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…
character
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…
Can People Tell You’ve Been with Jesus?
One day shortly after Jesus returned to heaven Peter and John were coming into the temple. Seeing a lame beggar…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
Imagine the End: Relate Better Today, Regret Less Tomorrow
It’s a principle Jim Collins talked about years ago; begin with the end in mind. It changes what you do…
Being WITH Jesus in Ways that Bring Transformation
You’re sick and tired of trying harder and failing. It would be so freeing to be more like Jesus without…
How to Avoid Both Cheap Grace and Legalism
Does “Jesus loves you” mean you can get away with stuff? If not, who determines what’s OK and not OK?…
Don’t Confuse Sex and Intimacy: How They’re Related – and Different
We use euphemisms all the time, especially around sex. I’ll spare you a list. But did you know the Bible…
Necessary or Unnecessary Suffering
Some Christians seem to believe God brings us suffering on purpose, to build our character. Others believe that following Jesus…
Trying to Stop Your Bad Behavior? Who Has Your Heart?
Ask ten people what sin is and you’re likely to hear about the ten commandments, the words God wrote with…
The Path to Making Your Heart Ready for Intimacy and Connection
You feel empty. Maybe you’re married, there’s little intimacy between you, and you blame your spouse. Or perhaps you want…
Human Relationships: What People Can and Can’t Do For You
Loneliness is an epidemic. And it’s dangerous to your physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing. God Himself said that aloneness was…
How People Change: Becoming Who You Were Meant to Be
I’m so glad I’m not like I used to be! I was a seriously messed up young woman. But I’m…
From Temptation to Triumph: Designing Your Personal Escape Plan
Whatever your personal brand of “stuff,” especially sexual “stuff,” you can be sure you will be tempted again. The process…
Why Prayer is Not Enough: What to Do When You’re Still Struggling
For the follower of Jesus who is feeling close to Him, the words “prayer is not enough” may seem like…
What’s Required for Healthy Sexual Discipleship?
A spouse feeling hurt and lonely because their partner seems uninterested in sexual intimacy. A young (or not-so-young) person heavy…
Do You Need Better Personal Relationships?
In observing and working with people for decades now, I’ve seen how the biggest determinant of a person’s sense of…
What to Do About the Three Kinds of Suffering
You are suffering. Surprise! Welcome to the human race. And of course that’s not at all reassuring. Our culture trains…
Five Key Elements in the Process of Becoming Sexually Whole
Many of the people I talk with wish God would just “zap” them from their current state of misery and…
4 Reasons Everyone Should Have Close Friends, Married or Single
Every human being is made by God with the need, desire, and capacity for intimacy. And that need is real…
3 Steps to Loving Others When They Don’t Love You
Every human being needs love. And sometimes we get love from others, and sometimes we don’t. In spite of that,…
Does Sexual Sin Make You Disqualified? What’s Next?
The thief is always out to “steal, kill, and destroy,” (John 10:10), and sin is destructive. But sexual sin seems…
Dealing with Lust and Redeeming Eros
Desire is a good thing. As Christian psychiatrist Dr. Curt Thompson says, humans are people of desire. Jesus often asked,…
How’s Your Soul Doing, Really?
At breakfast with a friend recently I asked her, “How’s your soul doing?” That led to conversation about some really…
The 3 “C’s” of Growing in Sexual Wholeness
Time for a reality check. If you haven’t sensed it already you soon will; your growing in sexual wholeness (or…
Beyond Bad Behavior: Get From Sobriety to Recovery to Redemption
Every addiction is a whole-person “disease.” The “thing” might be alcohol, pornography, sex, gambling, video games, or a multitude of…
Parents, Kids, Technology – and Sex
At its best kids and technology seem like a match made in heaven. But too often it seems more like…
How to Navigate the Power Dynamics in Your Marriage
Who’s got the power in your marriage? Where does that power come from? Can you find more power? What if…
Why You’re Frustrated with One Encounter with Jesus
Most of us want the pill, not the journey. We want the magic formula to comfort and success, three easy…
The One Thing that will Transform Your Relationship Starting TODAY
What grade would you give your marriage today? A+? Hallelujah! But perhaps it’s more like a D. There isn’t one…
How Being Faithful to Your Spouse is More than Sex
You rightfully expect your spouse to be faithful to your marriage vows and you probably hold yourself to the same…
The Difference Between Being Nice and Being Kind in Your Marriage
Would you really want to be married to someone who’s “nice?” I don’t think you would. It’s easy to confuse…
What if You Could Look Forward to Reading the Bible?
I sometimes ask people, “What things are you supposed to do as a Christian?” And “read the Bible” is always…
How to Make Jesus Irresistible to Others
As a follower of Jesus you care about the people around you. So how do you respond to your coworker…
What Jesus Cares About More Than You Doing the Right Thing
What Jesus cares about most is not people doing the right thing. Does that surprise you? Certainly every human being…
Why Religious Activity Misses the Goal of the Christian Life
Why do you go to church, read your Bible, or pray? Why try hard not to sin? To feel better?…
