Kitty Crenshaw's Blog, page 31

May 7

God is not seeking restoration but transformation. ~Betty

The post May 7 appeared first on The Hidden Life Awakened.

On Retreat: May 2018

Our prayer is that “On Retreat” will help you break from habituated patterns of mind and frantic activity, make more space for God, and step into a new way of seeing, believing, and abiding.  Each retreat will focus on a healthy body, a serene mind, and a powerful spirit. Your devoted guide will be modern day Christian mystic, Betty Skinner.

Affirming the Hope Hidden Within You,

~Cathy and Kitty

Fear Not
A Healthy Body

Hydrate: Drink a little water with lemon or green tea to begin.

Move: Do a few simple stretching exercises to energize your body.

Rest: Silently integrate the inner peace of your stretching practice for a few minutes.

A Serene Mind

Begin this portion of your time with God by sitting with a warm cup of coffee or tea or water in a comfortable chair in a quiet place. Light a candle as a symbol of God’s presence with you.

Opening Prayer

Let Betty’s lovely Centering Prayer video help quiet and refocus your mind, or read it on page 53 of our book, The Hidden Life Awakened.

A Reflection from Betty 

Nothing is as debilitating to our spiritual life as fear. It imprisons us, paralyzing our potential to receive the love God so longs to give us. Everyone has fear, but the good news is that we do not have to stay trapped in it. We have a promise: “Perfect love drives out fear.” We have an invitation: “Don’t be afraid.” Our work is to believe the promise and be faithful to choose the invitation.

We were created with the capacity to move against the negative energy of fear and the need to control or compete. We all have places of fear inside us but we have other places: deeper places of strength, of beauty, of faith and trust and love. As we dare to step out into those places, offering up our fear and opening to receive God’s light, trusting that He will meet us, our inborn fear becomes a gift that slowly leads us from its negativity to a new place of freedom and a new kind of fear—a reverent fear that leads to deeper trust in the awesome power of God to heal us.

Further Reflection

What is this perfect love that drives out fear? Of course we all know it is God. This sweet thought sits in our brains as an article of genuine faith but has no reality in our day to day lives. How many times have you heard the phrase, “I’m just a worrier”? How often do you feel fear over a medical diagnosis or not enough money or not being able to sleep or your child’s tough situation or your disintegrating marriage?

We have been taught to think that fear is a natural emotion we can’t control; but the scriptures and now science tell us that just isn’t true. It is simply your brain’s conditioned response to what your culture has told you is frightening.  Over and over in the scripture, do not fear is a simple command with an assumed power of choice. Isaiah 35:4 “Be strong, do not fear.” John 14:27 ” Let not your hearts be troubled.” Psalm 32:4 “I will fear no evil.” Psalm 118:6 “I will not be afraid.” Matthew 6:34 “Do not worry about tomorrow.” And on and on.

This is your work. To believe God and do what it takes to recognize and control these stressful illusions, so your brain can literally rewire itself to hold more and more of God’s love. It takes practice. When you feel the stress of a fearful thought, practice hesitating long enough to look at it, name it as fear, and without any judgement whatsoever, ask yourself where it might be coming from. Then simply let it go and breath in the wonderful little taste of freedom until it comes again. Refuse it again and again, until finally your faith frees up enough space in your heart and mind for the Spirit of Perfect Love to fill.

A Powerful Spirit

Spend a little time now, letting the Living Word speak to your heart.

Divine Reading

Psalm 118

Rest Quietly with God

Use your imagination to visualize Jesus sitting there with you or in any other setting.

Reflective Writing

Journal whatever thought arises without filtering or censoring just as a child would. This is the indwelling Spirit speaking truth to you. Trust this for now.

 

 

The post On Retreat: May 2018 appeared first on The Hidden Life Awakened.

May 2

All of life flows in an intimate proximity to the sacred. ~Betty

The post May 2 appeared first on The Hidden Life Awakened.

April 30

Everything, even our darkest pain, is held in divine Love. ~Betty

The post April 30 appeared first on The Hidden Life Awakened.

April 27

Jesus is not primarily a teacher of information or morals. He is a teacher of a way that leads to transformation and a new heart. ~Betty

 

The post April 27 appeared first on The Hidden Life Awakened.

The Wilderness of Transformation

Betty Skinner, the inspiration for The Hidden Life Awakened discusses letting go "of the tribe" and going it alone, into the wilderness—to make space for God, and let His love in.

The post The Wilderness of Transformation appeared first on The Hidden Life Awakened.

Wilderness of Transformation

Betty Skinner, the inspiration for The Hidden Life Awakened discusses letting go "of the tribe" and going it alone, into the wilderness—to make space for God, and let His love in.

The post Wilderness of Transformation appeared first on The Hidden Life Awakened.

April 23

Faith carries us along on a tide of God’s promises beyond the mire and desolation of our despair. ~Betty

The post April 23 appeared first on The Hidden Life Awakened.

April 20

Jesus is always lovingly and compassionately inviting us to a different way of seeing. ~Betty

The post April 20 appeared first on The Hidden Life Awakened.

The Fire of Peter’s Transformation

After the horrific death of Jesus, Peter descends into the fiery pain of the destruction of everything he believed in and had given his life to. The reality of his utter cowardice was crushing him. He had stood by silently as his closest friend and mentor was mercilessly humiliated, tortured and led to the horrendous death of crucifixion, denying three times that he even knew Him. Now, overcome with self-loathing, guilt, shame, and grief, his faith in ruins and his hope in ashes, he had gone back to his old life of fishing. It was all he knew to do.

In the last chapter of John’s gospel though, we witness the beautiful story of redemption and sweet release from his personal demons and final preparation for the epic destiny God would entrust to him despite his utter failure.

One morning out fishing with his friends, Peter heard a call from figure on the shore and realized that it was Jesus! Incredulous and impulsive as always, he jumped into the water and swam frantically in to his Friend. Jesus had built a fire on the beach and was cooking a little breakfast for them. The two stood there in a dripping wet bear hug, and Jesus asked, “Peter, do you love me?” Peter answered, “Yes, you know I love you.” Jesus repeated the question three times; the same number of times Peter had denied even knowing Him a few disastrous nights before. After the third time, Peter’s feelings were hurt, but suddenly he realized what Jesus was trying to do. He was asking him to see the true depth of his love and inestimable worth despite his failure. The fiery trial he had endured and failed had purged him of his small human perceptions of himself and was opening him to a far larger vision of who he was. Now he ready to be used by God to change history.

A Reflection from Betty

In the midst of incalculable pain and profound despair, Peter met and was illumined by hope…will you trust that in the experience of your change and loss, you are being prepared for a deeper love. In your darkest times, in fearful circumstances and changes, if you will trust that you are in the Presence of a Love you have not yet fully tasted, you will find hope.  The Hidden Life Awakened

 

My only light, that of my heart’s desire,

My every substance melted by its fire,

I recognized the Stranger, my Beloved,

My Companion through the years.

For sense and intellect were gone.

In His eternity of forgiveness,

My faith grew strong, my fears grew dim

And there was nothing, nothing, nothing.

Only Him.

BWS

              

 

 

 

 

 

The post The Fire of Peter’s Transformation appeared first on The Hidden Life Awakened.