Welcome to Release & Renewal: Twenty-Three Day Challenge & Community Fast. I'm so grateful that you are here. After the last 3 years we’ve experienced – the trauma, the isolation, the loss – we need this.
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Our healing is not linear. An often cyclical journey moving us between trauma, progress, triggers, regression and back around again. Certain seasons will bring ease and flow, while others will bring resistance and challenge. And often, it will take for us to break-down before we can break-through.
All of these experiences are valid, and all are okay.
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When we’re behind the wheel, a yield sign tells us to stay out of the way to make room for someone else. And just as when we’re on the road, there are situations in our lives where we find ourselves in the way of our own potential, progress, and purpose. Standing in our own way, otherwise known as self-defeating behavior, is when our behaviors and actions interfere with our intentions and goals – whether consciously or subconsciously.
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The root word for xenodochy is the same as that of xenophobia, the Greek “xeno” means stranger. In the case of xenophobia, it’s a fear of those who are unlike us. It’s a word we hear in news stories of conflict at borders, racialized violence, and discrimination against migrants and refugees. Xenodochy, a much less frequently used word, is quite the opposite – it describes the warm and generous reception of strangers and foreigners.
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Birthdays, gray hairs and smile lines are often regarded as indicators that one has gained wisdom, that she or he has lived long enough to not just know more, but to know better. Successes and failures, bumps and bruises, all build up our storehouse of wisdom. Still, those very same life experiences can also produce qualities in us that contaminate our thinking – like resentment, defensiveness, and mistrust.
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A vulnerability, by definition, is a weakness. It means exposing ourselves to the possibility of harm or rejection. However, in practice, being vulnerable requires our strength, emotional maturity, and self-awareness. Most of us have learned to associate vulnerability with feelings of shame (read: fear).
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Understanding is at the core of our healing. Having a better understanding of ourselves – our feelings, our personality, and our triggers – allows us to change unhealthy behaviors. It also increases our capacity for self-compassion, moving us to extend loving grace toward ourselves when we suffer, fail, or feel inadequate.
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There is power in sharing our testimony. The power to encourage others, the power to glorify God, and beyond that, the power to heal ourselves. Sharing our testimony frees us, it helps us to make the shift in mindset from denial to acceptance, victim to overcomer, and from siloed to supported.
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Surrender is hard. It feels like giving up, like losing. In fact, it can be one of the most challenging aspects of practicing our faith, especially when it comes to our hearts’ deepest desires. Still, trusting that our Creator will work things together for our good is a vital truth. It's a truth that will carry us through loss, grief, disappointment and even devastation.
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