Category: Reflection

State Of Flow

by rejoiceandpraise, posted in Art Therapy, Catholic Faith, Catholic Journey, Christian Blogger, Christianity, creative expression, Faith, Forgiveness, illness, inspiration, joy, Reflection, sketching, Spirituality, Testimony, watercolours

There is anxiety and stress. There is also depression. Coming from a Christian and Chinese cultural milieu, I use to feel guilt that I would have these conditions.

As part of my own psychological and spiritual journey, I now acknowledge that it’s ok to go through anxiety, stress, fear and even depression. Going through life changes and growth is never easy. It can disable me, or it can create so much fear and panic that I don’t want to leave the confines of my home.

I have been working with a St. Ignatius Spiritual Director for the past few years as part of my own spiritual journey to love, know and do God’s will. Part of this is shedding away all the layers of “things” piled upon me in my 60 plus years of life.

The awareness of how much psychological and emotional baggage I carry on my shoulders is daunting. Spiritual awareness is letting go of all the “stuff” that keeps me from God.

Hand in hand in my spiritual journey the past few months is seeing my art therapist. Through visualization, I can explore those areas in my psyche which chains me. Art therapy and my spiritual direction helps in healing me to be the person I was meant to be in God’s image.

I am going through a personal transformation and letting go of emotional and psychological chains to becoming my authentic self. Free from the sins of the “father” and all those “ism” that has unconsciously molded and shaped the neurotic, anxious and stressed out me. It is and has been a healing journey.

Christian work ethic was my moral compass. Topped with the drive, angst and expectations of my immigrant parents – where my Chinese cultural repertoire often conflicted with my Christian one. I was a CBC – Canadian born Chinese.

The pace of life since university and then career set the pace for the next 30 years. It shaped my friendships and social environment. Fast forward into my 60s is the realization that I existed in a pressure cooker. The past many months have seen me breaking free to find my authentic self in the mundanity of my life. The career that once gave me much joy, is now but a shallow prison. Friendships were based on a thin thread of association and easily sever (for the first time C.S. Lewis’ The Four Loves made sense). I let the “stuff” of the world come between me and God.

Aside:

Luke 24 is pivotal in my state of flow. Mediating on Mary Magdalene’s grief over the death of her beloved friend and the disciples focus on the current news until they recognize Jesus when he broke bread, all help me understand that peace and joy comes only from fixing our focus on Jesus.

With my eyes on Jesus, I can move towards healing my mind, body and soul. All those angst and inner pain starts to slowly flow out of me. Yes, it is taking proactive action on my part to get better. Now, I can move towards the next phase of my life because my gaze is on Jesus. Only then can I let go of my baggage. I can now grieve and walk towards the light – because I am safe in Jesus’ embrace.

Resource: The Catholic Guide To Depression, by Aaron Kheriaty

The Four Loves, by C. S. Lewis https://ia800104.us.archive.org/27/items/fourloves01lewi/fourloves01lewi.pdf

Thank you for letting me share my journey with you. Jesus loves each of us at whatever point in life we are at. I pray that each of you walk with him into the light. All the things we once deemed important, hurtful, or heavy falls to the wayside.

God Bless 🙏💕

Hope Awareness

by rejoiceandpraise, posted in Bible, Catholic Faith, Catholic Journey, Christian Blogger, Christianity, Faith, God, grace, Jesus, Reflection

When I first became a Catholic, I delve right into my new faith with gusto and excitement. I remember my first Lent going a bit overboard with fasting, giving up coffee, no gaming, and no shopping without really understanding the “why” I was doing it. I was miserable! Yes, I followed through it with the mindset that it was what Catholics do during Lent.

As one matures in their spiritual journey with God, one goes through a surface and more importantly an inner transformation of a deeper understanding of faith. Who I am as a child of God and what does He want for me? Where one was once a child and did as we were told, walking with Jesus leads to a blossoming spirituality. Reflecting within and without ourselves as we head into Easter, there are heart felt insights into the child within who loves God, and who journeys in hope and love. For the realization that through the death of Jesus on the cross, one can cross the bridge to the Father. Jesus died for you and me so that we may have a place next to God.

My Lenten this year is not a list of sacrifices as in previous years, but an inward awareness of me as the child of God whose brokenness is healed through the death of Christ.

Two verses moves my heart today:

I have been crucified with Christ; 20 and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Galatians 2:19-20


New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— 9 not the result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

Ephesians 2:8-10

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

This Lenten moves me to rejoice within and it’s in the heart and not my headspace. It is a sincere look within, and in doing this, I see the authentic me as Jesus sees me reflected back at me.

I raise my heart in prayer for each of us to be filled with joy and hope in Jesus.

God Bless 💕🙏

Beware Of Demons In Our Midst

by rejoiceandpraise, posted in Christian Blogger, Christianity, Faith, God, New Age, Personal Reflection, prayer, Prophetic, Reflection, secularism

I have always taught my kids to think critically and to seek the truth that’s hidden beneath the sludge of popularism. Satan no longer hides in the deep, and is in our faces dominating every facet of our lives. Most visible in the music and entertainment industry, as well as in our social media and mainstream news. Satan has infiltrated all facets of our culture.

I take the time to talk to my children and ask them to look at the whole picture, and to think critically before trusting the main narratives in our world. Asking questions will help them find the truth rather than be seduced by the lies that is now a part of the norm.

The recent UFO sightings (and shooting down) dominating the news is one example. I have been waiting for this harbinger. First the world had the Covid mandates and shutdowns. The closing of church’s and all public religious gathering was the beginning of the great lie: “Getting vaccinated is an act of love.” The UFO narrative is for me another way of mass control – for we who are in Christ know that these are demon and the work of Satan.

The dark and vile no longer hide. Satan is in your face now! It is everywhere – our music, Hollywood, mainstream media – it’s’ nefarious seeds reaping the minds and souls of the venerable.

Please stay focused on Jesus. No institution is perfect, just as Pope Benedict XVI and many Popes before him and Marian Apparitions have warned – Satans seed has permeated and infested many high places.

UFO and alien deception: a diabolical preparation for the anti-Christ (Daniel O’Connor and John Henry Weston).

https://rumble.com/v1lwa44-ufo-and-alien-deception-a-diabolical-preparation-for-the-anti-christ.html

Enough said, please take the time to pray for atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.

God Bless 💕🙏

Act Of Faith

by rejoiceandpraise, posted in Bible, Catholic Faith, Catholicism, Christian Blogger, Christianity, Jesus, Reflection, The Chosen

I had not watched The Chosen (Season 1) until this weekend. My parish priest had raved about this series and recommended it as a beautiful portrayer of Jesus.

Wrapping our heads around the hypostatic union of Jesus as one person with two nature – divine and human – can be grappling to understand.

From a personal perspective, I really appreciate how the Holy Spirit moves me time and time again to have a deeper understanding of Jesus’ human side. Between my daughter passing me tissues to wipe my eyes, not out of sadness, but with an inner joy, “Mom, why are you crying? You’ve read all this in the Bible and you know Jesus’ story.”

Reading and picturing the scene in my head is one thing, but to see it enacted adds to a holistic understanding of Jesus – the man, the son who was in constant communication with the Father, and his interaction and love for all the people around him. I also gained deeper insights into each of Jesus’ disciples. Just as I felt the pain Nicodemus the Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin was going through – the difficulty of giving up all to follow Jesus.

I am so often wrought by my own subjective reason and intellectualization that I miss the most basic teachings in the Bible. It is not through reason we come to Christ. Yes, for some it is, but for myself, it is to work beyond my own head space into faith – that means letting go of the mind and moving towards the “mysteries of God, and “Mysteries are not easy for a scholar”

I recommend taking the time to watch the first season of The Chosen now on Netflix. For myself, watching this was the Holy Spirit showing me that there is a bit of me in each of the people around Jesus.

SIN has permeated each of us, and Jesus points us to the Father:

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

John 14:6-7 ESV

God Bless 💕🙏

Staying on God’s Path

by rejoiceandpraise, posted in Catholic Faith, Catholic Teaching, Catholicism, Christian Blogger, Christianity, Personal Reflection, Reflection

I have to say that sometimes (ok, most of the time) it’s a struggle between my will (me) and God’s will. My path seems easy and mapped out. God’s route takes time and effort, nor do I know where the Holy Spirit will take me:

8 The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

John 3:8 NRSVCE

The spiritual road travelled is littered with life challenges – it is through them that we can grow in leaps and bound. A part of that growth process is learning to discern between consolation and desolation. That is distinguishing if it’s from God or Satan. I have to admit this is a life long process of being mindfully alert and Jesus centred.

So often I do something thinking it’s God’s will only to realize the evil one has slid in and before I know it, I’m feeling stressed, overloaded and burdened. I piled upon myself all these to do activities thinking it will develop my spirituality only to realize they end up distracting me from focusing on Jesus. Satan has inadvertently slithered in. Yup, my lack of discernment.

These past few weeks, I have learnt exactly that – Trust God, keep my focus on Jesus, and silent time to hear the Holy Spirit. It is easy to fall on the wayside without realizing it. That’s when I find it necessary to shift my focus back to Jesus.

Good Bless 🙏💕

Final Thoughts For 2022

by rejoiceandpraise, posted in Catholic Journey, Catholicism, Christian Blogger, Christianity, inspiration, Reflection


Never will I leave you.

Hebrews 13:5b

As we enter into a New Year, let’s not look back upon all the challenges and say “good riddance,” but rather give thanks to our Heavenly Father for his love and his hand in helping us manoeuvre through it.

Sometimes our individual journey is dark, and it feels as if we are alone. Yes, we don’t see him, but know that God has it all under control – we only need to call upon him.

9 Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who maintains covenant loyalty with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,

Deuteronomy 7:9

Thank Jesus for being with us always even when we can’t see or feel him.

Let us be mindfully in the moment and give thanks. We can look to 2023 with the assurance that God is faithful.

May God’s blessings follow you into 2023. I pray for each to grow deeper in faith, love Jesus more, know him more intimately, as well as walk in his will more closely. 🙏❤️