Pray Always. Laugh Often. Grow in Christ.

Why do you suppose I chose the phrase "Pray Always.  Laugh Often.  Grow in Christ."  to be the logo for Spirituality Classroom?  

Each of those short sentences means a lot to me in the way that I maintain my own spiritual wellness.  So let’s take a look at each of them.  Perhaps you'll glean meaning from them too.

Pray always.

Does it seem possible or impossible to you – to ALWAYS be at prayer?  If you’re thinking, “No, it’s not possible, then why would St. Paul tell us to do exactly that – to pray always?  Yet which of us, even on good days, manages to pray all the way through any set of waking hours, even when we haven't been hurt badly? 

Spiritual abuse can cripple our faith at a deep and basic level, affects the health or dis-ease of our prayer life.  When it seems as though we can’t pray any more, then is it absurd to talk about praying always?  I think not.

 In the Spirituality Classroom, we will

• explore how it could be possible to “pray always”
• present ways to pray that you might not have known before
• weave those possibilities throughout the website
• present the effects that “praying always” has on us
• learn that one of those effects is deep healing

Laugh often.

This website is for women who have been hurt badly by someone in their church.  And so you may be wondering why I’m saying to laugh often.  How can we laugh when we hurt?  Believe me, I don’t mean to make light of anyone’s spiritual wounds.  I know that when we hurt and have been beaten down, that laughter can seem to belong on a different planet. 

Spiritual abuse can destroy our hope.  When things seem hopeless, the last thing we feel like doing, is laugh.  However, research has shown that genuine laughter brings health to every part of our being.  Authentic laughter is an important aspect of spiritual wellness.  Spirituality Classroom will present different aspects of how laughter improves our health and heals us, and how we can begin to bring laughter (and even joy) with integrity into our lives again.

Grow in Christ.

There are an unknown number of Christians, who though they’ve been Christian for years, have little or no concept of what it means to “grow in Christ.”  For them, simply attending church on Sundays is what being Christian means.  “Growing spiritually” perhaps seems like a new concept that is hard to understood.  When our spirits have been crushed, we might believe that any talk of growing might as well be in some foreign language.  We don’t understand how it could apply to us, because we’re either emotionally stuck or we feel like we’re spiraling downward.

Yet Scripture tells us in many ways and places that the Lord does cause us to grow in Him throughout our lives – even when we’re in those tough places (sometimes even because of those tough places) that can be called “the valley of the shadow of death” (Psalm 23). 

Spiritual abuse can bring us to the place where we can’t love the way we used to love anymore.  Our love, at least our love for the church, is crushed and the religious theme of our love is damaged, if not destroyed.  Emotional abuse takes the starch out of us, as the abuser draws us into their dysfunctional webs and controlling mind games. 

Spirituality Classroom presents many facets of spiritual growth and offers tools for how to intentionally grow in Christ, beyond the dark times of bitter woundedness, or sometimes even in the face of it. 

My intention is to help you re-ignite your faith, hope, and love as you search for healing toward unleashing your Ultimate Creative Potential in Christ.  So…

Pray always.  Laugh often.  Grow in Christ.

Which of these short sentences seems to be the most difficult for you to think about?  Do you think it’s possible for you to “pray always, laugh often, or grow in Christ?”

Leave me a comment.

And remember, you're awesome!  May God bless you and hold you in the palm of His hand.