Karen Bables
Welcome to my blog about living as apprentices of Jesus! I am passionate about spiritual transformation and about helping others become like Jesus for the sake of others.
One of my favorite quotes is: "Whatever job we get and whatever task we are assigned can serve as a container for grace" (Eugene Peterson in "Practical Resurrection"). I pray that the words and sentences on this blog may also serve as "containers of grace" for its readers.
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Category Archives: The 12 Steps and Spiritual Formation
We Surrender to Win – Guest Post
This is a guest post. The writer wishes to remain anonymous. I grew up in a family where it was considered important to always “be right;” we were often corrected for any mistakes in speech or behavior. This bred a strong … Continue reading
Posted in The 12 Steps and Spiritual Formation
Tagged control, surrender, The Twelve Steps
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Being “Reasonably Happy”
This blog is home to more than 660 posts. Occasionally I re-blog a post that seems particularly important for life in 2017. This post was first posted on February 19, 2015. When I worked for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, … Continue reading
Becoming a Gritty Christian
I’m “back in the saddle again,” co-leading a group studying Breathing Under Water, Spirituality and the Twelve Steps, by Richard Rohr. The lesson this week focused on the life-long process we engage in as we look deeply into our “private … Continue reading
Posted in The 12 Steps and Spiritual Formation
Tagged Becoming like Jesus, discipleship, grit, shadow boxing, shadow self, soul-training exercises, spiritual formation
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Powerlessness Case Study
THE TWELVE STEPS AND SPIRITUAL FORMATION My husband woke up cranky today. Maybe it’s because he’s sick. Maybe it’s because he just has a cranky personality. Whatever the reason, he said something very mean. I automatically defaulted immediately to my … Continue reading
My Surrender
MY JOURNEY Co-dependency. Enabling. I had no idea what those words meant. But I lived them out with all my passion for decades. After my life came to a screeching debacle, and I learned what those words meant, I wanted … Continue reading
Posted in My journey, The 12 Steps and Spiritual Formation
Tagged co-dependency, Enabling, helping others, surrender, The Twelve Steps
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“Stinking Thinking”
LIVING AS APPRENTICES Here’s a conscience-pricking comment from Wendell Berry. We have lived by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world. And this has been based on the even flimsier assumption that we … Continue reading
On Harmony and Mindfulness
THE TWELVE STEPS AND SPIRITUAL FORMATION “For Jesus, and thus for we who strive to follow him, to glorify God comes down to this: to faithfully finish whatever God gives us to do. To face with courage all the moments of our lives—challenging and joyful, tedious and fearful and glad—without … Continue reading
Deep Communion and Dear Compassion
THE TWELVE STEPS AND SPIRITUAL FORMATION I’ve been marinating in the Twelve Steps for the past year. They revolutionized my life many years ago, and they are doing it again, this time with help of Fr. Richard Rohr and his … Continue reading
Living as Apprentices 