Good morning…
I spent the weekend immersed in the presence of life-giving authors. How did God orchestrate for me an opportunity to co-lead a women’s retreat in St. Simons with Dr. Cathy Snapp and Kitty Crenshaw, authors of The Hidden Life Awakened, then, after a five hour drive, allow me to learn face to face from beloved author and podcaster, Kate Bowler?
Fun. Memorable. Absolutely transformative.
As I now savor the notes I took throughout this special weekend, a few overlapping gems capture my attention.
Cathy Snapp taught us about red emotions (like fear, anger, guilt, worry, resentment), emotions that make us feel chained and drained, and she pointed out green emotions (like satisfaction, gratitude, peace, joy, love), emotions that lift us up and frees us to experience all the goodness existing within and around us. Cathy surprised me when she said, “We aren’t made by God to live in the green all of the time. We are made for the spring back.” She explained that, just like a cork held under water springs back up when it is released, we are designed to feel the red emotions, to notice and name them, before letting them go. Then, like a cork, God has wired us to resiliently pop back up into the green, prioritizing, savoring, installing the positive emotions 10 to 12 seconds at a time.
Kate Bowler said something similar. “An ugly truth is better than a beautiful lie. Truth can heal us, even an ugly truth.” And she said, “Terrible things happen all the time. Faith and fear can co-exist. We learn to live alongside our fears loved by God. We know fear. We walk with it faithfully, like we do with sorrow, despair, addiction.” Then she ended by sharing a quote she once heard, “What we run from chases us. What we face transforms us.”
God is, was, and always will be transforming us. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry (and all of the other red emotions) at the center of your life (Philippians 4:7, MSG). By God, we are freed, moment by moment, to walk on our own path to green.
He provides me rest in rich, green fields beside streams of refreshing water. He soothes my fears; He makes me whole again, steering me off worn, hard paths to roads where truth and righteousness echo His name (Psalm 23:2-3, VOICE).
Terrible. Beautiful. Absolutely transformative.
…Sue…
