Ministry Stress Archives - Soul Shepherding

When Henri Nouwen Couldn’t Feel God’s Love

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…

A friend of mine was quite late for his appointment with me. He finally arrived breathless as he explained to me that 24 hours in…

“My life is being poured out like a drink offering for you,” Paul wrote to a church he planted (Philippians 2:17, paraphrased). You know this…

In Dr. Bobby Clinton’s study of 3,500 leaders for Christ, it was found that only one-third of leaders finished well. Many drop out (usually due to…

At a coffee meeting, Pastor Sean lamented to me, “Another key leader left my church. I’ll probably never see him again.” “Why do you say that?”…

My former pastor Bill Hybels did not learn how to fall safely. We all fall down in life, but have we learned to fall safely?…

For most of my life until about age 40 I struggled with anxiety. Almost nobody knew it because I hid it and because much of…

We all want to be happy, but that can depress us! A pastor in my counseling office forced a smile, “I’m happy to support our…

Our thoughts can be “like monkeys jumping around in a banana tree,” Henri Nouwen writes. (The full quote is in our article on “Solitude and…

Paul uses 70 expressions of joy in his short letter to the Philippians! Seventy! Reading them infects us with his “good virus” of devotion to…