Towards Health

Fairly frequent in our today world we hear of someone needing medical intervention for a blockage, such as in blood vessel, or stenosis of some kind. If the issue is not taken care of, it leads to significant pain and/or death. The body needs the circulation of nutrients for survival. And, the body cannot take care of blockage on its own.

How true also in our spiritual life. The intervention needed for spiritual blockage is the Holy Spirit’s work infusing us with God’s love. We can never be spiritually healthy until we experience and let the love of God flow through us. This not only nourishes our own life but positively impacts those around us. Maybe, it is a heart transplant that is needed.  The Trinity majors in those also!

In the physical areas of life, there are symptoms and testing that can be done to identify blockages and indicate the need for medical intervention.

Spiritually, although there are not tests that can be done, there are symptoms that indicate blockage in our spiritual life. And, just as physical blockages can damage tissue and lead to death, so, spiritual blockages can lead to spiritual death.

Symptoms of spiritual blockage are varied and take on many facets—Some of the most striking and damaging are:  Critical spirit; Complaining/negative spirit; Angry spirit; Holding on to grudges; Controlling spirit; and Seeing others as out to get you, are just a few. We can try on our own to change these thought patterns and behaviors. However, that process is often futile and/or with short lived results.

God loves to restore our lives to how He created us—persons with love that make a difference in the world as well as experience good things for ourselves. Jesus said that He came that we might have life, and life more abundant. When we hold on to the old stories and patterns, we cannot access Abundant Life. The love of God is blocked by the above symptoms.

And, so it is very sad and grieves God when these blockages happen in our lives so that His love cannot flow through us, nurturing others as well as ourselves.

The spiritual interventions are:

1. Recognizing/identifying the blockage symptoms
2. Recognizing/receiving that the Great Physician died to pay the price for blockages and gives us new life
3. Claim The Holy Spirit’s work in our life; ready to give up the old for the new
4. Live in that new life and relationship with others

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Jeanie Hershey, Treasure Valley Tres Dias Spiritual Director