Practicing God's Presence

Articles featuring Kristy Lahoda

Simplicity Begins in the Divine Center

Kristy Lahoda

Simplicity seems simple, in fact, even childlike. Most children are content to play with boxes rather than complex toys. But if simplicity is simple, why is it that for most of us it is something we have to live into far along on our journey into Christlikeness? I don’t know about you, but I spent a large portion of my childhood excited to become an adult. Don’t get me wrong. I certainly enjoyed being a kid and played hard, but I also longed to be mature. And now that I’m in my mid-40s and technically considered middle aged, I’m finding the scriptures ringing true—Jesus calls us to come full circle and like a child once again.

Podcast Episodes featuring Surrender

Mare of Easttown, Part 2 – The Spiritual Practice of Welcoming Prayer

Length: 36min Guest: Helena Sorensen

How can welcoming the parts of us that aren’t like Jesus help us become more Christlike? Isn’t this a paradox? Find out on this episode, where author Helena Sorensen and host Kristy Lahoda discuss how to welcome what's part of us in the current moment and allow it to teach us. Join them as they discuss how Pennsylvania detective Mare Sheehan, in the HBO series Mare of Easttown written by Brad Ingelsby, learned to do this rather than bury it as she'd previously done, which allowed it to set up permanent residence.

Mare of Easttown, Part 1 – A Conversation about Mare Sheehan

Length: 42min Guest: Helena Sorensen

What can we learn from a woman who reaches the limit of herself after compartmentalizing everything, believing she can and should take care of everyone since everyone expects her to be the hero? Find out on this episode, where author Helena Sorensen and host Kristy Lahoda discuss how the community depends on Pennsylvania detective Mare Sheehan, in the HBO series Mare of Easttown written by Brad Ingelsby, to solve a series of murders in the community and through it is forced to face her own buried grief.

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Fiction That Forms Us

Stories that Inspire Us and
Practices that Help Us Change
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Sensible Shoes, Part 2 - The Spiritual Disciplines of Lament and Confession within the Ignatian Examen

Episode 8 Length: 30 min Guest: Sharon Garlough Brown

Welcome to the Season 2 season finale of Fiction that Forms us!

How do we become more receptive and responsive to the work of the Spirit within our lives? In her first novel, Sensible Shoes, from the series of the same name, Sharon Garlough Brown takes her characters on a journey of practicing various spiritual disciplines. In this episode, I talk to author Sharon Garlough Brown about the spiritual disciplines of lament and confession within the Ignatian Examen. The spiritual practice is one of attentiveness that enables our receptivity by reviewing our day with God in two movements: consolation—where we noticed and responded to God today—and desolation—where we were unaware of, ignored, or rejected God during our day.

Recent Articles

The Story of Our Life Speaks

Klyne Snodgrass begins his book Who God Says You Are: A Christian Understanding of Identity with this provocative statement: “There is only one question: Who are you? Everything else in life flows from that one question.” It’s true that who we are determines what we think about, how we feel in response to things, how we act, and even our belief about God’s identity. A. W. Tozer said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”

Practicing Welcoming Prayer

Kristy Lahoda

I've had ample opportunity to practice Welcoming Prayer. A few months ago, I sinned against a friend, unintentionally hurting her. As sin often does, it propagated. Losing her friendship wasn’t the worst of it. Unfortunately, the ripples spread to our children.

On Welcoming Prayer

Kristy Lahoda

I’ll be honest. When I first learned about welcoming prayer, it sounded like a New Age philosophy to me. I imagine my initial resistance was similar to those who think that spiritual disciplines and spiritual formation aren’t Christian but rather some sort of Eastern philosophy.

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