Tag Archives: anxiety

Bust through the Wall to Maturity

Leadership is sacred, holy work before God. Whether it be leadership of our own lives, our churches, our famlies or our finances, it is a challenge to mature through the walls and challenges that confront us. It is easier to remain in anxiety, ruminate needlessly, or become reactive when we are stuck. This happened to me recently at New Life around a complex administrative issue before us. As a result I returned to the following simple,but difficult, emotionally healthy skill called, “Bust through the Wall to Maturity.” After working the simple steps below, over many hours and days, God’s pathway became clear. And I found myself flourishing before Him once again. Give it a try: 1. Identify one specific situation about which you have anxiety or feel stuck. 2. To what conclusions might you be jumping? Pass what you think to be true through the “distorted thinking” lens. Ask yourself: Am I doing… —. Read more.

4 Points to a Centered Life

I am enjoying leading New Life Fellowship Church more than at any time I can remember. It is not related to circumstances as it has been in the past, nor is it short-lived. It is something much deeper. I am not sure of all the reasons, but I know the application of differentiation to pastoring and living has removed much of my anxiety and faulty thinking. The following, adapted from David Schnark, summarizes what I have worked on internally amidst the complexities of life/leadership. 4 Points to Personal Integrity/Differentiation 1. Solid sense of Self in close promixity to important others who pressure you to conform. 2. Regulate your own anxiety (self-soothe). 3. Non-reactive (not indifferent) to other’s anxiety and reactivity. 4. Willingness to tolerate pain for growth. This has helped keep me centered and listening to God each day, and it has made all the difference. What has enabled you to center and listen?

Prudence

If I were to identify the number one error I have committed more than any other as a pastor the last twenty years, I would have to talk about imprudence. Proverbs is filled with teaching to cultivate this very rare virtue. I have rushed, reacted, failed to ponder implications of decisions, spoken when it was best to be silent, moved out of anxiety instead of stilling my own soul. I recently studied every verse in Proverbs about prudence and speech. It was both edifying and sobering. The following are a sampling I shared at a recent NLF staff meeting. I commend them to you for your prayerful meditation: The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways -Prov. 14:8 A simple man believes anything, but a prudent man gives thought to his steps.-Prov. 14:15 The discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly. -Prov. 15:14 The heart of the. Read more.

Begin the Journey with the Daily Office

I am in the process of finishing a Daily Office book that I have been working on since last Fall. It is going to the printer within 2 weeks and I recently made a change in one of the Offices (there are two per day, five days a week for eight weeks and are based on the themes from the workbook/book Emotionally Healthy Spirituality). One final change I made was to replace a devotional from one of the Offices to the one from Leighton’s Ford excellent new book that was recently published: The Attentive Life: Discerning God’s Presence in All Things (IVP, 2008). The book is filled with insights and learnings from his 76 years as a follower of Christ. I highly recommend it. He has been a personal mentor of mine for over 25 years. Geri, in fact, is with him now in North Carolina for 4 days on a spiritual mentoring retreat.. Read more.

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