The warmth of God’s presence can be elusive. In his secret journal, Henri Nouwen is vulnerable about a dark season in which he couldn’t feel God’s love. He’d helped millions of other people around the world into a more tender and intimate experience with God, but he was in a Dark Night of the Soul.…
Emotions get a bad rap in many of our Christian circles today. They’re vulnerable and get broken. They’re messy and don’t look right. We prefer thinking, analysis, doctrine, and three steps to a better life. “Believe and do what’s right,” is the typical message for how to follow Jesus and grow spiritually. “Emotions are the…
Have you ever felt separated from God’s love? All of us will experience seasons when we feel distant from God…when it feels as though his presence is far from us. In this episode of Soul Talks, Bill & Kristi share the story of Darren. A pastor who Bill had the privilege of walking with as he navigated such a season. Listen to Darren’s story and the hope and freedom he encountered.
We all have times we don’t feel thankful. Maybe we’re depleted, detached, despairing. Maybe God feels far away. What do you do then? A pastor friend of mine is one of the wisest, most compassionate, and successful leaders I know. He has a large church of people who are so thankful for him, how he…
Pastor’s wife Susan Baugh shares her story of feeling alone, confused, and afraid when her lead pastor husband was opposed by church leaders and lost his pulpit.
If I could have anyone lead me on a spiritual retreat with Jesus it’d be Brennan Manning. I wish I could do that and invite you to join me, but he died in 2013. But we can imagine what it’d be like to have Brennan guide us on retreat. That’s what we’ll do in this…
In Henri Nouwen’s Dark Night he received pastoral counseling and kept a secret journal. Shortly before he died this was published as “The Inner Voice of Love.” Here are some quotes and insights for pastors and ministry leaders.
The nurse hit a nerve in my hand! I screamed in pain and now my hand is withered. Will I view God by my bad circumstances or my circumstances by God’s love? I went to the cross of Christ.
Holy Week is a special opportunity to draw on Jesus’ empathy in new ways. You know that the last seven days of Christ’s life changed the world, but you may not have thought of them as filled with empathy for your pain and brokenness. Empathy is tuning into what someone else feels, validating the bigness of it,…
We all want to experience more joy in life. Jesus prays this for us, asking the Father for us to have the fullness of his joy (John 15:11, 17:13). Fullness of joy! His joy! That’s a lot of joy! What can we do if we’re experiencing a lack of joy? How do we experience a…