For the last 9 weeks, we’ve been exploring the core theology and practices of Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. But now it’s time to address your questions and challenges as you put it into practice. In today’s episode, I address questions like: What’s the difference between hitting a “wall” and going through a trial? How do you handle the defensiveness of leaders who feel like Emotionally Healthy Discipleship is an “indictment” on modern evangelicalism? Can you talk through the difference between persistent faith in asking God for something, and straying into the “name it and claim it” territory?  How do you find faith and hope in seasons of prolonged disappointment and pain? How do I take a sabbath without my spouse and leadership team sabotaging it?  And more Don’t forget, if you missed the first episode on The Problem of Emotionally Unhealthy Spirituality, you can listen to it here.

Over the last several weeks, we’ve explored essential practices for growing into an emotionally mature adult – Practicing Silence & Solitude, Embracing Grief and Loss, Sabbath-keeping, Daily Office, and more. But how do we actually integrate these practices into our daily lives?Without a thoughful plan, we are left with only our best intentions. Today on the podcast I teach you how to develop a “Rule of Life” – an ancient practice that helps you build your life around the love of God. This podcast is part of a multi-week series in which we explore the seminal work from Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. If you are a pastor, leader, or listener and you want to start the journey toward emotional and spiritual health, this series is a must-listen. If you missed the first episode on The Problem of Emotionally Unhealthy Spirituality, you can listen to it here.

Here’s a scary truth…. You may be chronologically 35 or 55 or 75 years old, but still be an emotional and spiritual child. Or as one person put it…”I had been following Jesus for 22 years. But in reality, I was a one-year-old Christian 22 times.” This was my story for too many years. I was an emotional infant who was stuck. I was leading a church while my marriage and family were suffering. By God’s grace, I realized that something needed to change. The truth is – emotional health and spiritual maturity are inseparable. It is impossible to be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature. What about you? Are you an emotional infant, child, adolescent, or adult? In today’s podcast episode I bring the last of a multi-week podcast series in which we explore the seminal work from Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. If you are a pastor, leader, or listener and you want to start the journey toward emotional. Read more.

We were made by God to live within rhythms and limits. One of these essential rhythms, established at creation, is to honor the Lord by keeping the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a 24-hour period once a week that is made holy unto the Lord by ceasing from work and living in delight. It’s far more than a “day off”. Sabbath is a day set aside to stop, rest, delight, and contemplate the beauty of God. On today’s podcast, we explore this countercultural practice that cuts to the very heart of our beliefs about God and ourselves. Today’s episode is a continuation of an 8-week podcast series in which we explore the seminal work from Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. If you are a pastor, leader, or listener and you want to start the journey toward emotional and spiritual health, this series is a must-listen. If you missed the first episode on the problem of emotionally unhealthy spirituality, you can listen to. Read more.

Many Christians are familiar with the practice of a daily “quiet time”. But with the speed and volume of our often overscheduled lives, one short moment a day isn’t enough to sustain an abiding life with Jesus. We need to cultivate rhythms of solitude and silence with Jesus that allow us to live in the center of God’s love throughout the day. For this reason, the historic church ordered their days around fixed hour prayer, called the Daily Office. Today, on the podcast we explore this transformation practice in depth! Today’s episode is a continuation of an 8-week podcast series in which we explore the seminal work from Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. If you are a pastor, leader, or listener and you want to start the journey toward emotional and spiritual health, this series is a must-listen. If you missed the first episode on the problem of emotionally unhealthy spirituality, you can listen to it here. As we say – you. Read more.

Grief and loss are a central part of our humanity. It comes without our permission and against our will. But this is why suffering is how God uniquely opens our hearts and transforms us. So why do so many of us avoid grief and loss at all costs? Much of this is because we lack a theology that allows us to see God’s gifts within our suffering. Yet as we become apprentices to sorrow, our hearts begin to enlarge so we can give and receive the love of God. This is how God births something new out of the old. Today’s episode is a continuation of an 8-week podcast series in which we explore the seminal work from Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. If you are a pastor, leader, or listener and you want to start the journey toward emotional and spiritual health, this series is a must-listen. If you missed the first episode on the problem of emotionally unhealthy. Read more.