The good news: if you are afraid of being alone… you are not alone, most people are. I talked about it in my sermon this morning. The deep fears behind being alone are the fears of being lonely, and the fear of being insignificant. First, let’s tackle how to be alone and not lonely. As […]
I interrupt this regularily scheduled blog for a word of prayer. What a day it has been. Today (like most churches) we at Royal Oak First moved all of our worship to “on line” services and we closed the doors to the church for all services, gatherings and meetings for at least three weeks. To […]
That is the question: can we be alone and not be lonely? Let’s look at the difference between the two. Being alone simply means we are by ourselves. It is a state of being. Loneliness is an emotion; the feeling of being abandoned, isolated and unvalued. Loneliness is a state of mind. We can feel lonely […]
Combating the fear of being alone; that’s our topic for this week. Every year on this day, I post on the blog the reading below. It is from “Jesus Calling” by Sarah Young, a book of daily devotions This is the devotion from March 10. In all my years of blogging, never have these words […]
Lenten Blog Day 8 The Fear of Our Own Unknown. The opposite of “our own unknown” is our need to be known. When did our lives become so dependent on being recognized, on the number of likes we get on a post or our ability to connect with hundreds of people through technology? Is this […]
Lenten Blog Day Seven 6 Ways to Cope With Anxiety During Lent, we are on quest to live UnAfriad, to live with courage and hope even in uncertain times. Part of that quest is learning to cope with anxiety. Last Sunday therapist Matthew Swartz gave a lecture at our church called “Anxiety Made Simple.” He […]
Movement Ok… just as we are learning to be still, we come to the next step to cope with anxiety and stress. It’s Movement. We know that exercise has lots of physical benefits but getting our bodies moving can also improve our brains. Studies have shown that physical exercise at least twice a week will […]
Every Tuesday night a large group of ladies gathers at my church. We study a book, we pray together, but mostly we laugh and cry and bond . It is a safe space to articulate whatever is going on in our lives. Deep friendships are made. We “belong”. It is not an exclusive group by […]
#3 Be Kind Yes, being kind actually helps you fight anxiety. Medical studies have shown that when we are kind, our body chemistry is altered and our mood improves. Our blood pressure lowers. We feel better about ourselves and the world around us. Being kind has been shown to boost serotonin, a natural antidepressant in […]
Lenten Blog Day Three 6 Ways to Cope with Anxiety and Stress Stillness: Step #2 in coping with anxiety and stress (from therapist Matthew Swartz presentation on Anxeity), If we are going to get a handle on anxiety and stress, we must first get control of our brains. Yesterday we talked about the importance of […]