Maggie Stearns’s Reviews > Out of Sorts: Making Peace with an Evolving Faith > Status Update

r community w/ 1 another consists solely in what Christ has done to both of us
we can only truly love 1 another in the selfless & grace-filled ways of Christ when we’re living deeply w/in Christ
my spiritual formation has been shaped by the lush green spring & the gray rainy winters w/ long nights & short days
but the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the disease of loneliness can be cured

if you can’t find God while you’re changing diapers or serving food or hanging out with your friends, you won’t find God at the worship service or the spiritual retreat or the regimented daily quiet time or mission field
i believe God hides in plain sight in your right-now life. & if u have guts to taste & see, confront & wrestle & rest, encounter the most holy-maybe most strongly when u r most uncomfortable

the best relationships are reciprocal, an intentional but unchoreographed give and take

garden friends: people you want with you in the garden before death, standing watch with you

we’re not called to be peacekeepers but peacemakers

if you can’t embrace healthy conflict, you’ll never have a truly honest friendship

real life is the undignified life, and it is the classroom for holiness.

hope is hard-won & present
rushed relationships r rarely real relationships
holy work to be a person
you are not alone & i’m here
i like being led by the Spirit & not by my obligations or guilt or fear or the “practical ministry schedule.”
i like listening to God speak through ordinary people
we should only share w/ people that have earned the right to hear our story

the concern should be to empower people to be who they are- representatives of the kingdom of god
we must work to establish God’s end so His ends are represented by our means
i was learning to be the same person in every corner of my life
God made something beautiful out of my baggage, out of my brokenness, out of my church drama, my own sticky pride
i keep choosing this small family out of hope & joy

i’m a mess and im beloved, both together, & this is not the end

there is room for all of us. there is room for all of me

God is here in the wandering

the wilderness is the birthplace of true intimacy with God

for you. in you. with you.

following in the footsteps of the man from Nazareth

remember now: after the wilderness comes deliverance

if our theology doesn’t shift and change over our lifetimes, then i have to wonder if we’re paying attention

we ask because we want to know, because it matters to us, and so i believe it matters to God

it’s a fearsome responsibility to examine our faith

we were still tossing what needed to be thrown out and reclaiming what needed to be treasured.

what is this life in christ if it’s not a bit of disorderly resurrection

saving your own life can be perceived as leaving everyone else behind

when it comes to the kingdom of God, everyone gets to play