Renew Your Mind
Good morning... As I recently told you, my signed copy of The Hidden Life Awakened was hiding somewhere. Until today, when it surprisingly appeared in a pile on my desk, on the first day of our Awake To Wellness Women's Retreat led by the book's authors. God's timing often makes me laugh. I fell in love with the first edition of this sacred book, written in 2006, and I adore even more the second [...]
From Good To Better To Best
Good morning... "Nothing on our spiritual journey is ever final," says Betty Skinner on page 83 of my old, tattered copy of The Hidden Life. "It is a continuous change and movement from what is good (the place where most of us live, desiring to love and serve God) to what is better (an open and intense desire to hear God) to what is best (when all of our prayer becomes service and all [...]
Initiate Contact With God
Good morning... "Sweet Sue," she emailed me, "I saw you and a friend walking yesterday as I pulled out of my driveway, and I wanted to stop but I was running late to get somewhere." She continued: "I am so looking forward to the retreat at St. Philip's on Saturday! I have found a beautiful way to initiate contact with God through Betty Skinner's story over the years. Re-reading The Hidden Life Awakened this [...]
Be Present To People In Pain
Good morning... As a class, we found Parker Palmer's insights very, very convicting. We all love people who experience seasons of suffering. We all want to help people out of their pain. Yet, when Parker was "in his misery," loved ones came to offer "sympathy that led him deeper into despair." Experience this excerpt from Let Your Life Speak and ponder how you might be more deeply present for people who are in pain. [...]
Pause. Look Right.
Good morning... Envisioning our collective journey being lived upon a timeline, we pause. Looking left, we see where we had been before our recent four-day technical glitch. Now we pause to look right. At the moment of disconnection where was the Spirit leading us? I was working on a post quoting Parker Palmer: "Depression is the ultimate state of disconnection." Then, as if on cue, technology disconnected us. I kept living. 24 hours. 24 hours. [...]
Pause. Look left.
Good morning... As the Holy Spirit slows down our pace, we pause and look left. Where were we when the God's glitches began wreaking havoc? Together we were diving deep into the valley of depression. After a rash of suicides, school shootings, and violence at home and abroad, concerned people are commenting, "We must closely consider the collective and personal state of our mental health." God was leading us down into depression's dark valley and [...]
Pause. Pay Attention.
Good morning... After a four day, Holy Spirit hiatus caused by technical difficulty, I wake to the following notice in my inbox. Your list has lost a subscriber. sue@suetoyou.com Sue2You Blog Unsubscribe Date Mar 16, 2018 07:35 pm Email Address sue@suetoyou.com First Name Sue Last Name Allen Unsubscribe IP 141.126.187.10 View Unsubscribe When I "View Unsubscribe," the reason given is: "Thank you." In case you are wondering, I did not unsubscribe from our daily [...]
God Is In Our Glitches
Good morning... My most recent daily blog post was sent out four days ago. Then I hit a computer snag and sent you an email entitled: "Technical Difficulties - Will Return When Fixed." Over the years, I have grown to believe that computer snags and technical difficulties often occur when God is fighting to get our attention. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the rulers, [...]
Deeper, Deeper Still
Good morning... During my suffering season, I did share deeply with a small handful of old friends. That level of me was important to walk and talk through with trusted companions. And then there were two cloudy levels deeper, deeper still. My deepest core level was lived just with my God. Our hard-fought wrestling match, bout after bout, was chronicled in several of my journals and some of my words found their way into [...]
Cloudy Balanced Layers
Good morning... So many of you have responded so kindly to our recent posts revealing my experience of deep depression (Heavy And Hollow) and of my fear that people would think less of me because of it (I Feel Like Jerry Maguire). Thank you all for resonating with my realness. In their extreme contrast, two responses in particular taught me the importance of living with cloudy, balanced layers. One friend I know well now, but [...]
I Feel Like Jerry Maguire
Good morning... After "pushing send" on yesterday's raw, real post, Heavy And Hollow, I thought, "I kinda feel like Jerry Maguire." Remember him? After his own life-altering epiphany in the 1996 romantic comedy/sports film, Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise) "pushes send" on a personalized mission statement about perceived dishonesty in the sports management business and his desire to work with fewer clients to produce better quality. After emailing his passion-filled, raw-real words to everyone in the office, he [...]
Heavy And Hollow
Good morning... As I hazily recall my own walk down-and-up through the deep valley of depression, two words linger longest. Heavy and hollow. It is weird to feel heavy and hollow at the same time, like the shell of a 500 lb. chocolate Easter bunny who is empty inside. My depression was partially situational and mostly quite spiritual. God had called to me as clearly as possible, coaxing me to leave behind the comfortable [...]