By Glenn Balsis, TDC – Often I gauge my highway travel by mile markers to help me understand where I am as I drive. For my spiritual journey, I’ve realized that I need a spiritual director to help me assess those mile markers in my walk with God. Coaching, mentoring, and discipling all have valued places within my life with God, but spiritual direction has offered a unique encounter with God.
By Lyndi Lee Markus, TDC –
“Dangit, Jo!” I exclaimed to my spiritual director. Except I did not use the word dangit. I had come to our session discouraged to the point of tears, stuck in anxious thinking that left me hopeless and powerless. Her question had both lovingly and uncomfortably dislodged me from my rut. How was she so wise?
By Amanda Torres, Collegiate – As she struck a match to light the candle for our spiritual direction session, I heard my director say the familiar words she opens with time and time again, “The Light of Christ—who is with us, for us, and in us.” I needed this simple yet profound reminder to sink in deeply on this particular day. I was 21 weeks pregnant, and it was the day after the anatomy scan where my husband and I had found out there was something wrong with our daughter’s heart.
For years, and I’m ashamed of this, I was the guy in the room thinking, “Oh man, not another emotional staff mess to deal with.” I was 38 years old and just as stressed out and tired as anyone else (that seemed to be a pre-req for EDGE Corps at
I will never forget my first meeting with the psychiatrist. His office was in a mental health hospital, and it was straight out of a movie… complete with a creaky gate, old brick buildings, and zombie-like patients walking the grounds in hospital gowns. After a litany of questions, the doctor
“You’re so unflappable,” people tell me sometimes. And I laugh. Every time I choose to use my voice to say something that’s hard, I always have a level of anxiety internally before I say it. I don’t know if my anxiety will ever go away, but as a child and
“Parang malalim yata ang iniisip mo?” (English: “Looks like you’re thinking about something deep.”) As a child, my anxiety was perceived as deep thinking. When anxiety takes hold of me, it consumes my thoughts, and often blinds me to the promise of God’s tender and infinite care for me. When
“How’s your health, Caitlin?” This was a simple question from a caring Navigator staff woman, as we caught up during a wedding weekend in 2009. Suddenly, the room spun and I had trouble breathing. Heart racing, I lay down on her couch and tried to compose myself. What in the
A scientific study has revealed the significant effectiveness of worry and anxiety. It turns out that over 95 percent of the thing we worry about never occur! 🙂 In spite of this “scientific study,” we see Jesus taking a different view. In Matthew 6:25-34, He addresses the fears that often
Worry. It’s in our nature. We worry about our bills, our kids, our kids’ friends. We worry about our kids’ lack of friends. If we don’t worry, our friends say, “But aren’t you worried?” We figure worry isn’t such a bad thing. If I worry enough, maybe it won’t happen.