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.…
Listen to this episode of Soul Talks: Join Bill and Kristi as they share a great excerpt of teaching from the Soul Shepherding Institute. Spiritual Formation is relational and personal. The way we respond and react to even the small, daily experiences in our lives affect our formation. Bill and Kristi each share how they…
Many Christians are stunted in their spiritual growth because they don’t understand or express their deep emotions and desires. As pastors, ministry leaders, caregivers, or parents we may get so busy or so focused on other people that we become disconnected from our own emotions and needs. But being self-aware is crucial to our abilities…
Listen to this episode of Soul Talks: It is important to give ourselves space to think and process our life and Jesus’ teachings but it also important to understand our emotions connected to it. Join Bill and Kristi as they talk about the power of emotions and how valuable they are in our formation…
“Do not worry… Do not worry… Do not worry…” The Psalmist repeats his counsel three times in Psalm 37. (vv 1, 7, 8) Just like Jesus did in Matthew 6. (vv 25, 31, 34) “Do not worry.” This is not the empty reassurance of “Don’t worry. Be happy!” The Bible never advises denial of emotion. The…
At the beginning of our marriage, Kristi and I were both working full-time jobs and going to graduate schools in psychology. Obviously, we didn’t have a lot of free time to be together. But we were very much in love as you can see in this picture taken in 1985! When we did have time…
You long to be pursued in love. So do I. “How are you… really? What do you need? What are you hoping for? How can I pray for you?” When someone expresses genuine personal interest in you, it is healing. When you open up to grace, it is life-giving. But somewhere along the line we…
The Enneagram is the rage, but most people don’t know how to use it. We coach pastors, leaders, and church groups in their personal growth and ministry effectiveness and the Enneagram is the best personality assessment tool we’ve seen. That’s why we’re doing a whole series of podcasts and blogs on its spiritual and psychological benefits. Here…
When we tell Mary’s part in the Christmas story it’s easy to idealize her. It’s as if she had such great faith in the word of the Lord, even as a young woman, that all she needed was God. It was Mary and God, alone in a world of people who scorned her — even…
To become like Jesus we need to befriend his emotions. It’s important to appreciate that Jesus is a feeler who experiences and expresses deep and vivid emotions about many things in life. Jesus is a feeler? You may disagree with us. Most Christian leaders today seem to. Early in my (Bill) life and ministry, I…