last forever, because God will make sure it eventually ends.

But before Jeremiah gets around to stating those facts, he grieves openly, completely and without apology. And because of this honesty, we can appreciate that cheery, pat answers and out-of-context Bible verses or ones delivered too quickly aren’t realistic, they don’t reflect life, and they don’t really reflect the Bible.

What a Hurting Person Needs—

As pastor Alistair Begg says,

“Hurting people want to know if there’s anybody around that understands how they feel, what they’re going through.”

A hurting person needs to know that the theology of God is not always one of sugary words and upbeat jargon but is also one of suffering, of pain, of lament. Of honest grief.

They don’t need cheerleaders. They need big hearts, open arms and listening ears.

Sometimes it’s okay in life to imitate the grieving, lamenting prophet. Sometimes it’s best to get it all out so you can think more clearly, to purge and cleanse your heart and soul.

While we can remind ourselves that God is, indeed, always faithful, always good, and always available to us, we also need to acknowledge that life is hard. Sometimes real hard.

Sometimes so hard it feels as though it’s going to break you.

And when we’ve poured out our hearts and come to the very end of ourselves, or listened to someone else do it, then is the time—in order to keep on going and persevering—we can and should remember, and remind a grieving person:

Because of the LORD’S great love we are

not consumed,

for his compassions never fail.

They are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

As Pastor Begg encourages:

“Bring all that you know of God to bear on all that you know of your circumstances.”

Acknowledge your or someone else’s circumstances.
Be realistic about them.
Weep over them if you must.
And then remember God and bring Him into the healing equation.

Call to mind that the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, and His mercies never end.

And that’s what gives you hope.

It’s about volition. And timing. And being honest about life and the sometimes horrendous reality of it.

And then remembering that a new morning is coming and because Jesus Christ lives, we can, indeed, face all our tomorrows.

Invitation—

If you are finding it difficult to call to mind the hope you have in God, please reach out to me with a text to 520-975-6109. Tell me your name and a little about your circumstances, and if you need someone to talk to about them. I’m available to help you with your healing.

And if you don’t know this amazing, forgiving God of hope and would like to know Him and have a relationship with Him, send a text message to the same number. Don’t let another day go by without making this decision!

Until next week,

Be honest with your grief and allow others to be too. Listen well and open your heart—to the pain of others and to the God who hears and heals.

Blessings,

Andrea

“Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, jut as your soul prospers.”


Andrea Arthur Owan, M.S., A.T., R., is a health and fitness pro, speaker, award-winning inspirational writer, memoirist, and senior-ordained chaplain (IFOC). She helps people thrive physically, emotionally and spiritually and recover from grief, loss and trauma.

Toxic Positivity and Grief

Have you ever revealed your deepest grief pain to someone only to have her give you an immediate comeback of super-positive or upbeat thinking they believe you should focus on? Something to get you over your slump?

What they may be guilty of is toxic positivity.

While there is no question that being positive and grateful is good for the brain and good for you physically and emotionally, it sometimes does more harm than good when you’re mired deeply in grief, and you’re nursing a raw heart.

Thinking back—

Do you remember a time when someone responded in a nauseatingly positive way when all you wanted to do was share your heart’s pain and have a listening heart hear it?

How did it make you feel?

I remember a lot of overly upbeat sentiments after my daughter’s death. And I remember the effect they had.

Shame.
Embarrassment.
A sense of lacking, or being inadequate.
Betrayed.
Devastated.
Misunderstood.
Anger.

The emotions list could go on and on.

Instead of encouraging me, most of the responses made me retreat into myself and believe that people couldn’t relate to my pain, didn’t want to relate to it, and were eager to have me get back to life and living.

My pain made them uncomfortable.

So I really shouldn’t share it.

Biggest culprits—

Unfortunately, and embarrassingly, Christians are often the biggest culprits of toxic positivity. They’re too quick to recite Bible passages meant to encourage the griever. To put their grief in God’s perspective. (As if the griever were ignorant about all those passages.)

While their hearts might be in the right place, often their mouths aren’t. They aren’t listening with their hearts.

And now the hard question: Are you guilty of doing that to someone?

Yes, there are many, many Bible passages exhorting us to lift one another up, but there is also that big one that tells us that we need to “weep with those who are weeping.”

In order to weep with someone, we need to listen deeply, and weep. And hold. And then, when the griever’s heart is receptive, encourage with more upbeat passages and thinking.

We need to be available to walk alongside them in their grief and trauma, not rush ahead, drag them forward, or get behind them and push.

But I don’t want us to get way ahead of ourselves here. I want to take time to explore this, so we can really learn and heighten our sensitivities and hone our responses to broken, hurting hearts.

What’s ahead—

I’m going to take the entire month of February to cover this new, hot topic, which you may have heard about. This month we’ll:

Define toxic positivity.
Give you examples of it.
Give you ways to deal with and respond to it (if the damaged griever).
Help you develop good handholding and empathy skills.
Discuss the benefits of helpful positivity and how to incorporate that into your life—at the right time.

Toxic positivity definition—

But for today, let’s just start with the current definition of toxic positivity.

While there is no psychological category for it, nor is there a formal diagnosis, the group at What’s Your Grief? provide this definition:

“Toxic positivity is promoting the ideal or goal that, no matter the circumstances, one should always and only maintain a positive, happy or optimistic mindset.”

In other words, “Happy, happy, happy!’ at all times, and in all things.

Is there anything wrong with this?

Well, no, and yes.

And that’s what we’re going to be exploring this month. In small, helpful, bite-size increments. Helpful for the griever, and the one the griever seeks support and empathy from.

Hope you can join me!

Invitation—

For this week, meditate on the toxic positivity definition. See where your thoughts take you on this. Maybe jot down some times you’ve experienced toxic positivity from a well—meaning friend, or when you think you’ve been guilty of it.

On a side note: After a bout with COVID right at the beginning of the New Year, it’s good to be teaching and mentoring again!

And for those of you who are caregivers, check out Guideposts’ bi-monthly devotional Strength and Grace for daily, uplifting devotions to help caregivers as they minister to and care for aging parents, patients, and family members struggling with mental illness, like dementia and Alzheimer’s. It’s a joy to be a member of the writing team contributing to this magazine. For more information, go to Guideposts.org.

Blessings,

Andrea

“I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers” (3 John 2).

Andrea Arthur Owan, M.S., A.T., R., is a fitness pro, speaker, award-winning inspirational writer, memoirist, and senior-ordained chaplain (IFOC). She helps people thrive physically, emotionally, and spiritually, and recover from grief, loss and trauma.

Advent: Past, Present and Future

ADVENT. Defined as the arrival of a notable person, thing or event. Recognized by Christians as the first season of the Christian year. In other words, when it all began. The exact dates are the four preceding Sundays leading up to Christmas Day.

But it doesn’t end there. For the faithful the term also means the coming or second coming of Christ.

A lot of us have been looking for that lately. That second coming. A lot of Christians thought COVID-19 was the crack in the second coming curtain. The opening prologue. Some still think it is.

Having Jesus return now and being caught up in the clouds with Him and swept off to glory without having to suffer and die certainly seems a more appealing option than contracting and having to suffer through a near-deadly case of the disease, or having a family member or friend die of it. Of having to stay cloistered at home, out of touching range with family and friends, classmates, co-workers, birthday parties, funerals, graduations, church worship and Bible study gatherings.

Actually, it’s a more appealing option than life in a normal year.

A yearly reminder, and look to the future—

Regardless of whether or not this is THE year, (Hint: no one knows the time or the hour), Christians are always called to be ready, looking, working, preparing. As one of my favorite mugs says, “Perhaps Today.”

And it’s always a good thing to celebrate that first coming, the one that stood the world on its head over 2000 years ago. The celebration that reminds us of the Who, what and why of Christmas.

And then look to the future and celebrate Christ’s future return. Plan for the party. Keep busy preparing for it, inviting guests, getting them ready for the feast, rejoicing over our future hope.

Because either soon or soonish, or not as soon as we’d like, Jesus is coming back. He promised He would, and He told us to be watching for Him.

A personal advent—

This year I can certainly relate to that watching and waiting for a baby to arrive on the world’s stage.

On Mother’s Day, my older son stuck an ultrasound picture up in front of his computer camera during our Mother’s Day ZOOM meeting. My younger son and I immediately knew what it was. (The engineer, working without his close-range glasses, was a little slow to catch on.)

To say it was one of the best Mother’s Day presents EVER is an understatement. The other two were the ones immediately following my older and younger son’s births. Yet, now, there are no adequate words to describe the joy, and the heady anticipation of progeny.

We’ve waited and watched and looked for since that glorious May day, talking about due dates, shower gifts, baby paraphernalia needs, having another ZOOM meeting for the “It’s a Girl!” gender reveal, nail chewing during some blood pressure spikes, and the two and a half days it took for her to arrive after inducement.

We were on emotional pins and needles. And to an extent, we still are. We haven’t seen our beautiful granddaughter yet, but we will soon. With weighty expectations of holding her in our arms, singing to her, tracing nose and ears, touching and brushing silky cheeks, and feeling baby fingers looped around thumbs nearly make me swoon in ecstasy.

So, to some extent, we’re still waiting and watching, preparing. Expecting. With eyes and hearts wide open.

I shouldn’t be any different with my Lord’s return. Advent then. Advent future. Looking back and looking forward. Always watching, being prepared. Expectant. Cognizant of the signs of the times.

It’s easy to get jaded and do the same-old, same-old at Christmas. But I doubt anything will look the same to any of us this year.

And that’s probably a good thing.

Maybe a new, reinvigorated appreciation for the meaning of the day will emerge in our hearts and lives. We’ll be more grateful. More repentant and more forgiving. More joyful.

We’ll take a serious look at what we missed this year, and what we didn’t miss. And what we can now live without and can no longer live with.

And Who we need to bring sanity and peace to this insane and crumbling and ugly world.

The month of December—

It’s hard to fathom that this is likely my last post of this notorious year. It seems to have dragged on too long and also sped by. So much has happened—in the world, our nation, and in my family. But slinking toward its end, it is.

I’ll be taking December off, to enjoy that new grandbaby, my family, and life. To dig into Advent. To read the story again—the old one and the coming one. To prepare my heart, and offer thanks.

Because within both lies hope. The kind of hope only the King of Glory gives. A hope and a future.

Something everyone is craving right now.

Invitation—

I hope you have an advent study selected and are already into the celebration. But if not, and you’re looking for some weekly reads, you can access my Advent posts on my other blog “Broken Hearts, Redeemed.”

“Is There Room in Your Inn?”

“Advent: A Great Message for Today, and for the Future”

“Advent: A Season of Joy, Now and for the Future”

“The Advent and Maintenance of Peace”

“Christ is Born Means God is with Us!”

“Christmas: A Heavenly Timetable” (My nonfiction story that first appeared in a Chicken Soup for the Soul Christmas book.)

“A Season—and Life—of Hope” (Read this one right after Christmas.)

“He Might Come Tonight—Are You Ready?”

“12 Steps to Defeat Depression: Spirituality and Prayer, Part 2 (For a stronger start to the New Year.)

Until 2021, keep praying, keep preparing, and keep watching, waiting and expecting.

Perhaps today will be THE day!

And thank you, dear readers, for your support throughout this year. It hasn’t been easy or smooth sailing for anyone. And I appreciate you more than I can say.

Blessings and a Most Blessed Christmas to all of you!

Andrea

“Beloved, I pray that you prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers” (3 John).


Andrea Arthur Owan, M.S., A.T., R., is a fitness pro, speaker, award-winning inspirational writer, memoirist, and senior-ordained chaplain (IFOC). She helps people thrive physically, emotionally, and spiritually, and recover from grief, loss and trauma.