The Spacious Place, with Kari Levang

We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures; we are the sum of the Father’s love for us and our real capacity to become the image of His Son.

Pope John Paul II

Join me today as I share some helpful ways of being that give us power rather than leave us in the space of the sum of our fears and weaknesses. I’ll let you in on some practical ways to enter into joy that a few of my friends have shared, when the weight of the world presses in and threatens to rob us of the joy we’ve been promised. As well as some of the specific ways I've been hijacked in the last few weeks! 

 I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.

Albert Einstein

Is change hard for you? I’m a person who loves change, but when there are lots of changes happening at the same time, it can feel overwhelming. Today on the Spacious Place, I’m talking about how some major changes in my life has given me more opportunity to enter into compassionate curiosity with myself and how this way of being is shaping me to be a good friend to others as they navigate change as well.

This is anniversary week! I’ve been married to my man Mike for 33 years so I decided to have a sit down with him and share with you some of the places we’ve been, where we are now, as well as where we are headed together. We share some of the ways that speaking our expectations has been helpful for us on the front side of purposeful times together as opposed to making the assumption that the other person is a mind reader. 

“When we are tired, we are attacked by ideas we conquered long ago.”

Friedrich (Nee-cha) Nietzsche

Join me today as I share some of the personal lessons I’m experiencing as I navigate a season of major life change. I’ll share with you a couple of ways that I’m learning to live in a more spacious place in my own heart and mind, rather than allowing old ideas to live in new places during this transitional season.

To this I hold, my Shepherd will defend me

Through the deepest valley, he will lead

Oh the night has been won, and I shall overcome!

Yet, not I but through Christ in me.

-Unknown

In this last episode, I wrap up the conversation with my Sherry.  We talk about grief around empty nesting, and if you are a person who has, or is,  experiencing an especially hard season in life (which is basically anyone on the planet:), she shares about crisis in her family that was super scary and painful that I think will be an encouragement to you as well. Also, be prepared for more tears!

Get into the habit of saying, ‘Speak Lord’, and life will become a romance. Oswald Chambers

This conversation was so good it took two episodes to get through it! Sherry is the first person who I ever hear refer to Jesus as a Love Force. So, in this first episode, we talk a little bit about how that came to be for her and we continue to talk formation around the early seasons of Sherry’s life…what it was like for her as she was raising 3 little boys. She shares some of the creative and practical ways that she stayed close to Jesus and entered into formative practices in bite sized nuggets, during this busy season of her life.

“Whatever is mentionable is manageable.” Fred Rogers

Today I’m sharing a few of the places I found myself in my own alone time with Jesus and sharing how they relate to this process of formation we’ve been talking about. I’ll share some of the ways that I’m engaging with Jesus with the things that I find myself fearful about today, as well as a couple of my failures that I have to entrust to Jesus and allow him to comfort me and shape me into his confident girl.

“No soul on this road is such a giant that it doesn’t not often need to become a child at the breast again…For there is no state of prayer, however sublime, in which it is not necessary often to go back to the beginning.” Teresa of Avila

In this episode I’m sharing a story about Peter, from the book of Matthew and how it relates to us! How we can find ourselves in the places that God has led us, and still experience fear and uncertainty.  And, how there is a pathway and provision for us to name it and stay curious with God about how He’ll meet us right in the middle of it. I’ll get real honest about some of my own fears and invite you into how I’m navigating them in real time. 

“To have Faith in Christ means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way. Not doing these things in order to be saved, but because He has begun to save you already. Not hoping to get to Heaven as a reward for your actions, but inevitably wanting to act in a certain way because a first faint gleam of Heaven is already inside you.” 

― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

We live in this middle space of knowing Jesus, but not seeing him face to face yet. The place that requires us to press in by faith, especially with our weaknesses. Today I’ll share a couple of devotionals that were helpful for me in the process of trusting God with my own weak places and asking Him for more!

This is the only time in history when I get to fight for God. This is the only part of my eternal story when I am actually in the battle. Once I die, I’ll be in celebration mode in a glorified body in a whole different set of circumstances. But this is my limited window of opportunity, and I’m going to fight the good fight for all I’m worth.

Joni Eareckson Tada

Simply put, formation will not, cannot happen without the Spirit of God….that’s why it’s called Spiritual formation! Haha  In this episode we’ll talk about what it looks like to live in motion and allow the spirit to shape us in all the places of our lives. You are loved by God and he wants an invitation into all the parts of your life. Join me as we continue talking all about being formed into disciples of Jesus.

I have learned now that while those who speak about one’s miseries usually hurt, those who keep silence hurt more.  C.S. Lewis

Today as we continue in our journey through spiritual formation, we’ll look at the practice of surrender and how it involves an empowering rhythm of ‘naming’. I’ll share my own experience with this way of being, this naming some things that had happened to me, in the company of Jesus and others, and hopefully you’ll find that it will give you some handles as you navigate the places in your story that need to be seen and acknowledged, so that they can begin to walk the healing path.

When you argue against Him you are drawing against the very power that makes you able to argue at all: it’s like cutting off the branch you’re sitting on.  C.S. Lewis

In today’s episode I’ll walk you through my own time alone with God. We’ll look at Job’s life and how God met him right in the middle of his pain and showed him the best thing he could——His very own grandeur and the reminder that He is worthy of his trust/worship.  This message was challenging and empowering all at the same time for me. Join me in this journey!

Read with a vulnerable heart. Expect to be blessed in the reading. Read as one awake, one waiting for the beloved. Read with reverence. Macrina Wiederkehr

God loves you! And He is delighted when you walk by faith and entrust yourself into the mysterious place of His written word. The place where you find Jesus—-in the pages of Scripture, waiting to meet you right in the midst of all you’re facing.

Today I’ve got a fresh word of encouragement, that will hopefully wet your appetite to choose to enter in with your genuine self, with expectancy and hope for what God will do….regardless of how you’re feeling.

God’s presence is not the same as the feeling of God’s presence, and He may be doing most for us when we think He is doing least.  C.S. Lewis

Is life hard for you when it gets messy? When you can’t seem to create order out of any of the areas of your life? Join me today as I talk about the messiness of life and how it transfers to how we relate to God when our hidden lives also feel messy.

“Maybe the journey isn’t so much about Becoming anything. Maybe it’s about Un-becoming everything that isn’t really you, so you can be all you were meant to be in the first place.” Unknown

God has given us the disciplines of the spiritual life as a means of receiving his grace. The disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that He can transform us. 

Richard Foster

Beth Moore has been a pillar in the community of faith in Jesus. I have learned so much from her over the years and am so so grateful for her obedience and love for Jesus, and this week I heard a quote from her that felt like it was vital to the health of believers. So, this week I start this episode with her quote and then unpack it in terms of the monumental difference between legalism and spiritual disciplines. Why they matter, and some questions we may want to ask ourselves as we process whatever bubbles up in us against them.

She goes into the unknown willingly and confidently, because she knows the Protector of the Universe is right behind her.  Unknown

In today’s episode I’ll share what formation has looked like in me, for this first week of living in a new space. How it’s been being alone (mostly) and what the process has looked like. Join me in the conversation as I also share about an invitation that ended up blessing my socks off!! 

O, begin! Fix some part of every day for private exercises…Whether you like it or not, read and pray daily. It is for your life; there is no other way: else you will be a trifler all your days. …Do justice to your own soul; give it time and means to grow. Do not starve yourself any longer.   John Wesley

Today’s episode is a conversation with my friend Laurine, who has been courageous with Jesus and others and is experiencing deep freedom. She talks about how relationship with Jesus being about our own personal obedience, and she poses the question, “What does HE want you to do today?”. 

Join me as Laurine shares what the process has been like for her, and some of the fun ways she’s walking out obedience——-it may even involve TikTok!

In this episode my guy, Mike and I chat a little bit about our big move! The idea was to share the move, but once we starting chatting we ended up talking about so much more! Things like marriage, mistakes, forgiveness, desires, dreams and so much more. If you don’t know Mike it’s a great way to get a peek into what he’s like—-and if you do know him….well, you’ll just love hearing his heart in this conversation.

Explore with delight, as though you and God are learning together how to make the day special for both of you.   Ruth Haley Barton

We can choose to make a careful exploration of our lives (formation), no matter what we’re doing. That’s the coolest part about being one that God delights in—it doesn’t happen only when we are doing something “spiritual”. Last week as I was packing, I found myself being challenged by some questions that were rolling through my mind so I thought I’d share them with you! Join me today as we take a closer look at how we’re living our days.

The most helpful thing any of us can say about spiritual transformation is: I cannot transform myself, or anyone else for that matter. What I can do is create the conditions in which spiritual transformation can take place by developing and maintaining a rhythm of Spiritual practices that keep me open and available to God.

Ruth Haley Barton

I might be biased but the guest on today’s episode is actually really great-—and she happens to be my daughter, Paige! We’re talking all things, 'formation, practices, becoming'——whatever you feel most comfortable calling them. Simply put, ‘what does it look like to stay in relationship with Jesus through different seasons of life?’ Paige will give you an up close look at a few different seasons in her own life and how messy it got with her and Jesus. Pretty sure many of you will find a place to engage today’s conversation with my beautiful, courageous, kind, wonderfully honest Paige.