From Spiritual Dryness to Open-Handed Faith | Steven Navarro

In this episode of Very Bold Radio and Podcast, host Steve Teal sits down for part three of a deep-dive conversation with missionary and writer Steven Navarro. Picking up in 2022 after seven years with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) in Amsterdam, Steven shares his candid, vulnerable journey through what St. John of the Cross named the "Dark Night of the Soul".

Despite coming off a spiritually rich season memorizing the Gospel of Luke and experiencing intense corporate worship, Steven found himself entering a profound, multi-year season of spiritual dryness where traditional forms of devotion no longer brought a sense of God’s presence. Through silence, solitude, and guidance from mentors, he learned to embrace spiritual disequilibrium—moving from a performance-based, fix-it mindset toward an open-handed, contemplative faith.

Key Takeaways & Topics Covered

• Transition and Estrangement: Moving from leading Discipleship Training Schools (DTS) to joining a creative collective named Mosaic in YWAM Amsterdam left Steven feeling like a "fish out of water" amid broader life and faith transitions.

• The Onset of Spiritual Dryness: After a season of deep spiritual intimacy in Orlando, Florida, Steven returned to Amsterdam and began experiencing a withdrawal from the tangible presence of God during church services and prayer meetings. The harder he tried to "push in" or perform, the drier it felt.

• Discovering the Contemplative Tradition: Reading Richard Foster’s Streams of Living Water helped Steven realize his spiritual dryness was not a sign of broken faith, but a well-documented historic Christian experience known across traditions as the "Dark Night of the Soul" or "spiritual disequilibrium".

• Practicing Silence and Solitude: Guided by mentors, Steven learned to sit on a quiet bench in Amsterdam for hours, allowing the "sand and dirt" of hurry and noise to settle so he could simply be present with God without needing to perform.

• Unconventional Places of Encounter: While standard devotional routines felt dry, Steven unexpectedly encountered God’s presence in three distinct areas:

  1. Everyday, mundane moments (making a sandwich in his apartment).

  2. Creative writing (crafting fiction and sci-fi stories late at night).

  3. High liturgy services (participating in Catholic Mass, Anglican, and Orthodox spaces).

• Open-Handed Faith and Spiritual Maturity: Moving away from rigid, single-stream definitions of worship allowed Steven to cultivate gratitude for all traditions within the Body of Christ and step into a role of spiritual parenthood.

• Incarnational Spirituality in the Everyday: Drawing on authors like Parker Palmer and Brother Lawrence, the episode highlights that your daily life—whether changing diapers, driving a truck, or frying an egg—is the exact "school" where the Holy Spirit desires to meet you.

• Short Story Feature ("Shooting Star"): Steven closes the interview by reading a poignant original short story exploring the tension between wonder, doubt, and holding onto fleeting moments of beauty.

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