Spiritual Growth

How Then Shall We Hear? (Part 1)

Posted on November 9, 2025 by Karen Thomas Olsen

I have come to realize that I hear differently, often far differently, from others.

“He who has ears to hear, let him hear,” (Matthew 11:15).

So, what is hearing?

It is auditory sensation.

It is listening.

It is understanding.

It can involve response and obedience.

But it can be painful.

This is my problem. Hearing can be painful, isolating, and confusing. Of course, hearing can be lovely, soothing, encouraging, exciting, and delightful. Moreover, hearing can be faith-building. “Faith comes from hearing…the word of Christ/God” (the “rhema” or spoken word of “Theos”; Romans 10:17). Is your faith weak? Hear more Word. Is hearing like eating? Nourishing?

It seems that Christians “digest” what they hear differently. Here is where hearing becomes confusing. Let me explain my current “hearing” dilemma.

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Categories: A Personal Note, Sacred Music, Spiritual Growth | Tags: , | Leave a comment

Online Course and Resource Update; Prayer Always Needed

Posted on September 19, 2025 by Karen Thomas Olsen

I presented two great opportunities to you in my August 14 post. Here’s an update.

My Bible study, A Traveler’s Guide through Suffering and Joy, is still on sale, but the price has risen, so now you can buy 2 books for the price of one rather than three. Still a great deal.

My second opportunity presented was about an online class I planned to start this fall. It is being delayed. Here is what’s up:

I am working with a tech man to help me update my website, hoping to add some printable resources and video recordings. I think that’s all I’ll be able to handle this fall, and I will let you know when they are uploaded on my website for you to use and share.  I will also let you know when we’ll be ready to proceed with the online class/community in which we’ll travel through the Bible study. Please pray over all of this! Thank you!!

New Season Of Prayer

Is there ever a time not to pray? No! The time is always now (I Thes. 5:17). There is no doubt that the Holy Spirit is wooing and moving, as He did over the formless void of the watery, deep darkness in Genesis 1:2. Let us pray in agreement with the Spirit.

Lord, through the darkness of Charlie Kirk’s martyrdom, we hear Your voice exclaiming, “Let there be light,” and You are banishing darkness from hearts now softened through the light of the gospel proclaimed by Charlie and by Christ-followers around the globe. Here we are, Lord! Send us. Use us. Connect us. Bring healing through Christ’s death for us and His resurrection, as one, two, tens, thousands, and millions call to You.

“All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13), for “if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that

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Categories: A Traveler's Guide thr Suffering & Joy, prayer, Spiritual Growth | Tags: , | 3 Comments

How Can We Make Sense of the Senseless? (Podcast interview at end)

Posted on September 11, 2025 by Karen Thomas Olsen

Consider two September days, separated by twenty-four years. September 11, 2001 (9/11) with the loss of some 3000 people. Then, the assassination of Charlie Kirk on September 10, 2025.

Charlie wanted to be remembered first for his faith in Jesus Christ.  On this foundation he built his life as well as his work as a conservative influencer, founding Turning Point USA at the age of 18. Lethally shot, Charlie (a mere 31) left a beautiful wife and two little ones, the ages of my youngest grandchildren. His life’s race is completed.

I have heard people refer to these tragedies as senseless. I think they mean they are acts of injustice. The 3,000 lives lost were innocent victims. Charlie was an innocent victim. Thus, terrorism is senseless, but of course, we know there is some sense (logic, reason, however unhinged or demonic) behind the violence. So, we ask, “Why?” We ask, “How do I make sense of the senseless?”

This reminds me of an ancient story, providing us a wider perspective plus some balm for grieving hearts. Continue reading →

Categories: A Traveler's Guide thr Suffering & Joy, Biography, Government, Spiritual Growth | Tags: , , | 2 Comments

On Being Human

Posted on August 29, 2025 by Karen Thomas Olsen

Have you heard this? Maybe you’ve said this?

“Human!”

It’s a response to being called out for error, forgetfulness, and even wrong doing.

Sam came home with the groceries but bought the wrong kind of gluten free flour. His wife, Sue, had listed the exact one she needed for the dessert she was making to take to the family reunion for those members with dietary restrictions. Sam made an error. Sue was irritated.

“Human!” Sam defended himself.

Sam and Sue drove eighty miles to get to this family reunion. They remembered their lawn chairs, cooler filled with food and drinks, gifts for the grandparents, but they forgot the rare, old newspaper articles! Everyone was to contribute old family photos and newspaper clippings about Grandpa and Grandma from decades ago which cousin Martha was going to have digitalized to make into a family book. Sue was the only one in the family who had possession of the newspaper articles about Grandpa as a local baseball champion in his youth. Her cousin was counting on her. The articles were still where she placed them on her kitchen table. Sigh.

“Human!” Sue was mad at herself.

Cousin Martha lied. She’d been lying about it for years! Lying to herself, lying to her family and friends. Why? She did not want to face her financial reality. She did not want to change her lifestyle, so she borrowed and borrowed and borrowed money. Now, she was losing her house. She had to move. Martha unloaded her burden on Sue as they sat away from the rest of the family, near the old weeping willow tree they once played under as girls.  The tree wept with them. There was so much to say, so much to face, so much to do, but what should Martha do?

“Human!” claimed Martha. “So true!” consoled Sue.

But really? Is it really human nature to make errors, to forget, and to do wrong? Can we sort this out?

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Categories: A Traveler's Guide thr Suffering & Joy, Devotional, Spiritual Growth | Tags: , | 2 Comments

Presenting Two Great Opportunities for You and Me

Posted on August 14, 2025 by Karen Thomas Olsen

I have two great opportunities to present to you before I report to you about the podcast interview I was preparing for when I last posted. Some have asked how it went. I’ll tell you a bit at the end of this post and then more another time. For now, let me share some emerging possibilities that could bless you and some of your friends.

First, we’ve been given an opportunity. What opportunity? Well, check out the Amazon page on my book. The link is near the bottom of this post.

The price has greatly dropped on Amazon (but not on Barnes & Noble), so now is the time to buy some copies for friends and family. (Currently, you can buy three copies for the price of one.) These copies are the first printing of the first edition. Some charts have been added and edits have been made which will be found in copies after all of these first printings are sold. I can send you the added charts and changes if you order soon, if you send me a request via email. I’ll give you contact information below.

Second, here’s an opportunity that I’m offering: an online class/community traveling through this Bible study,  A Traveler’s Guide through Suffering and Joy. Would you like to be a part of this? I’m hoping to start the group study in mid-September, trekking through the book in eight to nine sessions, finishing before Thanksgiving.  We’ll meet online (GoogleMeets or something like this) once a week for live gatherings which will be recorded so you can listen to them later if you can’t always join us. (I’ll get back with you on the time schedule, but if you want to let me know your preferences, please do so. We’ll see what we can do.)

Buy your cheap copies of my book now. Look through the book, and ask God to lead you to a partner or group to do this with you. You can gather your own little group of friends and relatives to journey together!

Be encouraged and inspired by the book description on the back of the book (which you can read on the Amazon page or on my website). Use that description to encourage others to join you.

There’s more:

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Categories: A Traveler's Guide thr Suffering & Joy, Online Class, Spiritual Growth, Study methods & disciplines | 1 Comment

Giving Advice to Your Younger Self

Posted on July 18, 2025 by Karen Thomas Olsen

Have you ever been asked the question, “What advice would you give to your younger self?” Hmm. How would you answer?

Recently, I was sent this question in a short list of questions I was given to prepare for an upcoming podcast interview. I’m wanting to discuss my book, A Traveler’s Guide through Suffering and Joy, but first I’ll be asked some questions about my life.  Actually, the interviewers are looking to hear interesting life stories of faith more than they are interested in discussing the contents of a book.  I agreed to the interview, hoping that telling some of my story will be a platform to tell about my book, which will be the last topic of our conversation.  I don’t think that I can answer their questions about my life without referring to themes in my book. The last of the provided questions before discussing the book is about giving advice to one’s younger self.

This sounds like a currently popular and clever way to offer advice to others while revealing something of the arc of your own growth.  So I’ve been simmering on possible replies.

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Categories: A Traveler's Guide thr Suffering & Joy, Spiritual Growth | 3 Comments

Announcing a Move!

Posted on October 16, 2024 by Karen Thomas Olsen

Within the next few weeks my book will be released: A Traveler’s Guide through Suffering and Joy. When I have a release day, I will let you know, and I hope you will order the book!

In preparation for its availability, I have contracted with a lovely web designer to construct a new website for me that will hold all of my various projects. When you opened this post today, you opened JourneyNorthCharacter on my new website: http://www.KarenThomasOlsen.com . Going to the blog as you normally do will also take you to the new site. After you have read this post, click on the box in the upper left to explore the website. This is just the start, but it is a beautiful beginning.

Danette, my web designer, is an artist and photographer. She also designed the cover of my book for both the front and the back. The photography is her original work, and she also designed the word layout. I love the fonts she chose.

Let me show you the entire cover wrap.  The front cover photo features the Elk Mountain range in western Colorado, while the back cover shows the Maroon Bells, two peaks within the Elk Mountain range and the lake below. On the back cover are two endorsements, the book description, and my bio paragraph. Danette designed it all so attractively. What do you think?

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Categories: A Traveler's Guide thr Suffering & Joy, Spiritual Growth, The Roaming Reader, Theology, Travels | Tags: , , , | 6 Comments

“Think and Do.” Where’s the “Feel”?

Posted on September 26, 2024 by Karen Thomas Olsen

When I was a child in elementary school, we used these workbooks called Think and Do. They were a part of our Language Arts curriculum. We practiced our developing reading skills through our grade level reading books plus these corresponding workbooks. I liked the workbooks, I realized later, because the exercises broke concepts down into steps and showed patterns that I could then apply.

Reading did not come easily to me, so I needed process steps to make connections. No matter the mental process we engage, we are always thinking and doing. Think and do.

Where does the “feeling” come in? Emotion is always present in both the thinking and the doing. We cannot think anything or do anything without emotion permeating thought and action.

Why do I bring this up? Recently I was asked about how I process my feelings as part of my faith. Interesting.

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Categories: Devotional, Spiritual Growth | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Secrets and Sightings

Posted on February 24, 2024 by Karen Thomas Olsen

“I look at Jesus, not the Old Testament or New Testament,” explained a pastor to a church member who was seeking to understand the church’s teaching about spiritual transformation and the relationship between human beings and God.

A friend recently reported this conversation to me that he had with one of his pastors. It might be helpful to know more of the situation, but this statement is enough to raise questions. My friend is observing not only what is being taught in his church but what is not being taught. We all need to be alert and observant in our own situations.

My mind goes back thirty years to meeting a pastor of a growing church that was to become a mega church in that particular area. He loved Jesus. He preached Jesus. But he held a disdain for the Old Testament. He wanted to distance himself and his church from the violence recorded there and the angry God he saw there.

What impact would such a narrow understanding of Jesus and distorted view of the Scriptures have on people? I can’t address this question in this post, but it is worth pondering. What I will address in this post is the next question.

Can Jesus be truly understood through the four Gospels of the New Testament alone? Continue reading →

Categories: Christian Reader, Devotional, Spiritual Growth, Study methods & disciplines | Tags: , , , | 4 Comments

Epiphany: Such Glorious Radiance and Representation

Posted on January 6, 2024 by Karen Thomas Olsen

“What an epiphany!” I exclaim when something strikes me as a profound realization. I see it! I’m enlightened. This is how we tend to use the word, epiphany. Yet, note its beautiful and ancient usage as the name for the twelfth day of Christmas. Epiphany: every January 6, the celebration the coming of the Magi to see the Christ child. Epiphany: the incarnation and manifestation of Christ to the world. Christ, the Light of the world. A-ha!

Therefore, today is an appropriate day to bring to light an essay I wrote last year that has been hidden in my Word documents, unused.

This essay presents some themes, quotations, and insights developed in my unpublished Bible study, which I am re-writing as a book to be published later this year. (If you’ve been with me for years, you’ll recognize certain themes.) I’ll be writing more in coming posts about my new adventure, working with a publisher.

For now, I’ll bring to light some thoughts I’ve pondered about our glorious Savior and the radiance of His Epiphany.

Such Glorious Radiance and Representation

When we look at Jesus, we see no strong points. None. What?

Continue reading →

Categories: Being Like Jesus, Joy & Suffering -- Good & Evil, Spiritual Growth | Tags: , , , | 5 Comments

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