The Spacious Place, with Kari Levang

“Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done.” CS Lewis

We talked a little about why formation matters last week and I want to continue in that vein of conversation today, but with a twist. What next??? What does it look like to even begin this process?  I want to talk about a simple process that Paul has laid out in a letter to the church of Colosse. He gives a very simple way of looking at how we are to live, and uses an everyday image to capture our attention. Join me as we unpack this passage a little bit together and I share some of my own process with you, hopefully giving you hope to move in a little more closely with Jesus and others.

Spiritual people are not those who engage in certain spiritual practices; they are those who draw their life from God.  Dallas Willard

Last week we talked about spiritual formation and a little bit about what it is—-this week we’ll explore together why it matters.  What it is that would move us to engage with God in His formation processes. I think you might be surprised to hear some of the things that I’ve discovered along the way as to why we might consider formation.

“The most important discover you will ever make is the love the Father has for you. Your power in prayer will flow from the certainty the the one who made you likes you, he is not scowling at you, he is on your side. Unless our mission and our acts of mercy, our intercession, petition, confession, and spiritual warfare begin and end in the knowledge of the Father’s love, we will act and pray out of desperation, determination, and duty instead of revelation, expectation, and joy.”       -Pete Grieg

Today is the beginning of a new series together, as we begin to explore what’s shaping us. If we are spiritual beings who belong to God, then what does it mean to allow Him to shape our ways of being. Hopefully you’ll discover afresh today that God is totally in love with you and is delighted every time you choose to come to Him! 

Join me as we begin the conversation around Spiritual Formation!

I think all of us can relate to feeling like we’ve been in a long season of lots of change.—-some more than others, of course. In today’s episode I’ll talk through a few of the things that I’m clinging to as I get ready to enter into a major change for Mike and I. Join me as I share how I’m planning to navigate this next season with God, myself and with others.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hebrews 13:8

I think it’s safe to say that the last couple of years have been anything but easy. In this first episode of 2022, I will share some of the intentions that I plan to carry with me into this new year, things that will better equip me to live well. And, I’m also going to let you in on a few of the things that I’m asking God and others to help me to leave behind…things that haven't served me well and aren't worth the trouble of dragging into 2022. We’ll take a look together at how we can welcome the new year, without making happiness alone our goal.

“You can learn new things at any time in your life if you're willing to be a beginner. If you actually learn to like being a beginner, the whole world opens up to you.” 

― Barbara Sher

In this episode, my 100th episode I’ll share a few of the things I’ve learned along the way as I’ve stayed in this process of trying something new, trusting God with the obedience of what He’s invited me into, with Him and others. I am so grateful for all of you who have listened and supported this journey I’ve been on and today is a BIG thank you to all of you and a prayer of encouragement as we enter into 2022 with expectancy and hope!

Curiosity will conquer fear even more than bravery will. James Stevens

In this episode I wanted to take a look at the Christmas story through the lense of Mary and share a couple of the things that stood out to me. This middle age woman has so much to learn from the faith of a teenager who lived a couple of thousand years ago and I think you may just find some things you’ve got to receive as well. Join me as we take a walk through the story together just before we celebrate the birth of Jesus!

Proverbs 18:24

“Some friends play at friendship but a true friend sticks closer than one’s nearest kin.”

The Message: True friends will be with you through life’s most soul-shaking changes.

Well friends, this episode is a little longer than normal because I sat down with  my dear friend Karin Peabody. I’ve shared before that God gave me a team of 4 amazing people as He led me through the wonderful, painful process of working through the trauma in my story. Karin was a vital friend along the way and today we are talking all things friendship and coming alongside one another, as we navigate story together. Not only will she share some tools that might be helpful if you’re walking alongside another, but you’ll also get a peek into what some of our times together were like along the way.

It is in the context of relational intimacy that real life change takes place. Ruth Haley Barton

It seems simple, but in this episode I’ll share how I’ve found that practicing this with others, makes this not only possible, but delightful at the same time. As I’ve invited others to come along over and over again, I’m finding that two really are better than one! Today we talk about how realizing that God’s mercies are new every morning as I blow it and come back again and again, not only gives tremendous hope to begin again, but it’s also an enormous relief that we don’t have to do it alone! 

To pray with soul and body means praying with all of who we are: our physicality, our emotions, our intuitions, our imaginations, our minds, and all of our experiences. Therefore, when we pray with body and soul, or love with body and soul, we are believing, responding, surrendering with all of who we are. Jan Vennard 

In this episode, we’ll talk about the next two rhythms that I’ve found to help me flourish in my desire say yes to clinging to what is good. Working at actually bringing our whole selves to the table has had major implications for me and my relationships as I pursue this practice. Presence, bringing our real self, can sometimes be hard, but is almost always, worth the effort! And prayer, really is an extension of this presence, just with Jesus. Join me as we talk more about it together in this episode!

Today’s episode is all about preparing our own hearts as we prepare to go and be with those we will celebrate with over the holiday season. There are a few practices that I have been using that I’ve found helpful, so I thought I’d share them with you! Some simple ways to pay compassionate attention to yourself, as you get ready to step into a room with people who it may, for some reason, be hard, or ignite fear, or frustration or a whole span of other potentially difficult emotions. 

God is forming us into new people. And the place of that formation is in the small moments of today. Tish Harrison Warren

Today we’re going to start with the first two things that I have found to be vital pieces in the process of clinging to what is good in my own life.  Paying attention, (which I believe is a cultivated art), is the first one and as we work at it, we get better and better, and before you know it, there is more of us to enter into the situations we find ourselves a part of. And discipline, although to many it sounds like a negative word, has been an extraordinarily helpful piece in my journey into clinging to what is good. Today we talk a lot about the importance of identifying your season, in order to set yourself up well!

Paul never forgets that we are embodied creatures. Everything we think, say or do, we do in a body. Presenting our bodies means staying aware each day that our body is the primary location in which we actually express our heart, soul, strength and mind.

Frank Crouch

In this episode I’ll lay the foundation for our conversation around the invitation to Cling to what is good in Romans 12. We’ll go back to the top of the chapter and find out how it gets practiced in our lives (in our actual bodies), and I will share some insights into how it’s been a helpful rhythm for me to go back to over and over again.

Intimacy can be hard. Especially when we haven’t even figured out how to be ourselves with ourselves yet.  But we don’t need to dodge ourselves. We can do the slow work of paying attention and when we’re ready, we’ll can let others into the process with us. Psalm 139 is a great pathway to practice this kind of intimacy with the One who formed us. I’ll share today a little about what this process has been like for me and maybe it’ll give one of you courage to do enter in with Jesus and others in a new way.

The danger of coming to stay with me in our home in Central Oregon is that I will talk you into coming on the podcast and sharing things about your life:)

This week I’m chatting with three of my sweet friends around Romans 12:9—-Love must be sincere; hate what is evil and cling to what is good. Each of us have had some big challenges in life that have allowed for us to exercise these directives and their insights from their own lives is so good! I think you'll be able to find places to enter in as you listen to each of them share their experiences.

You guys!—today as I talk with Meg about the passage in Romans 12:9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good, we find ourselves swimming in the delight of God’s love. But more than that, we talk all about what the process has been— and continues to be like for both of us as we wrestle with the truth that we are totally loved and delighted in, simply because God cannot be anything other than a lover. Today you get in on our own beautiful mess of belief and doubt, sometimes right in the middle of our worship.

Christ's invitation to the weary and heavy-laden is a call to begin life over again upon a new principle--upon His own principle. "Watch My way of doing things," He says. "Follow Me. Take life as I take it. Be meek and lowly, and you will find Rest.” - Henry Drummond

Today we’ll finish up our conversation around the Matthew 11 passage. We’ll land on rest and spend some time talking about what the invitation to get away with God actually means for us, as the beloved of God. I just know that by the end of the podcast you’ll be eager to turn it off and get away with Jesus for the rest that he offers.

Back in the middle of August we talked about the invitation to Come, to Jesus with our weary and burdened selves.(Matthew 11:28-30) Join me this week as we unpack some thoughts around the next step of this invitation--- and we’ll start with yokes. Not jokes, but yokes:) We're gonna talk not only about what they are but what makes them helpful.

Solitude is the place of purification and transformation, the place of the great struggle and the great encounter. Henri Nouwen

It’s easy for us to romanticize what getting alone with God in solitude will be like. In this episode I’ll share with you the discomfort and messiness of my time alone with Jesus and how it ultimately led me somewhere other than what I was hoping and expecting.

Today is me sharing with you spontaneously about what it was like to cling to what was good in my own discomfort. Hopefully me sharing how terrible I felt and what the struggle was like, to choose a different way, will lead you to some encouragement. If nothing else, you’ll know you’re not alone in have an occasional hard day.