Wild Grace

At some point, we have to do more than name what is broken. We have to practice another way. In today's episode, I'm talking about what embodiment, creativity, empire, and decolonizing taught me about practicing freedom in real life. Transformation is deeper than information. We do not become free simply because someone gives us the right definition or hands us a list of correct beliefs. We practice freedom by paying attention, telling the truth, slowing down, making room, listening, releasing control, and trusting the Spirit. This episode is also a reflection on ministry, leadership, holy listening, and becoming more fully who God created us to be.  www.amberleagray.com www.instagram.com/amber.lea.gray Episode Themes: practicing freedom, transformation, holy listening, spiritual discernment, decolonizing, ministry, leadership, becoming, Artful Awakening

Some words get so heavy with assumptions that we stop being curious about what they actually mean. For me, "empire" and "decolonizing" are two of those words. In this episode, I define empire in plain language: the systems, stories, habits, and values that shape us away from freedom, wholeness, love, and the way of Jesus. This is not about having the fanciest vocabulary or proving we know the right words. It is about asking a deeper question: What has shaped us that keeps us from being free? We'll talk about how empire shows up in our bodies, calendars, churches, imaginations, and expectations of ourselves, and how grace invites us to practice another way. www.amberleagray.com www.instagram.com/amber.lea.gray Episode Themes: empire, decolonizing, spiritual formation, freedom, wholeness, Artful Awakening, Christian spirituality, embodiment, systems, gospel, practicing another way

Have you ever said, "I'm just not creative"? I don't believe you. In this episode, I'm talking about creativity as more than talent, art, or making something impressive. Creativity is wisdom. It is prayer. It is participation in the ongoing creative work of God. I share how watercolor became a spiritual practice for me, how art helped me surrender control, and why creating can help us access things that thinking, explaining, and even traditional forms of prayer cannot always reach. This episode is for artists, non-artists, recovering perfectionists, and anyone who needs permission to make something without needing it to be good. www.amberleagray.com www.instagram.com/amber.lea.gray Episode Themes: creativity, art and spirituality, creative practice, watercolor, prayer, spiritual formation, imago Dei, God as Creator, Artful Awakening, embodied spirituality

What if your body has been telling the truth, and you've just been too rushed to hear it? In this episode, I'm reflecting on what my Doctor of Ministry project, Artful Awakening, taught me about embodied spirituality, the incarnation, and the wisdom of the body. For a long time, I lived mostly from the neck up: thinking, planning, producing, and doing the next thing. But through this work, I began to learn that breath, tension, exhaustion, grief, desire, and joy can all be ways the Spirit is speaking. If God chose a body in Jesus, then our bodies are not distractions from our spiritual lives. They are part of how God meets us. www.amberleagray.com www.instagram.com/amber.lea.gray Episode Themes: embodied spirituality, incarnation, body wisdom, spiritual discernment, Artful Awakening, Doctor of Ministry, spiritual formation, resistance, Christian spirituality

In this episode of Wild Grace, Amber Lea reflects on John 21, the post-resurrection story of the disciples returning to the water, a long night of empty nets, breakfast on the shore, and Jesus asking Simon Peter the same question three times: Do you love me? This is a contemplative reflection on what repeated questions do inside us. The first time, we answer quickly. The second time, something in us slows down. The third time, something more honest begins to rise. This episode explores John 21, Jesus and Peter, repeated questions, spiritual discernment, honest faith, and the answers beneath our first response. www.amberleagray.com www.amberleagray.social www.insagram.com/amber.lea.gray