The Spacious Place, with Kari Levang

God's fundamental interest in us is relationship…That's the good news. God says, "I love you and let's get that settled." But then God says, "Now I'm going to mess with you because there are things you need to get straightened out."' Oh boy are there ever! Have mercy!             —-William Pannell   Join me today as I talk about the messy business of navigating our emotions, when we try to do it a...

  Taking note of the good, the true, the just, the miracles hidden at every turn, is like a deliberate act of defiance against the darkness.   —From, Set the Stars Alight by Amanda Dykes   HAPPY NEW YEAR!   In this episode we're talking about what intentional connection might look like this year. I'm sharing a few of the practical shifts I plan to enter into, as I   intentionally pursue connection...

  The true doctrine of omnipresence is, that God reappears with all his parts in every moss and cobweb. Ralph Waldo Emerson   Christmas is the celebration of our God that is with us, Emmanuel. But what if I told you he's not just with you in the good, but also in the hard...the frustrating...the discouraging and fearful places.   In today's episode I'll share some of the things that are happening...

Happy Christmas season! In today's episode we are going to talk traditions. I'm gonna share some of the things that were important in our family as we were raising our kids, as well as how that has changed and morphed over the years. I'll also share some of the lessons God has taught me along the way as my kids have moved from full time, living in our home, to having families of their own.   There...

Always give thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:20   He leads me, "God isn't behind me yelling, "Go!" He is ahead of me bidding "Come!" He leads us. He tells us what we need to know when we need to know it. Safe in the Shepherds Arms by Max Lucado   HAPPY ALMOST THANKSGIVING!!! I don't know about you, but life can be pretty challenging at time...

Phillip Yancey, "Grace, like water, flows to the lowest places." (Taken from my friend Jeff Peabody's book "Perfectly Suited")   Unless we know and understand and begin to put into practice who God says He is and who He says we are, we will languish. The flourishing life we've been promised is rooted in relationship with the One who doesn't change.   Today marks the beginning of our conversation i...

The presence of fear does not mean you have no faith. Fear visits everyone. But make your fear a visitor and not a resident. Max Lucado   We all find ourselves afraid at times, right? The problem isn't that we experience fear, it's more about what we do when it comes. The story I'm talking through today shows us what Jehoshaphat did when he experienced fear and gives us some insight on how to navi...

"Hard doesn't mean bad, it simply means, not easy." Kari Levang   Are you in a transition of sorts? Maybe a new job, a new babe, a move, or something else?   Join me today as I share about my 3 1/2 month break from podcasting, while I navigated some big transitions.  I'm sharing a little bit about what the break was like for me (spoiler alert: hard and good:)—-as well as giving a little peek into...

"When we show up differently at home, it changes how we show up outside of there" Rebekah Lyons   This week on the Spacious Place I'm sharing what the last 6 months of 22 have shown me as well as where He is leading me for the next couple of months. I'm super stoked for Mike and I to begin the next leg of our adventure together and can't wait to let you in on what's next for us, and for the Spacio...

We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures; we are the sum of the Father's love for us and our real capacity to become the image of His Son. Pope John Paul II   Join me today as I share some helpful ways of being that give us power rather than leave us in the space of the sum of our fears and weaknesses. I'll let you in on some practical ways to enter into joy that a few of my friends have...

  I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious. Albert Einstein   Is change hard for you? I'm a person who loves change, but when there are lots of changes happening at the same time, it can feel overwhelming. Today on the Spacious Place, I'm talking about how some major changes in my life has given me more opportunity to enter into compassionate curiosity with myself and how this way...

This is anniversary week! I've been married to my man Mike for 33 years so I decided to have a sit down with him and share with you some of the places we've been, where we are now, as well as where we are headed together. We share some of the ways that speaking our expectations has been helpful for us on the front side of purposeful times together as opposed to making the assumption that the other...

" When we are tired, we are attacked by ideas we conquered long ago ." Friedrich (Nee-cha) Nietzsche   Join me today as I share some of the personal lessons I'm experiencing as I navigate a season of major life change. I'll share with you a couple of ways that I'm learning to live in a more spacious place in my own heart and mind, rather than allowing old ideas to live in new places during this tr...

To this I hold, my Shepherd will defend me Through the deepest valley, he will lead Oh the night has been won, and I shall overcome! Yet, not I but through Christ in me. -Unknown   In this last episode, I wrap up the conversation with my Sherry.   We talk about grief around empty nesting, and if you are a person who has, or is,   experiencing an especially hard season in life (which is basically a...

Get into the habit of saying, 'Speak Lord', and life will become a romance. Oswald Chambers   This conversation was so good it took two episodes to get through it! Sherry is the first person who I ever hear refer to Jesus as a Love Force. So, in this first episode, we talk a little bit about how that came to be for her and we continue to talk formation around the early seasons of Sherry's life…wha...

"Whatever is mentionable is manageable." Fred Rogers   Today I'm sharing a few of the places I found myself in my own alone time with Jesus and sharing how they relate to this process of formation we've been talking about. I'll share some of the ways that I'm engaging with Jesus with the things that I find myself fearful about today, as well as a couple of my failures that I have to entrust to Jes...

"No soul on this road is such a giant that it doesn't not often need to become a child at the breast again…For there is no state of prayer, however sublime, in which it is not necessary often to go back to the beginning." Teresa of Avila     In this episode I'm sharing a story about Peter, from the book of Matthew and how it relates to us! How we can find ourselves in the places that God has led u...

"To have Faith in Christ means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way. Not doing these things in order to be saved, but because He has begun to save you already....

This is the only time in history when I get to fight for God. This is the only part of my eternal story when I am actually in the battle. Once I die, I'll be in celebration mode in a glorified body in a whole different set of circumstances. But this is my limited window of opportunity, and I'm going to fight the good fight for all I'm worth. Joni Eareckson Tada   Simply put, formation will not, ca...

I have learned now that while those who speak about one's miseries usually hurt, those who keep silence hurt more.   C.S. Lewis   Today as we continue in our journey through spiritual formation, we'll look at the practice of surrender and how it involves an empowering rhythm of 'naming'. I'll share my own experience with this way of being, this naming some things that had happened to me, in the co...

When you argue against Him you are drawing against the very power that makes you able to argue at all: it's like cutting off the branch you're sitting on.   C.S. Lewis   In today's episode I'll walk you through my own time alone with God. We'll look at Job's life and how God met him right in the middle of his pain and showed him the best thing he could——His very own grandeur and the reminder that...

Read with a vulnerable heart. Expect to be blessed in the reading. Read as one awake, one waiting for the beloved. Read with reverence. Macrina Wiederkehr   God loves you! And He is delighted when you walk by faith and entrust yourself into the mysterious place of His written word. The place where you find Jesus—-in the pages of Scripture, waiting to meet you right in the midst of all you're facin...

God's presence is not the same as the feeling of God's presence, and He may be doing most for us when we think He is doing least.   C.S. Lewis   Is life hard for you when it gets messy? When you can't seem to create order out of any of the areas of your life? Join me today as I talk about the messiness of life and how it transfers to how we relate to God when our hidden lives also feel messy. "May...

God has given us the disciplines of the spiritual life as a means of receiving his grace. The disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that He can transform us.   Richard Foster   Beth Moore has been a pillar in the community of faith in Jesus. I have learned so much from her over the years and am so so grateful for her obedience and love for Jesus, and this week I heard a quote from...

She goes into the unknown willingly and confidently, because she knows the Protector of the Universe is right behind her.   Unknown   In today's episode I'll share what formation has looked like in me, for this first week of living in a new space. How it's been being alone (mostly) and what the process has looked like. Join me in the conversation as I also share about an invitation that ended up b...