Simply Light Hearted Leora Sawatzky

We all like to be comfortable. It feels nice to know that what we are doing comes with ease and just feels right. But what happens when an opportunity comes along that will help you grow, but will take you to a place of discomfort?? Over the last few months I have been praying about changes to my job that would take me from a place of 'comfort', because it's known, to a place of discomfort, because it's not known. It has been incredibly hard to know what the right thing to do is.



In this episode I am reflecting back through a few times in my life where I walked through change and how each change has taught things about myself and about God. I also looked of examples in the Bible of people who had the courage to step out in faith, away from what was comfortable, to what would likely be a place of discomfort for the sake of growth...and because God asked them too.

It seems like it should be an easy question, and for many, it might be.  But for me the question "What do you want" has been one of the most complex and challenging questions to answer. A few weeks ago I was reading an excellent book called  Sacred Rhythms: Arranging Our Lives For Spiritual Transformation by Ruth Haley Barton. In the first few chapters, she shared the story of Jesus asking blind Bartimaeus "What do you want me to do for you" from Mark 10.  She went on to talk about an important spiritual practice - naming our desires.  This has always been tricky for me because the desire of my heart is to have children, and we are barren.  What do we do when our desires don't match our reality?  What do we do when the prayer for healing is answered with a no?  What do we do when our life experiences go opposite to what we want?  I've got good and bad news for you.  The good news is - I'm talking about it, the bad news is - you will not find any perfect little package in this episode or a 'how to' guide to fix all our problems.  I'm right here in the messy middle with you, holding onto the thread of hope, reflecting on Bible stories and trying to sort out the how to walk through these messy middles that don't seem to add up.  I hope that this episode brings you some comfort, knowing you're not alone. You are seen.  You are loved.  Your needs and wants matter.  Thanks for being here in the messy middle with me.  

With the New Year being just around the corner - it is likely that you fall into either one of two approaches to the new year - team resolutions or team "New Years is dumb - I don't make resolutions."  I have spent time in both camps. What I have learned in the last few years is that it's not about when we make the change or what we want the changes to be - it's all about getting up again after we fail - because we will fail.  

In this episode, we talk about Peter and his biggest failure ever and how Jesus helped remind him to get up again and keep on keeping on.  Your fresh start could be today, it could be on a random Tuesday in October, it doesn't matter what day you start, what matters is that you get up again when you fail. 

In this week's episode, we talk about the shepherds, the glory of the Lord and how "Here on earth, we will have disruptions".  If you're like me and starting to sense the building tension of about the final stretch before Christmas - take a minute to listen in and wonder with me about the delightful disruptions that are right in front of us now.  

The Christmas story is full of examples of lives that were going one way and then got disrupted by something totally unexpected.  Listen in to this week's episode as I share some of my own life's left turns along with the story of the wise men who came from afar to worship Jesus.  

Welcome to week two of this year's Advent Series. As we continue in this advent season, I want to invite us to spend some time thinking about the interesting and beautiful disruptions you could have never planned for in your life. Things you maybe prayed for you, but received in a way you didn’t expect it. Or something you didn’t think you wanted, but then when it came you can’t imagine your life without it. The two key players in this week’s story are two that do get talked about a lot at Christmas, but I don’t think we often talk about them in this light. This week I want to talk about Zechariah and Joseph. With both of these men, their lives were forever changed by the disruption a child would bring to their lives. One was a longed-for, prayed-for child, the other was completely unexpected and in a lot of ways inconvenient.