thoughts by Karen Mains

Walking the cloister at Rozhen Monastery, above the wine-producing
town of Melnik. Located in the beautiful sand pyramids of the
Pirin mountains. The medieval monasteries were repositories of
learning and are credited with “saving civilization” across Europe.

When the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral was constructed in Sophia, the capital of Bulgaria, the plans were that the crypt would become the burial place of Bulgarian kings. However, none of the kings were interred there. Therefore, other plans were set into motion for these vaulted underground rooms, and in 1965 the space under the church was converted into a branch of the National Art Gallery for Orthodox (religious) art.

When David and I entered the space beneath the cathedral itself, four very bored and cranky-faced Bulgarians sat behind a table. There was much more chance of these folk—one, a man, wearing a guard uniform and the others, all women, wearing official museum tags—of them speaking English, than there was of David or I speaking Bulgarian.

A fee, of sorts, was paid, no one smiled and we made our way into the stunning crypt, lighted with floods, clean and bright and housing what some claim to be the largest collection of Orthodox icons in Europe. Believe me, having seen many of those collections in my adult pursuit of the mystery contained within these art forms—church history and Scripture for the eyes—I believe it.

Spanning a long historical history, from the adoption of Christianity as the official religion in the fourth century through to the Bulgarian National Revival—the 18th and the 19th centuries—the exhibit is mainly a collection of some 200 icons, three fragments of wall paintings, engravings and an assortment of other religious artifacts, some rendered in bronze or gold or marble and onyx and alabaster.

A priest/artist living in the Monastery of the Holy Spirit high above the city of Lebanon, Beirut introduced me to icons when I was 38 years of age, and I have been chasing after them ever since. The Art Institute of Chicago recently mounted art of the Grecian Age, including icons from the time when Constantinople was the reservoir of Christianity in the East. Something profound hit me when I stood standing in front of them—a transcendent sense of all those worshipers, many illiterate, who had stood once centuries before me, pondering the meaning of Christ and his mother and the saints and apostles and prophets.

But here, here in the crypt of St. Alexander Nevsky in Sophia, Bulgaria, I could see the brilliant restored colors, the icon-writers’ original intent, and to me they were stunning. A quote from Sofia Guide reads: “Actually, Bulgarian icons have always fascinated people, evoking profound respect and admiration. All expositions abroad in Paris, Brussels, Madrid, Munich, Berlin, Warsaw, Moscow, Venice, Havana, Delhi, Tokyo have provoked great interest of people and had stunning success.”

Well, I agree—for an icon-chaser, it is a stunning exhibit. If you are ever, ever in Sophia, Bulgaria, make sure you enter the northwest side entrance of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, walk down stairs, smile at the guards (they probably won’t smile back), and lose yourself in the brightly lit rooms filled with the ancient Scripture of the eyes. “Read” the icons (you never “view” icons). In fact, iconographers don’t “paint” icons; they “write” them. Without a doubt you will agree that this is a most fitting resting place for the largest collection of Orthodox art—better, surely, than the remains of any Bulgarian kings.

 

---

Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.

Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, “Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains.” In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.

Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This micro-finance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.

For decades, Karen and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. They are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.

Likewise, pastors will find special resources to help them prepare effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.

Share this Article

David and Karen, with Sia and five-year-old Pavlo, outside
façade of Rila Monastery. Four-story cloisters in background.
(Jivko taking the photo.)

I asked for prayers for a seven-day journey David and I took to Bulgaria. Perhaps a detailed account of how those prayers were answered will help others remember or understand that prayer is important (it moves mountains).

1. REQUEST: Safety as we traveled and rest so we wouldn’t be exhausted when we arrived.

   ANSWER: Our plane from Chicago was delayed, but we were able to use our standby passes to get a later flight out to Washington, D.C. Dulles airport. The 9 o’clock flight was the last flight out, and I was beginning to think of asking about hotel airports where we could stay to catch the afternoon flight overseas. No need. We received the last two standby seats on the plane.

   Because we had built an extra day of travel into our scheme, we arrived in Frankfurt, Germany with time to spare before our next-day early morning flight to Sophia, Bulgaria via Munich departed. To ease our travel anxieties caused by the standby situation, we used all our Mileage Plus points to book our flight from Frankfurt to Sophia. As we were disembarking, I asked the stewardess if there was an airport hotel. She directed us to a Sheraton, where David stretched out and slept for five hours. Since we were already at the airport, we walked ourselves through gate locations, checked in for the early flight and received boarding passes, then ate in a lovely restaurant where the food was excellent. European airports definitely serve better food than American airports. Needless to say, after another round of sleep, we made our early flight and arrived in Sophia without jetlag and well-rested.

   On the way home, despite three days of gentle snow in Sophia, our Lufthansa flight left and arrived on time. We received the last two standby seats on the flight from Frankfurt to Chicago; they were in First-Class. Thank you! Thank you for your prayers.

2. REQUEST: Connection with Jivko and his wife despite language and cultural barriers.

   ANSWER: Jivko Jelev’s English was excellent. Europeans are often fluent in several languages but always apologize for their language facility. We spent hours talking and getting acquainted. The resort where our time-share company had several weeks open was in Razlog, south of the Sophia airport, with two bedrooms, two baths, an extraordinary view of the mountains, and an excellent and affordable restaurant in the complex. Sia, Jivko’s wife, had been learning English and we encouraged her to practice with us. Pavlo, their little 5-year old, was adorable, beautifully behaved and delightful to have around with us. “En Englees,” we would say, and he picked up rudimentary phrases. “Letz go!” was a favorite. For the few days we were together as Jivko and family generously drove us around, it felt as though there were few barriers at all.

3. REQUEST: That there would be joy.

   ANSWER: We laughed our heads off and delighted deeply in the company of these new friends—the ages of our own children. Thank you for your prayers.

4. REQUEST: Pray that our eyes would be opened to those wonderful surprises only God can provide.

   ANSWER: The weather was beautiful; spring was in the air. We journeyed through the mountains in the Jelev’s car (with a beautiful little 5-year-old contentedly riding in his car seat) and visited some of the ancient Eastern Orthodox monasteries with their beautiful iconography (a lifetime study of mine). Jivko couldn’t possibly have known about David’s specialty study in church history or about this artist/devotional interest of mine in icons. Our artist/guide made a point of filling us in regarding his country’s history, found wonderful local restaurants with typical Bulgarian food.

   After the Zhelev’s went home, the retort manager made a point of helping us book a hotel for two days in the capital city. She arranged for a driver, and as we were on line searching for a place to stay, the Sophia Grand Hotel rated five stars, posted a special rate and we booked it instantly.

   In Sophia, though it was snowing slightly, we traipsed half a mile to the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. Several people and guidebooks had recommended that a visit to the crypt was a “must” and here, some 200 icons had been mounted all restored to their glorious original coloration and shining gloriously under bright flood lights. Now, I have trekked after icons all over the world. I’ve rushed to special exhibits here in the States, and I have never seen this ancient religious artwork in this kind of splendid condition or in this kind of lighting. The monasteries that are home to these pieces are often dimly lit—often with clerestory windows built in high in vaulted domes, the icons themselves glazed with the film of the smoke. There were five or six rooms to peruse without any kind of crowd (only obviously-bored guards), the colors gloriously restored. What a gift!

   Because the hotel was fairly empty and staffed by eager young people desiring to practice their English, we struck up delightful conversations. One young bellhop ran to a nearby pharmacy to purchase some over-the-counter medicine we needed. The manager of the breakfast buffet gave us complimentary tickets to dinner in the hotel restaurant, and since we were the only, very-early guests (Europeans dine much, much later than most Americans eat), we were given complimentary champagne, complimentary appetizers, complimentary salads and complimentary desserts. David proclaimed the baked bass entrée as the best meal he had ever eaten, but I suspect this assessment was partly due to the fact that everything else was free.

   Thank you! Thank you for your prayers!

5. REQUEST: That we would figure out a way to phone communicate to home.

   ANSWER: A friend set us up with FaceTime so that we could communicate home. The Wi-Fi was erratic in the resort but worked enough, although sporadically, to make satisfactory-enough contact. While Jivko was with us, he was able to email all and notify them that we had arrived safely and what a great time we were having.

6. REQUEST: One of the reasons for the trip was to take some iPad footage of David interviewing Jivko to show at a fundraising banquet we are holding on June 6 and to use on our blog sites.

   ANSWER: Though Zivko was reluctant—“English not good”—David is an excellent host, and I am an encouraging director (though my photographer skills are not good), but we caught a sweet and authentic conversation between the older and younger man that is touching. Thank you for your prayers!

   How prone I am to rush into my life without pausing to pray over the days plans—in the middle of the day. Mother Teresa was once quoted as saying, “Pray before you do anything.” I am attempting to learn how to do this, but oh, how it helps knowing that I have a couple dozen people on my prayer team who are interceding for me.

 

---

Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.

Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, “Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains.” In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.

Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This micro-finance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.

For decades, Karen and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. They are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.

Likewise, pastors will find special resources to help them prepare effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.

Share this Article

I have traveled all over this country for the last three years using the pass of one of my friends, a former airline employee. Traveling overseas, however, during these last years has been impossible because traumas in our family life. Everything is free to us when we travel, except taxes. Since we must fly standby to use the pass, we also must deal with the uncertainty of whether we will get on the airplane that we choose. Consequently, overseas travel with these passes is still a mystery to me. So, for the trip to Bulgaria, I asked my friend if she could arrange it and then tutor me a little as to the vagaries of overseas trips.

Some of the overseas flights fly with empty First Class and Business Class seats, which employees can use, but I don’t know how to engineer that.

So my friend arranged the trip and sent back confirmation numbers along with a phone number for the airline customer service. This was totally out of my grid. I’m used to working with the employee website, which then emails me the confirmation with my flight number, and times of departure and arrival. I could feel the old familiar travel anxiety starting to stir—not knowing exactly where it is I am going or how I’m going to get there evokes insecurities.

So I did—I phoned Customer Service with the provided phone number and was led through a series of questions by a surprisingly efficient recorded messenger. However, being new to all this, I made the phone call six times, missing crucial points each time I listened.

When I wrote down the flight times, I realized that we only had one hour for transit between flights in Washington, D.C. before we caught the plane going to Frankfurt. Okay—now the travel anxiety was beginning to circle within, building toward a nor’easter blow kind of panic.

I attempted to call my friend, who is now retired and flies all over the world on her employee passes. I never know what country she will be visiting. No answer. I emailed her a couple times. No answer.

I compared flights on the airline’s main website. I would have preferred taking the 8:00 am flight out of Chicago—no matter that we would land in Dulles airport with six hours to wait and would have to leave the house at 5:30 a.m. I would prefer to wait around than have the panic of the rush to make a plane.

I went to bed early, but woke at 2:55 a.m. with this niggling at my mind. If we took a local flight and checked our bags in Chicago, wouldn’t we have to pick them up at baggage claim in D.C. and then check-in again at the international counter? Didn’t we need a couple hours interlude between coming and going to do all this? I’ve not flown into Dulles for years. Was there an international terminal like at O’Hare? Would we have to transit? What would happen if the weather systems delayed our departure?

I’m sure all those of you who have worry-specific episodes like this get the picture.

I calmed myself back to sleep, although I did go to my computer again for just a moment to check how many flights there were from Washington, D.C. to Frankfurt. (Our ultimate destination is Sofia, Bulgaria.) After restless sleep, by 5:30 a.m., the determined exercise of trust had brought me to some point of rationality.

First of all, wasn’t the Lord always attempting to teach me to trust in Him whenever I traveled. Who was my tour guide? Who was my travel agent? Who was my traveling companion? Who was my pilot (engineer, boat captain, trekking leader)? This seems to be one of those lessons I have to exercise again and again.

Secondly, wasn’t my friend who has made these passes available to us, and had actually arranged this trip, an experienced traveler? And, didn’t she know more about plotting these journeys than I could ever dream about?

And thirdly, didn’t I have some 22 friends (as of today 25 friends) praying for this journey? Did I believe in prayer or not? Did I trust that their prayers would impact our travel?

I deliberately chose to be calm and to bank the anxiety in the trust account.

Then, my mind began to clear. HAH! My friend knew that David and I could check our bags at the ticket counter in Chicago through to Frankfurt (actually, I discovered that we could send them all the way to Sofia). HAH! My friend knew there was a later flight we could catch if we missed the 5:15 p.m. flight. HAH! If we caught the 1:12 p.m. flight out of Chicago instead of the 8:20 a.m. flight, we wouldn’t have to leave for the airport until 10:00 a.m., giving us a whole five hours more to pack. In addition, our other friend who loves to drive us to and from the airport because it provides us with sharing time and who is done with her nanny job by 8:30 in the morning, could drop us off. Everything—everything began to fall into shape. I headed into this morning happy, relaxed, content, and without any feeling of panic.

Trusting God is just great in theory, it’s the practice of fleeing into trust when we’re traveling through life that’s much harder. Much harder. But this time, for this journey, for this day, I am at peace. Fare thee well. Fare thee very well.

 

---

Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.

Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, “Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains.” In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.

Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This micro-finance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.

For decades, Karen and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. They are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.

Likewise, pastors will find special resources to help them prepare effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.

Share this Article

This is the first request I sent out to my righteous, powerful, and effective prayer team. You might want to pray along with them, but mostly, I want to share in a future blog how God answered their prayers. One of the ways we remind ourselves of God’s intervening action in our lives is to permanently record the requests we make. Here are mine for this week.

Dear Friends,

I can’t thank you enough for this generous community you are giving me for this next year. Our production schedule and my writing promises are such that we will not be able to fulfill all without a prayer team to surround us. Let me not overwhelm you, but just ask for prayers for the next two weeks. The artist, Zhivko Zhelev, who won the “99 Designs Contest” to re-illustrate the three books we are re-publishing of the Tales of the Kingdom trilogy, lives in Bulgaria. Through some Google-like translations, he told us of a brother who died at age 21 five years ago, and Zhivko promised to “Do best work” on this Memorial for our son Jeremy Mains. The second book was delayed because his mother-in-law died Christmas week of cancer. So at this point, we feel that there is some affinity that is more than circumstantial, and we need to establish a face-to-face connection. At the same time, we can carry some copies of the first book to him.

Because we have United Airlines passes (generously given to us by a former United employee), we can travel from the States to Frankfurt just paying the taxes. This friend is planning to come with us, meaning that we will use her companion passes and that may allow us to fly First Class or Business Class. This is better for our 72 and 78 year old bodies! We then used United Mileage Plus points to book flights from Frankfurt through Munich to Sofia, Bulgaria.

Zhivko, his wife, and 5-year old son, will pick us up at the airport and take us to a resort community where we have a week’s stay through our RCI time share (gifts to the ministry). The Zhelevs will stay with us a few days and they were very excited about this opportunity. Hopefully, the Bulgarian language is on David’s Google Translator!

Needless to say, this kind of travel, during winter months is fraught with complications. So we bid your prayers, as follows:

1. For safety as we travel and for ways to rest so that we won’t be too exhausted when we arrive.
2. For connection with Zhivko and his wife despite language and cultural barriers and an opportunity to communicate issues around faith. Bulgaria has a history of Eastern Orthodoxy as far as its faith confession, but has, of course, been part of the former Soviet Union.
3. That there will be joy.
4. Sara, our friend who was a former United Airlines employee, has made these passes available to us for years! She has had cancer twice, and I am often concerned about her living in her car when her money runs out. Pray that we will be able to laugh and connect with her and get a good reading on her needs.
5. Pray for those wonderful surprises that only God can provide and that we will have eyes to see them and to find the good in the uncomfortable delays, etc. that often happen.
6. We are working out our phone situation this week so we will have international calling privileges; pray that we will understand all the technology.
7. We want to take some iPad video footage to use for a fund-raiser on June 6th to raise money to cover the expenses for art and publishing of the fourth volume of the Tales of the Kingdom. This will make the series a tetraology (or a quartet). The plan is to write one story per month beginning in May. David and I began today to brainstorm the themes, the narrative arc, etc.

Again, thank you so much. We plan to leave Thursday, February 26th, land in Frankfurt on the 27th, and fly to Sofia on the 28th. Our return flight begins on Friday March 6th, arriving home on the 7th (I think—David has the tickets) or the 8th.

Sara, who travels all over, tells me there are wonderful sleeping lounge chairs at Frankfort. So it is good to be with the travel expert at times like this.

Thanks ever so much. It is a comfort to know that you are collaborating with us in this crucial way.

Most interestingly, I also sent an eNotice out to our “Read and Intercede” book club and mentioned that David and I would be in Bulgaria for a week. One of the gals, who has her PhD in dance, wrote back right away. After she had been awarded a Fulbright study program, she and her husband lived in Bulgaria for four months in 2006 and had Christian contacts there. We are talking this afternoon at 1:00.

And that, dear friends, is the first answer to all those prayers requests above.

 

---

Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.

Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, “Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains.” In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.

Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This micro-finance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.

For decades, Karen and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. They are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.

Likewise, pastors will find special resources to help them prepare effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.

Share this Article

In the Soulish Food eNewsetter I wrote last month, I put out a plea for a prayer team. This is what I wrote:

“Will you become part of my prayer team?

Retrospectively, looking back through the years, it is clear that when David and I set our faces toward doing what we believe God has placed upon our hearts to do, that sudden and intense spiritual resistance forms. The resistance is not in the form of inconvenient and annoying bumps in the road, but cataclysmic detours, head-on wrecks and eleven-car collisions.

Twenty years ago, I had written a book that was designed in its language and terminology to reach to spiritually hungry readers outside of the traditional religious publishing markets. A huge controversy eventually resulted in our ministry being $2.6 million dollars in debt. It took us some fifteen year to dig out from under that mountain. Two years ago, when I started to “write out” as that inner voice seemed to be prodding me to do, our son Jeremy became ill and died quickly from an acute and rare lymphoma. The January after Jer died in November, I cleaned the writing study and was preparing to head into a writer’s life when I fell, dislocated my shoulder and tore my rotator cuff resulting in slings, an operation and months of physical therapy. Pre-operation exams eventually determined that I had “suspicious papillary cells” and resulted in a thyroidectomy.

I think you can see why I am bidding your prayers—as I prepare to make fruitful whatever last years are given to me, I feel the need for prayers of protection, prayers that my mind will be strong, that I will have the discipline to withdraw from things I love to do for the sake of being obedient to what it is I hear God speaking to my heart. I need prayers that the Enemy who loves to destroy will not be able to breach the circle of protection your prayers will put around us.

If you would like to be part of this prayer team, will you reply to this “Soulish Food” eNewsletter and give me your e-mail address? I will put you on my private intercessory prayer list, in which I will send out reports and prayer requests. This will become, I hope, my inner circle.

Last night, with the help of Nyquil®—I had caught a head cold, which I rarely ever catch—I slept deeply without coughing, and I had a dream.

I was in a pre-sermon dialogue group with a bunch of pastors, and I had worked hard on my sermon. In fact, I had requested that this meeting be held so that I could perfect the sermon I was going to present. The leader of the group, a well-known Christian leader with much influence, chided me kindly about something he thought I hadn’t accomplished, but I strongly defended myself and reminded him that this pre-sermon dialogue group had been my idea.

Suddenly, his wife swept into the room with a number of other women; they were holding a birthday celebration, and the cake and decorations came out and began to subsume the purpose of our gathering. I explained to her that this actually was a group that had formed to listen to and help me construct a good sermon at my request. She didn’t appear to be ready to back off her plan; nor did I appear to be willing to back off mine. Then I woke up.

Sitting with this dream a little, it became clear to me that all the “womanly” things of my life—housekeeping and cherishing, in fact, much of the relational ministry that I do and the normalcy of living that I have achieved in these last fifteen years, are the activities, if I am not strong, that will keep me from the work that is at hand. I need the left side of my brain to dominate the right side, the creative side, for a while. I need the planning, aggressive, organizing, ordering, intellectual/thinking, authority-taking left side to take charge and give the whole me the determination and resolve to see all these writing tasks through.

If God gives me enough life, it will be a gut-wrenching ride as I prepare myself to go gently and even eagerly into that good night. So let me know if God has placed me on your heart. Who knows what will happen if prayer is activated.”

It is gratifying to know that I have a list of some 22 people, all friends and acquaintances from the different stages and phases of my life, who have stepped up to be a part of this prayer circle. Many of these people have told me that God had already placed me on their hearts—how humbling is that thought? David and I have a demanding production schedule ahead. And, I feel as though we will be covered, surrounded, protected, comforted, guided, hedged in, enabled, anointed, and loved. What a gift!

Most of the people who are praying for us are over 50 years-of-age; most are seasoned in life, practiced in the spiritual disciplines, faithful in prayer. I think of the Scriptures from James 5:16b “…The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” Suddenly, today I realized that I am being prayed for by a band of 22 righteous folk—powerful and effective in their prayers. What a thought!

 

---

Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.

Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, “Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains.” In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.

Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This micro-finance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.

For decades, Karen and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. They are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.

Likewise, pastors will find special resources to help them prepare effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.

Share this Article

The hardest part of launching a teleconference memoir-writing class has been to figure out how to time-slot in 15 participants from Texas to Michigan, the East Coast from Maine to Florida, a woman in California, and various writers from Canada (Ontario and Saskatchewan), with a few from the Midwest.

Frankly, my mind does not work well with these kinds of detail demands. It just boggles; papers confuse me. I don’t develop orderly systems naturally; I have to sit down and figure out the process. Though I am a highly intuitive person, there is nothing intuitive in me that is able to organize detail systems.

So my editor devised a chart (for a whiteboard) that keeps me from shuffling the same papers over and over. Here is the name of the participant, geographic location, boxes to tick if they’ve sent a piece of sample writing, have paid the registration fee, which time zone they live in, and the number of their group teleconference group—either Monday days or evenings, or Wednesdays days or evenings. Our office manager also took mercy on me and helped me put the possible blocks of time together in which three different groups could met.

Whew? By the time I struggle with fine-tuning with what I know for someone else would not be a very complicated exercise, the detail process itself has exhausted and deadened my sensibilities. Obviously, I do not have the natural capacities to organize systems data.

However, I am three responses away from being able to send out the final email and I am priding myself, albeit in a messy and halting way, for facing down the detail demon. I am also learning that it is not helpful for me to say to myself, You know you are just not good at managing details. Or saying to others, “You’ll be sorry if I take the notes of the meeting.” Here in these nagging dreaded insufficiencies is the possibility for growth. Step up to the I-can’t-do-it-plate. Take the challenge. You may do it badly, but you will have done it. That is what is important.

And you may discover you’re not so bad after all, at doing what you hated, because you’d thought you were bad at it. I am functioning in the later years of my life better than I ever have because I have developed proficiencies in areas I never thought I’d be able to accomplish. For instance, the car is always cleaned after we drive it, the laundry is done, folded and put away on time, dishes are washed after dinner, and as of this month, my writing study is organized and cleaned and waiting for me to be productive. I’ve rearranged file folders (and discovered wonderful forgotten articles and letters and notes to myself). Every corner of the house is ordered—I no longer have wastelands of disaster behind closed doors. To become proficient at keeping rooms aesthetically pleasing (all the time), cleaning up after myself, sorting and filing and putting things away (in a place where they belong), storing seasonal decorations with identifying labels, discarding items that are no longer used or needed—this all has taken me a lifetime. Believe me, it has been an arduous trek.

However, just the doing of difficult things badly has taught me how to do them better, so little proficiencies have developed. And though organizing the memoir-writing class has tossed me into a mind maze, it is now done. I’m ready to jump into the things I do really well, the things that give me joy. However, overcoming the memoir mind-maze—even badly—has given me satisfaction. That in itself is no small thing.

 

---

Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.

Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, “Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains.” In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.

Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This micro-finance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.

For decades, Karen and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. They are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.

Likewise, pastors will find special resources to help them prepare effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.

Share this Article

A delightful Kanga cloth runner from Africa accents the table setting.

I had set aside Saturday afternoon to prepare food for Sunday dinner. A family from the church was coming, bringing seven of their nine children with them. Fortunately, I had enough vegetables of the remainder variety (some potatoes still in the bin, half a bag of spinach, some homemade red-cabbage sauerkraut left in a refrigerator jar, some carrots that had been shredded) to cook a vegetable medley without making a trip to the grocery store.

I took the time to pitch a couple potatoes that had gone bad; the rest looked to be healthy and firm. Although as I washed and diced them, leaving the skins on, which is my custom since so much of the nutrient value is in the skins as well as being a source of great fiber content, I noticed the skins seemed thicker than usual.

As the vegetables were cooking slowly in the wok, I made up a biscuit mix, used the rest of the stone-ground cornmeal to make cornbread, then I sample-tasted the cooking vegetables. Something was bitter; the summary of the mix didn’t hit the back of my tongue but lingered nastily on its tip. I added seasoning, finally a jar of cheese sauce, and still with another taste test, the bitterness hit my tongue tip and didn’t land on the savory zone of my mouth. I had visions of seven children and five adults writhing with stomach agony.

What had gone wrong? The potatoes, at least the skins, were bad. I couldn’t possibly serve the vegetable medley to guests! What’s more, the cheese sauce had turned the bright shining colors into a congealed mass hue. Now my cooking schedule was completely wonked. My back was beginning to tire from an afternoon in the kitchen, and David and I were scheduled to leave for an evening in the home of some friends—no time to work from 6 to 9 p.m. to correct the disaster.

I dumped the dish in the garbage—much to the pain of my frugal self—and began to frantically consider what else I had to serve in the house. The menu as planned included a beautiful broiled salmon, but I’d have to scramble to pull a complementary meal together the next morning—Sunday—something I hate to do. A trip to the store would eat up my time—it might mean I wouldn’t make it to church.

It is at this point for a frantic cook that the real blessing occurs. Lord, give me the creativity and cooking instinct to put something together with what I already have that will feed a family with seven children, my husband and myself and one of our sons who was also invited to dinner.

Ah-hah! A friend had brought us two dozen eggs from a shopping trip to Costco. I could make a curried white sauce to pour over a dozen hardboiled eggs garnished with dehydrated chives from our garden. There were some new potatoes, enough to combine with a large bag of green beans. I steamed the beans, parboiled the diced potatoes in the water, melted butter and garlic in the wok, then combined everything to simmer and season while I added skinned and sliced tomatoes. It looked great.

A bag of long-grain brown rice went into the rice cooker, and unfrozen summer blueberries and Georgia peaches were combined with an instant-pudding mix, piled on granola to cook in the bottom of individual ramekins, then topped with vanilla ice cream.

I had what looked to be a remarkable meal. Thanks be to God, the Master Chef.

So the family with the many children came to Sunday dinner. They were enchanting. Each took their blue plate into the kitchen where a serving buffet was set, filled them from each dish. Each child told me “thank you” about five times. Comments about the food included, “Oh, I love salmon.” “These vegetables look great.” Yes, I’d love honey from the beehives on the biscuits.” “Um-m-m-m-m, these eggs are yummy.”

I kid you not. They were polite at the table, made a point of not spilling the goblets filled with water (no mean feat for little folk of various sizes around a crowded table), and continued to commend me (“Yum! I love blueberries and peaches!”). I felt like I was an adult actress in a play titled The Most Well-Behaved Children in the Whole World. What an enchanting afternoon! The conversation at the table among the adults was stimulating and engaging; the children contributed when they could, found the toys in the basement and occupied themselves for an hour (and the basement was fairly intact when they all left).

A woman does not regret having to make two meals when she receives this kind of affirmation. I actually thought, Oh, it is so good to have the house filled with children again. Despite the cooking disaster, it was a most-successful Sunday dinner.

 

---

Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.

Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, “Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains.” In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.

Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This micro-finance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.

For decades, Karen and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. They are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.

Likewise, pastors will find special resources to help them prepare effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.

Share this Article

Do I really think the God of the Universe is interested in helping me find my cell phone (which I did find after a busy weekend without my cell—in a winter-coat pocket)? Our lives are filled these days with wonderful unplanned serendipitous events—more than usual, it seems. I always attribute these life-gifts to divine interventions, and I daily give thanksgiving for them.

However, as I was searching for my cell—the battery had run down in the two days I didn’t search for it—looking upstairs, downstairs, in the basement and then repeating the circuit when there was no success, I had a thought: Did I really think that the God of the Universe was interested in this minor inconvenience in my life—finding my cell?

After months without the answering machine working on our landline phone (and not having the time to go through the files in the basement where I store warranties, operating instructions and repair-order forms), I breathed a morning prayer, Lord, help me to get that answering device fixed on the phone. While wiping the dust off the little stool that holds our kitchen phone, I noticed the receiver needed a swipe as well as the call buttons. I gave them some quick attention, and next thing I knew, an automated voice was informing me, “Answering device is now on.” Wearing glasses, I discovered that sure enough, there is a button that turns on or off the recording that says, “Hello! This is the Mains residence. We can’t come to the phone right now, but if you will leave a message, we will return your call.”

Button on. Button off. That was all it took to correct my phone problem.

Yet, the question still remained: Did I really think the God of the Universe was interested in showing me that I had forgotten about my on/off button on the landline, and manipulated my cleaning inclinations to notice dust I hadn’t paid attention to for months and thereby discover a simple solution?

I’m not sure how this works: Does the great Divine Mind really lovingly attend to the minutiae that we humans are continually battling? Or is there a “ministry of minutiae” assigned to angelic-like beings that aid us when we lose things, can’t find the car keys, forget the basic operating systems of our machinery, don’t remember the password and send up those constant pleas for help?

I really don’t know. It seems implausible God would care about such trivia. Yet, it is often in the small attentions, the little things or simple solutions that I feel loving care. How relieved I am that people who need to get hold of us can leave a message. How glad I am to have found the cell.

I suppose people who don’t pray find their lost things and discover simple solutions anyway (but that doesn’t mean that the Divine, however it functions, isn’t at work in their lives). I’d like to think they don’t find things as much as we who pray do and that solutions to simple problems evade them more frequently. I don’t know.

All I do know is that when I pray, something loving and tender touches me. I am filled with delight and gratefulness and know that I am loved. God is good. All the time. All the time. God is good—even in the little things found and the simple solutions discovered. I don’t need to know how it works.

 

---

Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.

Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, “Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains.” In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.

Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This micro-finance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.

For decades, Karen and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. They are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.

Likewise, pastors will find special resources to help them prepare effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.

Share this Article

Another Listening Group has started this week. There are only two women, and they have been friends for twenty-some years. Most of the time, the people who sign up for the Listening Groups come from many places in the Chicagoland area and if they know one another, it is only by sight or casually. We decided that they were an experiment.

It always amazes me how delighted I feel when a new group starts. I’ve journeyed with enough people for 2 1/2 hours per month over an eight-month period to know that amazing insights will be shared, and I will be privileged to watch courageous and remarkable people struggle to come to terms with their personal issues, and I will witness wondrous (and no longer surprising to me) growth.

While cleaning my writing study and going through all those neglected files, I came across a letter from a friend who shared these words from Frank Laubach, quoted from his book Letters From a Modern Mystic.

It is not in fashion to tell your inmost thoughts, but there are many wrong fashions, and concealment of the best in us is wrong. I disapprove of the usual practice of talking ‘small talk’ whenever we meet and holding a veil over our souls. If we are so impoverished that we have nothing to reveal but small talk, then we need to struggle for more richness of the soul. As for me, I am convinced that this spiritual pilgrimage which I am making is infinitely worthwhile, the most important thing I know of to talk about. And talk I shall while there is anybody to listen. And I hunger—O how I hunger—for others to tell me their soul adventures.

This is why I think I am so delighted when others gather in my living room just for the purpose of listening to one another talk.

The woman who sent the note also wrote on the bottom, “Karen—I liked this writing and it made me think of you.” I consider that a compliment.

 

---

Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.

Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, “Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains.” In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.

Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This micro-finance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.

For decades, Karen and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. They are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.

Likewise, pastors will find special resources to help them prepare effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.

Share this Article

After our son, Jeremy Mains, died from a rare and acute lymphoma, I realized that the stress levels we were experiencing were on the dangerous ends of the charts that measure stress. Knowing what stress does to the physiological condition of our bodies, I took myself off to a clinical nutritionist (one who is credentialed to teach nutrition to medical students) and entered what was to be a three-month intensive detoxification program.

I met with the nutritionist once a week, had a bioimpedance analysis taken weekly, measured my pH balance daily to measure the toxicity levels for the purpose of turning it alkaline. I struggled to establish an exercise disciple—but made progress—removed dairy and wheat products from my diet along with anything with sugar (most refined foods) or caffeine. No meats were allowed (fish, of course, is), no citrus fruit or certain kinds of vegetables (the nightshades—tomatoes, green peppers). My meal base mostly was a mix of nutritional shakes.

After three months of this, I felt healthier than I had in my whole life, rising at 4 or 5 a.m. and going strong until 9:00 at night. My bioimpedance levels improved and I finally moved into the alkaline numbers. I lost about 15 pounds. My skin glowed, and my hair shone. People regularly commented on how good I looked. Nice for someone who was 71 years of age. (Some pundit—a doctor—said that we don’t really have a healthcare system, we have a “sick-care” system.) So I shelled out $2,825.81 to move myself into a healthy place.

I stopped the nutritional intensive two weeks before I had a thyroidectomy in which a 2.5 centimeter spot of papillary cancer was removed. My last appointment was in June of 2014.

This week, I finally had the money and the time concurrently, and stopped by the nutritionist’s office to purchase the product I needed to begin again. I’ll have to detox myself all over. (This is called the “weeding” process; the next phase is the “seeding” process.) Cost to me for one office visit in order to buy product and establish a bioimpedance baseline was $425.71.

No wonder we aren’t healthy as a nation. We can’t afford it.

As I thought about this, however, I realized that I am investing in my own future. The theory with the nutritional crowd is that when a person really becomes healthy, he or she ages but doesn’t decline with all the vagaries and distresses that usually accompany the later years. Maybe. The idea is that you don’t die from sickness; you just go to sleep. I won’t be able to let you know, obviously, I’ll be dead. I’ll settle for a healthier journey until I get there.

 

---

Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.

Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, “Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains.” In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.

Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This micro-finance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.

For decades, Karen and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. They are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.

Likewise, pastors will find special resources to help them prepare effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.

Share this Article