For signs of physical dehydration, a person might check a medical book. For symptoms of spiritual dehydration, however, where should one look?
Lisa Brenninkmeyer says the symptoms are listed in the Book of Isaiah.
Brenninkmeyer, the founder and CEO of Walking with Purpose, a Catholic woman’s Bible study ministry, spoke about spiritual dehydration to more than 600 women gathered Dec. 6 at Westerville St. Paul the Apostle Church.
Walking with Purpose was founded in 2008 and is present at nearly 600 parishes across the United States, Canada and Europe, including at 19 parishes in the Diocese of Columbus. More than 70,000 women have participated in the ministry, in which women hold each other accountable and lift up one another.
“This gathering is off-the-charts powerful,” Father Jonathan Wilson, pastor of St. Paul, said in his opening remarks about Walking with Purpose.
In her talk, “Hope for Right Now,” Brenninkmeyer shared that women today are under attack, and they need to take back ground from the enemy.
Using the Book of Isaiah, Brenninkmeyer said there is a “spiritual dehydration of the heart.” Unlike spiritual dryness, which might entail a lack of enthusiasm or zeal for prayer or the sacraments, there are symptoms specific to spiritual dehydration.
In Isaiah 58:9, Brenninkmeyer said, symptoms include: “the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil”; compassion fatigue; and emotional overheating, such as anger.
Each symptom corresponds to a symptom of bodily dehydration: dry mouth or stale breath, a symptom of dehydration, is the counterpart of speaking evil. Compassion fatigue, when “we know we’re supposed to be loving but feel we have nothing to give,” is similar to bodily fatigue, another symptom of dehydration.
When the body is dehydrated, it overheats, just as emotional overheating is a symptom of spiritual dehydration, Brenninkmeyer said.
In Isaiah 58:11, the prophet Isaiah writes that the Lord promises to satisfy a person’s needs in parched places, and they will be like a watered garden, a spring of water, whose waters never fail.
Brenninkmeyer said it is important that a woman is a well-watered garden, a source of comfort and strength, because her family needs that. She said the Book of Isaiah shows three stages: rugged ruins, response and a rewarding restoration from God.
The Book of Isaiah is broken into two parts. The first part, chapters 1-39, describes a time of sin, when everything is in ruins, and God is at war with His people. Beginning in Chapter 40, there is a switch, Brenninkmeyer said, and Isaiah offers a solution to the problem.
“What we see in Scripture is that God does keep His promises, each and every one, but not according to our timetable,” she said.
Reading Isaiah 58, she explained that everything at the time was in ruins.
“Are there some rugged ruins in your life?” Brenninkmeyer asked. “Do you desperately want union but all you see is division?”
She recalled a time when she “felt like there would never be light in my heart again.”
Brenninkmeyer said her garden “looked like everything was dying,” and she was waiting for God’s promises, but she felt as if nothing was happening. She knew she could choose to be a victim of her circumstances, which was tempting.
In the toughest moments, she said, she recalled thinking, surely, the Lord could not expect anything from her but survival. However, the Book of Isaiah showed an “if, then” pattern.
“We all want the blessings described in Isaiah 58,” Brenninkmeyer said.
She wanted to get from the rugged ruins that she was experiencing to the reward God was promising. Between those two places, and to get from one to the other, the Book of Isaiah showed that a response was required.
Brenninkmeyer said that Isaiah had an aim. He wanted the Israelites to change their sinful behavior. The prophet told the Israelites to stop pointing the finger and to “lift the yoke,” or take away the oppression or injustice, from other people.
The prophet was calling the people living in rugged ruins to turn outward and attend to the needs of the oppressed. If they would do that, then they would become a watered garden whose waters never fail.
“So many people are paralyzed with worry about themselves,” Brenninkmeyer said.
She explained that, while it is important for people to take care of themselves, women are living in a culture that is obsessed with self-care. There can be a temptation to turn inward in times of brokenness, pain and while in “rugged ruins,” but God promises a reward to those who serve and do good to others.
“We can be wounded healers in the midst of our own pain,” Brenninkmeyer said.
In attending to and healing the hearts of others, she said, “our own hearts will be restored.”
She said that every prayer and cry is heard by the Father. In the “Catechism of the Catholic Church,” section 2606, the Church writes that all troubles, petitions and intercessions are summed up in Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word. He is the answer to every prayer and cry.
The “Catechism” states that the Father accepts every cry and answers them by raising His Son. Prayer is brought to completion in salvation.
Brenninkmeyer said that the life, death and resurrection of Jesus make anything and everything possible.
Even in anger or heartache, she said, “God calls us to be more than something we feel capable of.” He helps the brokenhearted to heal others’ hearts because “God wants to do the work in and through us.”
She recalled the words of St. Therese of Lisieux, who is the patron of Walking with Purpose. The 19th-century French saint wrote, “The elevator which must raise me to the heavens is Your arms, O Jesus! For that I do not need to grow; on the contrary, I must necessarily remain small, become smaller.”
Brenninkmeyer acknowledged that people are little, weak and fail often.
“If the garden of our lives is in ruin, we turn to the gardener,” she said.
Brenninkmeyer reminded women not to come to God thinking they can earn His favor, mercy or their identity as a daughter of God. The Father loves His children as they are and desires to work through them.
She told the women that God’s answer to their grief, heartache and disappointments is Himself, His presence. After a person recognizes that God is the answer, they are called to a complete surrender of self to Him.
“He comes as the breaker of chains,” Brenninkmeyer said.
She recalled the words in Isaiah 58:9-10 about God’s promise: “If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness.”
In the toughest, darkest moments, Brenninkmeyer reminded women that God’s light will rise in the darkness. His promises to them will be fulfilled. His glory will come.
