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Dealing With Spiritual Dryness

What To Do When You Feel Like You’re In A Desert

One of the more difficult times we experience in our spiritual lives are those moments when we feel spiritually dry and drained. It almost feels like we are in a desert.

Spiritual Dryness

Spiritual dryness can be overwhelming at times. It can lead to feeling down and almost feel like depression. And we all experience it. It’s a fact of our spiritual lives. We enjoy the mountaintop experiences. But what do we do when we hit the lower places, the valleys, the deserts?

Sometimes, life just throws us a curve ball, and our lives take a pretty strong hit. A couple of years ago, my wife fell and broke an ankle while pregnant. Soon after, I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea, followed by a diagnosis of cancer. It seemed like our world was turned upside down overnight, and we didn’t know what to do.

I felt like that time was one of the driest spiritual stretches I have ever encountered, and yet it was also a period of time where I experienced the most spiritual growth. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, I know. But looking back on that time, and the weeks and months following it, my journal is filled with ways that I can see God molding me into more of the person he wants me to be.

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Coffee Break – 02.15.2016

Your Monday Dose Of Inspiration

On this day in history: In 1758, mustard was advertised for the first time in America. In 1764, the city of St. Louis was established. And in 1903, the first Teddy Bear goes on sale, named after President Theodore Roosevelt.

Coffee Break

The Best Websites For Coffee Education – I have learned much of what I know from those who have learned it before and chose to share it with others. This list is a pretty good start to learning about coffee.

25 Facts About Missouri – This is my home state, and there are many unique things about it. Here is a list of several that most Missourians know, but others may not.

Relatively Recent Timeline Of History – I found this pretty interesting. And the more I looked at it, the more I found that intrigued me.

How To Calm A Crying Baby – With seven kids, we have tried several ways to comfort them when they cried. This method seems to be very effective. I wish we had seen this before.

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Memorize Scripture: Philippians 4:10-11

As Paul moves into the final section of his letter to the Philippians, he brings up the topic of giving, and provides some excellent instruction for us to follow.

Read this passage for yourself in Philippians 4:10-11:

Philippians 4:10-11

The Philippian believers had given Paul some much needed financial assistance, which was especially helpful during his time in the Roman prison. As Paul expresses his gratitude for this gift, he gives some beneficial principles concerning giving.

In these final paragraphs of the letter, Paul expresses two main thoughts. First, he appreciates their concern for him while he is in chains. Second, he is confident that God will give him the ability to be content, no matter what circumstances befall him.

Paul rejoices greatly, using again the word “rejoice,” for which this letter is so well known. This time, his joy stems from the fact that the Philippians have renewed their concern for him. The term “renewed” is used only here in the New Testament, and provides a gardening metaphor. This word describes a tree or a bush budding out in the spring, being renewed after a dormant period of winter. Such is the concern of the Philippians.

They had been concerned for Paul, but had no opportunity to show it until now. Just why they had no opportunity is not known. It could have been as simple as the fact that Paul was imprisoned hundreds of miles away, and they had no way of providing support, or even any encouragement. Perhaps they had nothing to give for a period of time, or no messenger to send it to Paul.

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Book Review – The Newsmakers by Lis Wiehl

The Newsmakers by Lis WiehlI have been a fan of Lis Wiehl for a while, and have enjoyed many of her books over the past few years. So when I saw her new book, The Newsmakers, I was excited to pick up a copy and read it.

Overall, The Newsmakers was a pretty good story. But it was not up to the same level as other novels by Wiehl. This was not her best book, by far. That said, it is still a great story, and was an enjoyable book to read.

By way of a brief synopsis, and without giving anything away, the book is about Erica Sparks, a new character for Wiehl. Sparks is a TV reporter who has just been hired by an up-and-coming global news network. But when a series of events begin to unfold, she begins to suspect that her career, and her life, may be in jeopardy.

Sparks is a very real character. She is a recovering alcoholic, fresh from a nasty divorce, and Wiehl has done a superb job of making Erica Sparks a character the reader can understand, and even identify with. Along with many other characters in the book, Sparks is one the reader soon comes to love. Other characters, however, feel under-developed, and forced, and could have used some polishing.

Wiehl has chosen to write The Newsmakers in the present tense. For example, instead of writing “she said,” or “she walked,” Wiehl wrote “she says,” and “she walks.” While this is a small thing, it frequently makes the flow of the story seem stilted, and becomes distracting. At one point, I was almost frustrated enough to put the book down because of this. While some books can be written this way, The Newsmakers should not have been.

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Coffee Break – 02.08.2016

Your Monday Dose Of Inspiration

On this day in history: In 1587, Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded after 19 years of imprisonment for her complicity in a plot to murder Queen Elizabeth I. In 1910, William D. Boyce incorporated the Boy Scouts of America. And in 1924, the first execution by lethal gas in American history is carried out in Carson City, Nevada. The executed man was Tong Lee, a member of a Chinese gang who was convicted of murdering a rival gang member.

Coffee Break

Watch Coffee Trees Sprout – I could watch this all day… And I now want my own coffee tree.

16 Repeatable Facts About Groundhog Day – This is one of my favorite movies, and I watch it every year around Groundhog Day, like so many others. Here are a few things you may not know about the movie.

Crashing Waves On Lake Erie – Majestic. That’s the only word I can find to describe these waves. The power displayed here is stunning, and amazing.

Why Do People In Old Movies Talk Weird? – Have you ever wondered where that old timey accent in old movies comes from? Did people really talk like that? Well, wonder no more. Here’s the answer.

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Memorize Scripture: Philippians 4:8-9

This passage is perhaps my favorite passage in all of Philippians. I memorized this very early in my spiritual life, and it has been a source of strength to me for years.

You can find this passage in Philippians 4:8-9:

Philippians 4:8-9

Since this is such an encouraging passage to me, I have written about each of the characteristics that Paul mentions before, and examined them in greater depth. But today, they are worth looking at again as we examine this section of Paul’s letter to the Philippians.

It’s easy to get caught up in the list that Paul gives, and miss the final statement. Keeping our focus, as Paul encourages us to do, results in God’s peace. This isn’t the first time in chapter four that Paul brings up the topic of peace. He did so just a couple of verses earlier, in verses 6 and 7, as he was giving details about prayer.

Prayer causes the mind to focus. Paul’s words here are an encouragement to also focus the mind, giving us a parallel to the attitude of prayer already given. The key part of this is the continual nature of keeping our focus. Paul isn’t giving us these terms for us to attempt once in a while. No, this is a mindset to develop habitually, and to maintain at all times. It’s a lifestyle.

With that in mind, let’s look briefly at each descriptor in turn. I have included a link to my previous posts on each of these if you are interested in looking deeper at these terms.