A More Resilient Narrative

Today I share with you an update I did to my about page. I’m excited to get more focused. Here you go:

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How would you like to navigate adversity and come out stronger on the other side?

Welcome to Magnificent Strength of Heart, a place for people who want to be tough minded and not easily shaken.

I am Belinda McDanel. I like to think, write, and tell stories. My missionary parents took me to Guatemala for the reconstruction from the 1976 earthquake. We lived in El Salvador during their civil war in 1977 to 1979.

Even on a day when a machine gun was pointed at me, by the time my head hit the pillow at night, I was at peace.

I practiced things like journaling, mindfulness and contemplative prayer although I didn’t think of it in those terms.

I long to see resilience in individuals and faith communities. I share things I learned that gave me strength–magnificent strength.

In future blog posts, we will explore what it means to have strength of heart in three areas: change, adversity and church reformation.

As a person of faith, I’m frustrated with easy answers that gloss over pain and refuse to wrestle. I’m not interested in the same answers the church has given for the last 100 years. We are on the verge of a reformation of faith.

If you are hanging on to an Orthodox or Evangelical worldview with white knuckled determination, this is not the place for you.

I want to explore this new thing God is doing and hold my assumptions lightly, which explains my tag line:

Explore  |  Question  |  Wrestle  |  Repeat

Topics you will discover here:

• Change and the Church – We will explore change in general and then specifically in the church. How to be teachable, so we can be open to where God is moving.
• Overcoming Adversity – we use Stories to build resilience. In the story we practice a mindset that nurtures resilience. For example: Viktor Frankl, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Ellie Wiesel and Joni Eareckson-Tada.
• Reformation – We look to the future and explore new ways to approach Christianity and how our identity shifts.

Transformation

The theme behind it all is transformation. How do we navigate a changing world? I don’t have all the answers, I’m observing and exploring.

The essence of my philosophy is this:

1. Change takes you to a place you have never been before.
2. Assume what you know may not serve you in the new place.
3. Be humble and teachable as the way to explore the new.
4. Be pliable, if you are not pliable, you might miss out.

Do you feel something stirring in your spirit and if you don’t get it out, you will burst? That’s how I feel about this blog. This blog is about developing into a person with Magnificent Strength of Heart. I post two to three times a month either on Wednesday or Thursday.

Thank you for reading. I don’t drink coffee, but you will find me hanging out at a coffeehouse thinking about becoming a tough-minded person.

To sign up to hear about my memoir please add your name to this list and receive my most popular poem in a printable pdf.

©2018 Belinda McDanel