People usually say welcome to my world when they recognize their own personal style of disaster in another person's life. Welcome to my world. In this case, though, I have been taking a lot of time to recognize how one woman's disaster can be another woman's enlightenment, and that is the direction I have decided to go. Its called looking at the flip side, All The Time!
:-)
Having seen the now most famous Blog movie, Julie and Julia, I feel empowered to share my own passion, which is living spiritually in the middle of one of the most affluent counties of America. Can it really be done? Yes! I am even surprised myself. But it really can.
So what does that mean, to live spiritually in the suburbs? How would Gandhi have handled it? Are there clearance racks for togas? Probably not, but if you are hitting the clearance racks, you may have already considered Step One. Honestly, though, where does one draw the line between recreational shopping and selflessness and discipline? Where does it start and why is it important? Oh, its a hard row to hoe my friends, and its taken me a long time to figure out the hows and whys of getting to the point where sharing the info is even possible.
But here is what happened yesterday. It blew my mind. Okay, let me take a few steps back and tell you in one long breath about who I am and what I do, which will then lead me to yesterday.
My name is Christine Rose and ten years ago I had a Near Death Experience which caused me to encounter God, who gave me the choice to come back here or go with God. There's a lot to say on that subject, but we'll save it for another column. Anyway, in the days, weeks, months, and now a decade later, God never really left me, but instead gave me some pretty strict rules about the way to proceed with my life. I rebelled, I did what I wanted, I ignored the things God told me to do....and then I got smited. Yeah. That can really happen, and its NOT FUN.
It took me almost ten years to start to get it right, because living spiritually has nothing to do with suburban life, but I have realized that it can and it should, and one day, it might be necessary.
Because I was given work to do, (Love Your Neighbor) I now run a charity for American Indian children, and because I put their needs before mine, I basically live in the palm of God's hands, worrying about nothing, and accepting everything life throws at me. And it works!
Believe it or not, just when I stopped insisting that I get to live my life on my terms, and handed myself over on a hairshirt platter to God, well, thats when the real adventures started.
Living Spiritually in the Suburbs is all about how to look at all those things that God says in the Bible (and other scripture, including other religious practices) and fit them into your own life in a way that improves your day to day existence, relieves stress, encourages spiritual healing, and gives you a reason to live your life besides shopping and paying bills.
I hope you stick around. There is so much to talk about...including what happened yesterday.
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