Spiritual Growth Archives | Page 3 of 7 | All The More: Collective Blog

Add to your Faith: Perseverance

November 27, 2020 Eileen Drake 3 min read

When was the last time you persevered through something difficult? Or perhaps persevered through temptation? Last week, a few months ago, a year ago? I like Webster’s definition of perseverance – “The quality that allows someone to continue trying to do something even though it is difficult.” The exhortation to persevere through sin is something that has popped up for me recently reading through scripture and other readings. Jesus told his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane to stay awake with Him as He was seeking and praying to God the Father about the cup he was to bear (His death). Jesus informed Peter, James, and John, “the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.“ (Matthew 26:41, NKJV) I can rest assured according to God’s true and rich Word that my spirit is willing to obey! In 2 Peter 1:3, we are informed that “His [the Lord’s] divine […]

The Paradox of Powerlessness

October 16, 2020 Claire Raabe 4 min read

This year has been a season of longing – longing for normalcy and longing for a return of routines, activities, and hangouts. Some of these longings are simple and easy to persevere through – longing to stand in a crowd at your favorite band’s concert, longing to go to the grocery store without being armed with Clorox wipes, or longing for the start of the college football season. Others are rooted in more sensitive and desperate parts of our hearts – longing to be surrounded by a life-giving community, longing for employment that feels meaningful and worthwhile, longing for a new relationship or healing in a current one. In many ways, our whole lives are a series of thirsts that culminate in the ultimate thirst for Christ. The reality is, this thirst is unlikely to be fully quenched this side of heaven. With that in mind, how can we carry […]

Ancient Wisdom for Our Social Media Age

August 28, 2020 Natalie Mayo 5 min read

Between a pandemic and feeding a newborn a billion times a day, I’ve spent a significant amount of time on social media over the past several months. I pick up my phone, use my thumbprint to unlock it, and pull up Instagram or Facebook like a bad habit. By the time I’m done, my heart is heavy because while my thumb was busy scrolling, my heart was busy comparing, judging, loving self-promotion, and wanting to respond to someone’s online foolishness with my own folly. For such a simple and mindless habit, my heart can really come out spinning. While social media may be an area of temptation we need to flee at times, there are many beautiful, redeeming aspects of social media, especially in this moment in history. Social media is not the reason why my heart spins out of control; my sin is. Social media may be new, but […]

What’s Your “Why”?

June 26, 2020 Rachel Marissa 3 min read

In counseling, we emphasize several key points to clients for goal-setting to be more successful. Two of the most important are some of the most simple – and challenging. First, if possible, goals should be framed positively. For example, “I want to stop drinking” (negative) vs. “I want to be sober” (positive). Or, “I don’t want to be anxious” (negative) vs. “I want to experience more peace” (positive). Clients are encouraged to consider not simply what obstacle they want to overcome, but what they actually want to achieve. Second, goals should have a clear motivation. For example, a counselor might say, “I know you want to be sober/more peaceful/etc. — tell me what motivates that desire. Let’s meditate on that.” Even if a client has a positive goal in mind, it’s not enough. They’ve got to know their “why” so their goal is reinforced by emotion. For example, “I want […]

Be Still, My Soul, in this Pandemic

April 17, 2020 Jenny McCarty 3 min read

“Be still my soul”…easier said than done in this present time. Worrying has been a daily presence in my mind–the health of my loved ones, the jobs of my family and friends, my own job, my students, the future in general, being completely isolated if I get the virus. How am I supposed to keep everyone safe from something I cannot see? My soul has not been still. I have been battling for a still soul. And yet, I have had a hymn on repeat in my mind this week, reminding me over and over again: be still my soul, the Lord is on my side. The stronghold I can have on the feeling of control in my life and the lives of those around me cannot be gripped when things fall apart. The words of this hymn are a reminder that when the things in this life seem completely […]

Jesus is not surprised by our weakness

April 10, 2020 Claire Raabe 5 min read

“Without me, you can do nothing.” John 15:5 This simple line of scripture has felt relevant over, and over, and over again since March 16th. Lacking Control – COVID-19 Edition Like most of you, my life has been put on hold, turned sideways, and restarted again on a much slower setting in the three weeks since COVID-19 became a growing reality across the world. My quarantine began a bit sooner than most, as out-of-state travel over spring break led me to make the decision to self-isolate before the shelter-in-place orders were widespread across my city, county, and state. During the first week of this self-isolation, my mind was whirring with fear for myself, my family who I’d travelled with, my roommates who had also travelled over spring break, and our country at large. Every cough at the dinner table was met with widened eyes, multiple yawns in a row equated […]

Managing Fear in the Midst of a Pandemic

March 25, 2020 Kathryn Pesyna 4 min read

For those of you who don’t know, I live in San Jose, California. Now, in most contexts, that would not have much significance, but drop that piece of data into a point of time, say March 2020, and suddenly, its significance is great. San Jose is the scene of the third-largest outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States. The situation is changing so rapidly, that as I have been writing this over the past week, I have had to edit the information I am about to present several times. The World Health Organization has officially declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic and our governor banned all gatherings of over 10 people across our whole state. In my county and the counties surrounding mine, we are under a “shelter-in-place” order, meaning we can only leave our houses in cases of supply runs and emergencies. The President has shut our borders to […]

Priorities

November 29, 2019 Kelly Nicole 3 min read

When I first became a Christian in 2010, I spent a lot of time pursuing Jesus. Not only did I spend my time in the Word trying to get to know this God who had radically changed my life, but I constantly prayed (in the car, while brushing my teeth, walking from point A to B, whenever I could). I didn’t just want to deeply know God, but I wanted Him to deeply know me. At the end of each day, I would sit down and reflect, journal, pray, and just be with my Rescuer. I lived my life, but my number one priority always belonged to Jesus. I was swept up in Him. He was everything to me. As time went on, my time spent with God changed. After college, life quickly became complicated, chaotic, and busy. Days fluttered by, and before I knew it, my intentionality with God dwindled. […]

Why is God So Patient With Us?

September 27, 2019 Rachel Marissa 4 min read

One minute we’re thankful, the next minute we’re complaining. One minute we’re kind to others, the next minute we hurry past someone in need. One minute we surrender all to God, the next minute we’re seeking control of our lives. My salvation is an absolute testimony of this. I spent the first 19-years of my life seeking pleasure in anything and everything but God. You read that right. Nineteen years. I can testify that God was insanely patient with me, enduring my recklessness for redemption. Why is God so patient with us? For those of us in Christ, God doesn’t show us patience based on our behavior – patience is who He is. He said so Himself: “I am the Lord God. I am merciful and very patient with my people,” (Exodus 34:6). By offering us His patience, He offers us Himself. We don’t “deserve” patience and we sure can’t […]

The Geology of Our Hearts

May 3, 2019 Claire Raabe 5 min read

“Why must holy places be dark places?” C.S. Lewis’ “Til We Have Faces” Let’s start here: I consider myself to be a fairly self-aware individual. I can tell you my five values I use as a framework for decision making in my daily life. I can tell you my strengths and shortcomings, virtues and sin struggles, and hopes and despairs. I can tell you my personality type and how it shows itself in work, relationships, and spirituality. I can tell you specific examples of life experiences that have shaped the beautiful parts of my heart as well as my wounds. And yet, when my spiritual director posed the following question to me last week about my prayer life, I didn’t even know where to start. “Claire, what is the geology of your heart?” Some context: I felt as though I’d hit a wall in my prayer. For a few days, […]

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