by Chris Boersma Smith | Dec 3, 2018 | Encouragement and Inspiration, Forgiving and Forgiveness, Overcoming Obstacles, Transformational Breakthroughs, Unbound
Body detox isn’t just a fad; for many, it’s become a necessity. We’re learning that our world is filled with toxins, from food and water, cleaning products, and the air we breathe, including the polluted air that comes over from mainland China. It’s mainstream knowledge that these toxins can cause disease and that it’s important to purge as many toxins as you can from your body. Similarly, there are pollutants to our spiritual well-being that eat away at our souls. If you’ve heard me speak on freedom or on creativity, you already know I’m on a crusade to help people go deep and root out whatever blocks their creativity (which I see as reflecting the image and likeness of God) and inhibits fulfilling their God-appointed mission in life.
Fear. Depression. Overwhelming stress. Anxiety. Compulsive people-pleasing. These have become so commonplace that we tend to ignore them until they escalate to threaten our health, our relationships, and our authentic selves. Through my e-book, Freedom from Hurts, Fears, and Unhealthy Habits: 5 Keys to a Free, Peaceful Life with More Creative Energy, I encouraged readers to use specific spiritual tools to forgive and be healed of lingering resentments, faulty thinking, and resulting habits that interfere with being fully alive, more joyful, and more creative than ever. Freedom from Fears was especially geared to women who value creativity but who may not have been exposed to the spiritual detox work described here for Catholic and non-Catholic Christians, based on five key points supported by what Jesus taught in The Lord’s Prayer 2000 years ago. Surprisingly, only in recent years have ministries developed step-by-step approaches to make this kind of spiritual cleansing easily accessible, and lay people are now helping people experience clean hearts and spirits across the US, Europe, Africa, Australia, and South America, most nobably through the Unbound model of prayer ministry.
The book focuses on how detoxing the spirit—which includes cleansing the heart of resentment, bitterness, and unforgiveness—relates to The Lord’s Prayer, verse by verse. And it also tells some of my personal story and the journey from lamenting a relationship impasse through several kinds of training in detoxing the spirit.
The e-book also offers fun and practical tools to help you break through creativity blocks. Before I devoted myself completely to UNBOUND ministry, I called myself a Spiritivity Coach because I believe in the intimate connection between Spirit and Creativity, each enhancing the other. Accordingly, this e-book presented favorite techniques to help overcome roadblocks and cleanse your spirit of whatever lingering hurts or false beliefs hold you back. I emphasized the powerful blending of spirituality and creativity, because inspiration and execution sourced from deep within draw from a limitless supernatural well. Imagine a retreat where the Holy Spirit and Hildegard von Bingen meet Elizabeth Gilbert, author of the book, Big Magic. And, wow, what excites me with that combo is that we can all have access to not just magic, but miracles!
I define creativity very broadly. It can involve the arts, business, or a service profession. The creative process is in play whenever you do something innovative in a way in which you’re expressing yourself as the unique being you are. I believe we all come from the Creator and thus we are all creative.
The e-book, Freedom from Hurts, Fears, and Unhealthy Habits, was recently included in our Inner Healing Black Friday Bundle and will be offered again soon.
by Chris Boersma Smith | Jun 2, 2018 | Empowering and Freeing Choices, Encouragement and Inspiration, Holy Spirit
I used to get lost everywhere! I recently got surcharged by Uber because I called for a ride in the middle of a long city block and when a text directed me to a Meeting Point, I couldn’t read the map to determine whether to go up or down the street or cross it; I was late locating the car and had to pay extra. Earlier that week, I gave my friend Francie a ride from one unfamiliar town to another, to fetch her car out of Service. I don’t normally have passengers in my little Audi, and I get places using my built-in navigator, whom I affectionately call Nelson. As we drove the ten miles, Nelson gave verbal and visual directions.
“Can you turn that thing down?” Francie asked.
“Not without pulling off the road,” I said. “The volume control is too complicated to adjust while driving, and I feel much safer driving with it on so I can anticipate my next moves.”
Francie (who recently got her first cellphone) sighed in disbelief, but we had a good conversation despite Nelson’s occasional interruptions, and we reached our destination safely and efficiently.
After dropping off Francie, I continued on my two-hour drive home. I was praying the rosary, using a CD. A reflection on the mystery of the Wedding Feast at Cana ended with Mary’s words about Jesus after the wine ran out, “Do whatever he tells you.” Immediately, I realized how much my GPS is like God, and how I do whatever “he” tells me! The voice I rely on for the best directions in life (as opposed to they roadways) is the Holy Spirit! I’m not afraid of getting lost when the GPS or Holy Spirit is loud enough for me to hear its wise guidance. I can set the frequency of the GPS’ directions and I like them often when I’m in unfamiliar areas, less frequently on my well-traveled paths—I’m eager for the Holy Spirit’s input almost continuously. I rely on GPS and Spirit’s guidance and only feel secure driving or moving through life when they are on — even if I know the way. Omniscient, the Holy Spirit knows the ups and downs of life; likewise, the GPS has real-time information on hazards, detours, road closures, and can save me time and frustration when I obey and avoid those impediments. I have faith in the GPS and the Holy Spirit. I trust both of them more than I trust myself, so I yield to them in humility. Having the GPS on as I drive alone is similar to living in a state of unceasing prayer, sometimes with words, sometimes moving forward silently while subtly aware of a guiding presence and heavenly wisdom!
Even if you have a gift for finding your way around roads and strange cities, I pray that this comparison might help you as It’s helped me to really sense the benefits of yielding to the guidance that the Lord offers us constantly if we will just tune in, listen, and obey! If God’s will and/or guidance have been eluding you, how about praying that God would broadcast to you with greater volume and/or nudge you to turn on this amazing instrument of Love, Wisdom, Power, and Guidance—the Holy Spirit? God delights in us and wants nothing more than to help our lives to head in the best direction . . . though it’s our choice whether to follow or not.
by Chris Boersma Smith | Feb 12, 2018 | 5 Gospel Keys, Book Recommendations, Deliverance, Encouragement and Inspiration, Freedom, Holy Spirit, Individual Prayer Ministry, Unbound
Understanding How We Can Coooperate with God’s Plans
I recently listened to Experiencing God by Henry and Richard Blackaby and Claude King. This inspirational book is about the blessings and miraculous outcomes that come from:
- discovering where the Father is working;
- listening to how we might be called to minister alongside Him;
- confirming our call with the Word of God, the church, godly counsel, and circumstances; and
- acting on it in faith — that is, before all the “proof” lines up.
Interestingly, the authors point out that the call may not align with what we thought were our gifts or charisms! They convinced me of that with so many Biblical examples of people being called to areas where they lacked what seemed needed for the task—so then others seeing what God did through them would know the glory and success belonged to God and not to His servant!
God Is Using UNBOUND in Mighty Ways
It is absolutely clear that the Father is working through UNBOUND Ministry, the simple but powerful deliverance and healing prayer model that uses the 5 Keys to Freedom in Christ described by Neal Lozano in
Unbound: A Practical Guide to Deliverance. Those individuals who’ve been serving in our 5 Keys team’s UNBOUND sessions have seen healing and deliverance over and over again! (For example, see our
Testimonies.) Neal Lozano estimates that over 100,000 people were set free through UNBOUND last year. At St. Dominic’s Catholic Church in San Francisco, we have seen the Holy Spirit grow our team and bring about our priests’ enthusiastic encouragement and participation. They will even present talks at our
Live Free! UNBOUND Seminar on March 17th, 2018 (click to register — it’s free but donations will be requested that day).
Our Team Members Hear the Call to Minister Alongside God
Each one of our prayer team members knows or believes s/he has received the personal call to serve God’s people through this ministry. S/he’s received training and made him- or herself available to pray with those in need. Yesterday’s Gospel was about compassion for the marginalized, those in most need, and when we listen to the stories people bring to their sessions, and guide them through the 5 keys, we know we are serving those in dire need! We are obeying the Gospel! Prayer team members have also experienced receiving UNBOUND prayer themselves. They have read and studied the subject on their own. Five team members traveled to Philadelphia to attend and International UNBOUND Leadership Conference. Most have participated as a small Christian community, too, as we develop as a team and support one another.
Setting the Captives Free Is a Calling that Aligns with the Word!
As for confirming that the calling to serve in UNBOUND Ministry lines up with the Word of God: recent readings (like James 1:5-6) have emphasized asking for wisdom with faith that God will give it to us, because that’s His will and His promise! Openness to the Holy Spirit and the Wisdom the Holy Spirit imparts as we pray with people are essential to our ministry. As a team, we have been amazed at how the Spirit has used team members for great blessings despite our own shortcomings, especially when we acknowledge that it isn’t US that makes anything happen: we are inadequate and weak on our own but strongly used by the Lord as His humble servants! We are only expected to do what we can and leave the rest to God — that’s how the wall of Jericho fell, and that’s how people are set free!
There have been so many healings and deliverances from demons in recent weeks’ Gospels–indeed, in Mark 6, everyone who came and touched Jesus’ cloak was healed! We can’t literally touch His cloak, but we can do better than that — through the Eucharist we have him touch us from the inside, living in us. I am excited to remember that of those who came to Jesus with expectant faith, belief, confidence, and hope — ALL were healed! Psalm 37:5 says “Commit to the Lord your way; trust him, and he will act.”
Is This Ministry One for You to Act On?
Of course, more prayer and time in the Word can clarify whether the call is for you personally. If you need to discern more about your personal calling, please keep doing that; our team’s trainers can meet with you to help you on that (after April 7th).
If You Feel Called to Receive UNBOUND Ministry . . .
Here are your near-term options:
A. Make an individual appointment:
- Submit a Request for Individual Prayer Ministry on our website.
- We will respond and present some preparation guidelines and possible appointment times, usually for a two-hour session within two to four weeks, so you have time to prepare.
- Obtain a copy of Unbound by Neal Lozano (for sale at the St. Dominic’s Parish Office, Heart of the Father, or Amazon), and read the first half.
- Prepare and come see what the Lord will do for you!
B. Take advantage of our March and April events:
- Register for Live Free! UNBOUND Conference, a full-day seminar on March 17, 2018, that will help you understand the prayer model and begin your preparation.
- Sign up at Live Free! for a one-hour individual session on Saturday, April 7, 2018 (or, if those are booked up quickly at the event or you’d like a longer session or a different day, make an individual appointment, as described above).
by Chris Boersma Smith | Feb 1, 2018 | Deliverance, Encouragement and Inspiration, Gratitude, Healing, Maintaining Your Freedom, Unbound
Look at the Instant Pot’s success!
Don’t we all love to get a glowing recommendation from someone affirming the good that our products or services have produced? While thanks are wonderful, positive word-of-mouth advertising shows the greatest appreciation and is the most effective marketing. Let’s talk up God, far more than everyone is talking up their Instant Pots!
Let’s do some spiritual witnessing!
A spiritual testimony is a personal declaration of what God has done for you. Gratitude with thanksgiving helps God raise other people’s interest level. It can be the doorway for bigger, better things for you and for those who hear your testimony.
When you receive Unbound ministry, you’re encouraged by Neal Lozano, Heart of the Father Ministries, and by our 5 Keys to Freedom in Christ team to write down what God did for you. It needn’t be a long essay fit for publication, though it could be! It may simply be responding to our request for an evaluation, and keeping a copy for yourself. It could be notes in your journal or in your computer or smartphone or in social media about what took place, how you felt before, during, right after, and/or upon later reflection. Whatever works for you! Having written down the important experiences is very strengthening, and helps as your memory fades. It can be especially strengthening to read what you wrote later, in a difficult time prior to your next breakthrough. (Yes, it’s common to have ups and downs in our spiritual lives, with multiple breakthroughs as we grow in holiness and intimacy with God. At times like that, looking back can uplift you.)
Questions to Ask in Coming Up with Your Testimony:
The following questions were written by Neal Lozano (in his Unbound Companion Guide) to guide you in preparing your testimony, but of course, you’re encouraged to personalize your testimony as you tell the story of God’s action in your life:
- What has the Lord done in my life through the UNBOUND message?
- What truths has the Lord revealed to me?
- What sins (or bad habits or addictions) have I overcome by God’s grace?
- What enemies or lies have I renounced that I now refuse to fellowship with?
- How has the Father revealed His love to me as His son or daughter?
- What blessing is He whispering to me right now?
You might also ask:
- How do I feel now that I have forgiven a person, an action, an omission, or hurtful words that wounded me?
- How do I feel as a result of telling my story and having it listened to with love and without judgment (if you experienced that, which is always the intention of UNBOUND ministry teams)?
- How do I see my UNBOUND experience affecting my life going forward? Has it already made a positive difference?
How Might I Share My Testimony?
- Send your testimony to the UNBOUND team and let them know whether it’s just for their edification or whether it might be shared (anonymously or otherwise) to help others — this can be done with an evaluation form, an email, by letter, or by recording (even on voicemail), or by taking a video of yourself speaking about your experience and sending it to the team who ministered to you.
- Allow the person doing a follow-up with you to take notes and share some of your story, after getting your approval.
- Share your testimony with others you know, perhaps in your family or among a small faith community — without going into too much detail, except perhaps to a few very well trusted believers or a spiritual director or confessor.
Tips for a Moving Testimony
First, your testimony should be personal.
- You could share what the Lord has revealed to you about lies you believed and the truth the Lord has imparted to you.
- You could share what sins you’ve overcome by His grace, or whom the Lord has led you to forgive (maybe even for what).
Second, it helps most if your testimony is specific and concrete.
- If you’re willing to share some details of previous bondage and specifically how the Lord has released you, others will be able to relate to your story and your words will bear good fruit for the Lord.
Do It, Because Jesus Asks Those He Heals to Witness to Others!
in Mark 5:1-20, Jesus cast out the demon called “Legion,” which had possessed a chained, cave-dwelling, screaming man in Gerasenes. At the demon’s request, Jesus sent the evil spirit into a herd of swine, which then ran off the cliff into the sea. The healed and now free man wanted to follow Jesus as he traveled around preaching, healing, and delivering others from evil. But Jesus wouldn’t let the man join him, because Jesus had greater work for the man to do than just being his follower. He said, “Go home to your family and announce to them all the Lord in his pity has done for you.” Jesus wants us to tell our story and pass on the miracles and healings that transform our lives!
by Chris Boersma Smith | Jul 26, 2017 | Encouragement and Inspiration, Gratitude, Holy Spirit, Pentecost Experiences
The Call Went Out
Two years ago, Pope Francis called charismatics around the world to travel to Rome to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal and Pentecost. (This means that of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, he invited roughly 120 million Catholics whose lives have been touched by a fundamental experience of the love of God being poured into their hearts by an extraordinary movement of the Holy Spirit, as better explained here.) The Pope and the other presenters at the Jubilee all reminded us we were there in response to a calling, and they exhorted us to return home, boldly bearing witness, testifying to what God has done in our lives through the Holy Spirit!
Inspiring Talks and Huge Masses
At talks the first day, we heard how to grow our charisms (supernatural gifts) and were urged to “go beyond” like Phillip performing miracles among the Samaritans and Peter and Paul laying hands on believers baptized in water but not yet baptized in the Holy Spirit. [See Acts 8:15-17.]
The next morning we attended a conversational ecumenical symposium where we heard the story of Cardinal Borgolio attending a prayer meeting at which the future Pope Francis asked to receive prayer for baptism in the Holy Spirit! We asked questions and the panelists engaged in storytelling, so we felt like insiders, which reinforced the value of personal witnessing.
Donna MacKay and Chris Smith with beautifully dressed Congolese women we met at the symposium.
From 3 until 11 pm that day, at an ancient chariot-racing stadium, with tens of thousands of pilgrims from 128 countries, we attended Mass concelebrated by about 200 charismatic priests and 50 bishops (at an altar as filled as the night before at St. John Lateran Basilica). I’ve never been so happy that I love languages and have absorbed more Latin than I’d imagined, as well as still understanding a lot of Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Italian. I was incredibly grateful that I could understand much of what was said or sung in its own language, though I was lost with German and Swahili!
In the Presence of Pope Francis
Back at the Circus Maximus the next day, awaiting the Pope’s arrival, the heat of the sun and fire of the Holy Spirit electrified the crowd! The holiness and universality of the kairos celebration transported us to new heights. We heard detailed testimony from Patti Gallagher Mansfield and David Magnin, the first two to experience the “dynamite” release of Holy Spirit at the Duquesne University retreat where the Catholic Charismatic Renewal began. Others at the 1967 retreat also experienced a personal Pentecost. From there, the Renewal began spreading like wildfire, surprising the Pentecostals who addressed us; they couldn’t believe Catholics were experiencing the same fullness of the Spirit as they did, and that the Catholic Church respected it before Protestant leadership did!
A few hours after this pep rally for God began, the enormous crowd rose in acclimation and excitement as huge screens revealed the Pope approaching the stage. His flowing white garments stood out in a sea of colors — flags from many nations, bright African fabrics proclaiming the wearers’ faith, banners, hats and scarves waving — and the Pope not surrounded by dozens of bodyguards and men in black clerics, but rather, to our delight, flanked on both sides by lay women: the President of International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services, and Patti Mansfield. Many of the laity, especially women, were moved to tears, as was I.
With the Pope seated center stage, the Preacher to the Papal Household and various Pentecostal Christians addressed the Jubilee crowd. Stressing unity and reconciled diversity, at one point the thousands shouted together: “Jesus is Lord!” Then, “God raised him from the dead,” and in response to “What does that make us? — “REDEEMED!” — repeated in one language after another.
Then to the song “Spirit of the Living God,” the Holy Father extended his hands over us and prayed for the Spirit to fall afresh on us. Bliss!
When Pope Francis gave his meditation, radio transmissions provided translations. Great joy erupted when he said:
- Either the Christian experiences joy in his or her heart, or there’s something wrong!
- Baptism in the Holy Spirit, praise, and serving one another are inseparable.
- This charismatic renewal, what he calls a “current of grace,” is for ALL the Church, not just for some!
Pope Francis thanked all who’ve entered this current of grace for what we’ve given the Church, and he emphasized that the Church relies on us. He directed us to share Baptism in the Holy Spirit with ALL Christians, praise God ceaselessly, serve in unity, and bear witness to lives transformed by the Holy Spirit. We felt One in the Spirit. If you’d like to hear his talk, in Italian, click here! Spontaneous dancing could be seen everywhere — religious, laity, pilgrims all – previously unacquainted brothers and sisters hugging and exchanging high fives!
Pentecost Celebration at St. Peter’s Square
The following day at St. Peter’s Square, rejoicing continued in a glorious Pentecost Mass. We were blessed to stand within a few feet as the Pope passed by, sharing his joy with the crowd under a cerulean Roman sky!
Click here for a quick video clip.
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About the Author
Chris and her husband in St. Peter’s Basilica after a tour of the Vatican Museum
This was written by Chris Boersma Smith, one of 24 pilgrims on the tour sponsored by the Archdiocese of San Francisco Catholic Charismatic Renewal — www.SFSpirit.com — led by Fr. Raymund Reyes and coordinated by Letty Ramos. A spiritual director and 5 Keys to Freedom in Christ UNBOUND Prayer Team leader who was baptized in the Holy Spirit during Confession in 1989, Chris gratefully reports that the pilgrimage did indeed release greater zeal and boldness in her! It’s already bearing juicy fruit in her San Francisco parish—St. Dominic’s—whose mission is to radiate the Joy of the Gospel in the Heart of the City.
by Chris Boersma Smith | Jun 20, 2017 | Creative Expression, Empowering and Freeing Choices, Encouragement and Inspiration, Holy Spirit, Overcoming Obstacles, Pentecost Experiences, Transformational Breakthroughs
I was the oldest of five siblings and responsibility was so impressed upon me that my shoulders became a luggage rack. Try as I might — and occasionally do — I can’t shirk responsibility. Still, I know that this weight of the world isn’t really mine to bear alone. I can ask for help from family and friends or even get online assistance. I can also yoke myself to Jesus who promises to take burdens upon himself and lighten my load [Mt. 11:30]. I can turn to the Serenity Prayer and wisely accept things I cannot change, putting down some burdens as a result. But what difference does our attitude toward responsibility make when it comes to creativity? For one thing, putting down or sharing burdens frees up time and energy that could be put to creative use.
Also, whether you already carry huge responsibility or you chronically avoid it, the fear of responsibility can sometimes subconsciously sabotage your creativity or productivity. If you fear responsibility, you may avoid completing goals through procrastination (another way fear rears its head). Or you may repeatedly quit when you’re ahead but not yet at the finish line.
Let’s say you have a big creative idea, a vision you’d like to see manifested. If you’re typically very responsible, you may plan or start but then set aside your big creative vision as you handle a series of smaller responsibilities you “must” attend to, telling yourself you “can’t” put in the time or effort to move forward on the big creative idea. Or you may think you already have so many responsibilities on your plate that you can’t take on one more thing (not wanting to admit that perhaps you need to let go of something else).
Indeed, responsibility can be both an outright block in the form of excuses for attending to lower priorities as well as a fear that impedes your creative progress. I must admit that I’m easily caught in the former, and that there may be less conscious component of the latter . . . because how could a responsible person like I’ve been all my life fear the responsibility that might come with creative success?
Because we were all divinely meant to be creative in some way, each of us has the responsibility to carry out our mission. Christians have just celebrated Pentecost, reminding us that we are summoned to live all our lives “in the Spirit” [Rom. 8:9, Gal. 5:16,25]. We are to get out of the fear that keeps us waiting in the Upper Room; we are to get out there and live big and bold, doing what God’s called us to do. We are to get up and act without fear, not to push off onto others what we can do and are called to do, and not to leave our light hidden away where no one can see it [Mt. 17:7, Mt. 5:15]. So yes, sometimes doing our creative thing means responsibility. In this post-Pentecost time, how about praying for the Spirit’s guidance and the power of the Spirit to do what you’re being called to do, relying on gifts and fruits of the Spirit like fortitude and perserverance.
It also means using our personal gifts and talents and our unique circumstances that add meaning and beauty, serve and uplift the world. When that comes from the heart, it feels more like play and joy than like work and burden. So we need to get over the notion that creative success means increased responsibility and stop sabotaging creativity to protect our so-called freedom from increased responsibility. When we prioritize our writing, music, art, crafts, dance, performance, hospitality, entrepreneurship, leadership, ministry or service — whatever our calling involves — the creative triumphs we experience will lighten the weight we may perceive responsibility to be. And there’s tremendous freedom in knowing you’re doing what you are here to do!
Awareness is very powerful. Just realizing what your attitudes are towards responsibilities, big and small, informs your decision making, giving you the power to decide from a place that is more conscious, more considered, more intentional. It creates momentum and it empowers you to walk out your purposes.
Visualize feeling lightness and relaxation and creative success all together — even if just for a few seconds or just a tiny bit more than you usually do. Invite Jesus and the Holy Spirit to be present as you close your eyes and breathe with that visualization. Pray to experience the combination of lightness and relaxation, joy and creative success. And then during your creative process lighten up as needed for breaks and self-care. Perhaps add some uplifting music in the background as you work or create. Give thanks as you use your “bodyguard energy” to resist excuses to back away from your creativity, even or especially when the alternative activities come justified in your mind as “handling other responsibilities.” As you do that, you grow your ability to be responsible not just for the quotidian obligations of your household or job but, more than that, for creative causes ordained by the Great Creator and entrusted to you for completion. This is highly spiritual and transformative, which is good for you and for others.
Each successful step you take along a spiritually blessed creative path will encourage and uplift you and others and will be worth the responsibility taken to move forward. If you’d like help in overcoming obstacles and journeying on the spiritual path, perhaps you might pray about and consider signing up for an Unbound prayer session and then getting some spiritual direction.
