Learning to Grieve Your Losses in Spiritual Formation
What have you lost? Have you learned to grieve your losses? We might not like to think about that. We…
Spiritual Growth
Facing the Internal Opposition to Becoming Whole: 3 Things to Do
Time for a reality check. If you haven’t sensed it already you soon will; your journey to becoming whole will…
The Hunger in the Human Heart: What Do You Want – Really?
We are needy creatures. For all the attempts many of us make to be independent and self-sufficient, it doesn’t work…
Living a Larger Faith: What 2,000 Years of Christians Can Teach Us
The world in which I’ve spent most of my time is the Western evangelical stream of Christianity. For all of…
The Effort and Recovery Your Soul Needs for Lasting Transformation
Athletes or anyone interested in physical wellbeing knows that your muscles, bones, heart and lungs, every part of your body…
Learning Emotional Regulation with Jesus
How do you feel about your feelings? Some people see emotions as dangerous, so they exert great quantities of internal…
What If Feeling Bad Isn’t Always a Bad Thing?
Who wants to feel bad? I certainly don’t. There’s a whole list of feelings we usually consider “bad”: anxiety, anger,…
Learning from How Jesus Handled His Need for Intimacy
Jesus is so many things to us. He is our Savior, Redeemer, and King, our Elder Brother, and the Head…
Training, Not Trying: The Secret to Spiritual Growth
Trying harder just wears you out. And trying to become like Jesus can feel especially discouraging. But there’s a very…
The Key to Filling Your Empty Soul
How do you deal with your empty soul? Do you retreat into a hole, waiting for someone to pull you…
What If Your Relationship with God Was Actually a Relationship?
Think of the person you are closest to. That might be a really good friend, your spouse, perhaps a brother…
Becoming Who Your Relationship Needs You to Be
What do you need to do in order to bring your best self to the people who matter most? What…
Bringing Every Part of You to Jesus
Oh, to be whole-hearted! To have every aspect of your inner being aligned in one clear direction, with no parts…
The Human Race Has an Intimacy Disorder
Perhaps it’s my training as a physician, but I often think in terms of diagnosis and treatment. If you don’t…
Learning Trauma Care from Jesus for Survivor or Helper
Some people who are deeply hurting have found the body of Christ to be a safe haven, a refuge from…
You Can’t Fix Right Brain Problems with Left Brain Tools
I continue to be fascinated with how modern neurobiology shines the light on what God has been working to do…
Safe Enough: The Kind of Relationship You Actually Need
Just yesterday I was talking with a young woman who said, “People aren’t safe.” There’s a real sense in which…
You Didn’t Choose Your Trauma, But You Can Choose Your Healing
Nobody wakes up one morning and says, “Today I think I’ll mess up my life and the lives of those…
Lonely in a Connected World: The Intimacy Your Soul Is Missing
Today’s AI-saturated world has many, especially young people, trying to fill their longing for connection through digital means. Harvard Business…
Developing a Rule of Life for an AI-Saturated World
Our Relationship Prescriptions podcast has just completed a short series on AI and the Soul. These conversations have challenged me…
The Battle for Your Brain: Technology and Spiritual Formation
Mental/emotional wellbeing and spiritual formation are not two separate things. Our sin problem is deeper than simply wrong acts that…
Digital Is Not Enough: Why Technology Can’t Transform Your Soul
I spend hours a day on screens. That’s both good and bad. Because of such technology I can write and…
What’s the Goal of the Christian Life? (It’s Not What You Think)
What goal are you after? And most especially as a Christian, why do you do what you do? What’s the…
Real Education: Five Life Lessons I’d Tell My Younger Self
When you’re 20 the world mostly revolves around you, and you’re the smartest person alive. But by the time you’re…
What’s Shaping Your Soul Right Now? How God Transforms You
You are in a process of spiritual formation. The question is not whether you are being spiritually formed, but who…
More Than Forgiveness: God’s Bigger Vision for Salvation
Clean as fresh-fallen snow. The debt you had no hope of ever satisfying – paid in full. Chains that had…
Learning to Love Well in Challenging Relationships
People; love them, perhaps “hate” them. (OK, “hate” is much too strong a word.) Introvert or extrovert, you need people.…
How to Develop a Healthy Internal Picture of God
What do you imagine when you think of God? I don’t mean the facts you intellectually know about Him, but…
Favorites for 2025: Books, Podcasts, Organizations
Each year I love sharing with you some of my favorite things – books, podcasts, and organizations I’ve enjoyed reading,…
Hope For When Christmas is Hard: 5 Ways to Rediscover Joy
Not everyone feels “merry” around the holidays. You’re “supposed” to enjoy this season of lights, music, giving, and family. But…
Three Important Things You Should Pay Attention To
What is occupying your mind right now? What has your attention even this very minute? There are millions of things…
Giving Thanks for the Unexpected: Reflections on Gratitude This Thanksgiving
Today is Thanksgiving here in the United States. It’s an opportunity to remember that we are not God but creatures.…
Disentangling Messy Relationships: People, God, and Your Heart
People. Need them. Can’t stand them. Messy relationships seem to be the only kind available. The push-pull of your true…
If Your Christian Life Isn’t Working, Here’s What’s Missing
If you’ve been in church for any time at all, you know people who you wouldn’t want to spend an…
Let the Light In: Choosing Beauty and Goodness in a Dark World
You can’t get rid of darkness by raging against it; you must turn on the light. A bucket of dirty…
Is God Good? Healing your Connection with God
Is God good? Your initial response may be the one you learned in church or Sunday school; “God is good.…
Disappointed in an Empty Life: Is This All There Is?
Ever feel disappointed with your life, wondering Is this all there is? Get up and go to church. Serve on…
Transformation Starts Here: Following Jesus in Your Actual Life
What would following Jesus right now, today, look like? In the life you actually have. With the history, traumas, strengths,…
Do You Have the Same Effect on People that Jesus Did?
What’s it like to be on the other side of you? If you were your friend, husband, wife, child, employee,…
Why Sex and Intimacy are a Big Deal, and What to Do About It
God created you as a sexual being regardless of gender, age, or relationship status. But why? Some people are tempted…
From Rupture to Repair: Working Towards Healing in Your Relationship
Every relationship experiences ruptures. Husband/wife, parent/child, good friends – we are all sinners, and that means some rupture in relationships…
5 Ways You May Be Afraid to Change and What to Do About It
A husband I’ll call George feels paralyzed. He knows things aren’t well in his soul or in his marriage, but…
Your Fragrance: How Your Inner Life Affects Others
You are not an island. You have an impact on other people whether you realize it or not, and whether…
Purity: More About the Inside than the Outside
Some words are pregnant with emotional weight. Purity is such a word. At its best, it conveys the idea of…
Healing, Repentance, and Deliverance in Becoming Whole
Feeling stuck in your Christian life? Repeatedly asking for forgiveness only to keep falling into the same sins? Are the…
How to Consecrate Your Sex Life to Jesus Daily
Many people who are seeking to follow Jesus struggle with their sexuality. You might be like Paul, doing what you…
This Relationship Won’t Fix You
You are wired to need people. You can’t get away from that even if you try. But many may find…
What Does Sexual Wholeness Look Like?
What is Jesus inviting you into? Steve imagined a life of striving and trying harder, never feeling like he could…
You’re Not Too Far Gone: The Hope That Changes Everything
When the sun sets, how often do you worry that it’s gone forever? Probably never. If you’re sick or lonely,…
What Happens When Jesus Shows Up?
It’s incredibly exhilarating to watch God do something miraculous. When Jesus shows up and heals a troubled soul – there’s…
