Tag: inspiration

Grasping For Air

by rejoiceandpraise, posted in Art Therapy, awareness, Bible, Catholic Faith, Catholic Journey, Catholicism, Christianity, creativity, Depression, Faith, God, Jesus, My journey with Jesus, Personal Reflection, Poetry, Poetry/Lyric, Praise, sketching, Spirituality

smog covers the sky

like a blanket of despair

Grasping for air

to see beyond the stratosphere

I offer a silent prayer to all the firefighters battling the flames

For those forced to move out of its fiery path

There are things and situations that are literally out of our control, when all we can do is take the time to breathe. To see beyond the smoggy din that surround our lives and grasp for air.

Breathing Space (June 6, 2023)

Looking out into the ominous sky, I look beyond it and look deeply at its implications for my own well being. I can let it drag my mood down, or look beyond it to see hope. Within my magnified space, I offer up a silent prayer to God for all the firefighters working vigorously to put out the flames. I pray for all those who have been displaced by the gravity of the forest fires (Quebec). I let God do his job.

breathing space

just to breathe. i am alive

grasping for air

my magnified space

allowing myself to go with the flow

Don’t forget Jesus too often withdraw from his disciples to pray: 16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. Luke 5:16

Philippians 4:6 reminds us to take the time and offer up our angst and worries to God:

6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

God Bless 💖🙏

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 🙏💕

Compass

by rejoiceandpraise, posted in art, Art Therapy, awareness, Christian Blogger, Christianity, inspiration, Spiritual Direction, Spiritual Journey, Testimony

The Rhythm of My Life (2021)

Looking into the blue. The deep reaches to you layered by the hazy translucent clouds and wisp of white clouds moving to life’s beat – the rhythm of my life.

Into the stratosphere I think to myself – how beautiful is your creation. My soul longs to reach out to you.

I rejoice and sing songs of praise to your beauty. My heart explodes in love as I think how wonderful it is to have you in my life.

I imagine I have wings to fly high to you. But I can. My soul can swirl up high towards you.

Funeral March Sketches (April/May 2023)

Much of this new body of work arises out of a many weeks meditation and prayer on Luke 24.

My son calls this phase of my life my “Funeral March.” He said this as a joke as we reflected on his photographs of me, but it gave me pause for thought.

Hence, I coin this body of work and reflection Funeral March.

Grieving

Yes, there is definitely grieving as I let go – of all the “isms” that have molded and shaped my life. Now is the time to return to my authentic self – the person I was created to be before all the baggage was piled up upon me to the point where I was no longer recognizable – to myself. Grace awareness is what I call this journey.

What is reflected back at me?

Looking towards the light – peace and joy can only exist when I let go.

Working with an Art Therapist and a Spiritual Director goes hand in hand (for me). Healing is not only about self care, but also within – the soul. My body is temporal, my soul is eternal.

Thanks to my readers for letting you share this process with you.

Blessings and I pray your path is filled with joy and peace in your spiritual journey. 💖🙏

Drawing Nearer A Step At A Time

by rejoiceandpraise, posted in Catholic Faith, Catholic Journey, Christian Blogger, Christianity, Faith, inspiration, Jesus, Personal Reflection

I read this verse today , and it resonates with challenges in my Faith journey.

“Guard your steps when you go to the house of God; to draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools; for they do not know that they are doing evil. Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven, and you upon earth; therefore let your words be few.”–Ecclesiastes 5:1-2

God Bless each of you as you take one step at a time towards Jesus Christ and grow into a better “you” in your existence before God🙏💕

A New Beginning

by rejoiceandpraise, posted in Christian Blogger, Christianity, inspiration, Personal Reflection

My thoughts today (Aside)

Today I felt a joy brewing

A spring in my steps

What’s passed remains in the past

I can rejoice in a risen Christ

Now Jesus is the bridge to the Father

His resurrection let’s me draw closer to God

No longer something out there beyond my grasp

Meditation On The Risen Jesus

In the shadow of death

May we not look back to the past but seek in utter darkness the dawn of God.

Lord, enfold me in the depths of your heart; and there hold me, refine, purge, and set me on fire, raise me aloft, until my own self knows utter annihilation.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardonnay, SJ

God Bless 🙏💕☀️

Father Donald Calloway

by rejoiceandpraise, posted in Catholicism, Christian Blogger, Christianity, Father Donald Calloway, Testimony

A moving personal testimony of a journey to God, and one so many of us can relate to.

Each of us have a personal and unique conversion story. It is a testament of the love of God and His divine mercy.

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 💕🙏

Finding Awareness

by rejoiceandpraise, posted in awareness, Catholic Faith, Catholic Journey, Catholicism, Christian Blogger, Christianity, grace, inspiration, Personal Reflection

Finding myself is a theme that shows up in my Daily Examen this Lenten. This is part of stripping away the many layers of me as I draw nearer to God. All the distractions that I have placed upon myself believing they will bring me closer to God, are being peeled off.

A part of my journey in life is seeking happiness, love and saintliness (holiness). These are graces I have prayed for the past few months – graced awareness.

What is graced awareness?

Happiness is not an achievement; love is not an achievement; holiness is not an achievement. They are each a grace—a grace called awareness, a grace called looking, observing, and understanding.

https://www.demellospirituality.com/a-grace-called-awareness/:

In our daily walk as a Christian/Catholic, it’s so easy to get blogged down by life. Taking the time to be mindful, watchful, alert and awake takes practice and time. In asking God for the grace of awareness, one can see everything in our daily lives reflected back. With the help of His divine grace one can see the authentic self without the distortions of layers upon layers of our world piled upon us.

“Set free from human judgment, we should count as true only what God sees in us, what he knows, and what he judges. God does not judge as man does. Man sees only the countenance, only the exterior. God penetrates to the depths of our hearts. God does not change as man does. His judgment is in no way inconstant. He is the only one upon whom we should rely. How happy we are then, and how peaceful! We are no longer dazzled by appearances, or stirred up by opinions; we are united to the truth and depend upon it alone. I am praised, blamed, treated with indifference, disdained, ignored, or forgotten; none of this can touch me. I will be no less than I am. Men and women want to play at being a creator. They want to give me existence in their opinion, but this existence that they want to give me is nothingness. It is an illusion, a shadow, an appearance, that is, at bottom, nothingness. What is this shadow, always following me, behind me, at my side? Is it me, or something that belongs to me? No. Yet does not this shadow seem to move with me? No matter: it is not me. So it is with the judgements of men: they would follow me everywhere, paint me, sketch me, make me move according to their whim, and, in the end, give me some sort of existence … but I am disabused of this error. I am content with a hidden life. How peaceful it is! Whether I truly live this Christian life of which St. Paul speaks, I do not know, nor can I know with certainty. But I hope that I do, and I trust in God’s goodness to help me.”

—Bishop Jacques-Benigne Bossuet, Meditation For Lent, p. 99-101

May God Bless each of us as we journey towards the cross with humbleness and love🙏💕