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…
Christianity
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…
The Truth About Feeling Angry with God
We’ve often gotten it wrong in the church when it comes to anger at God. Many have believed feeling angry…
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…
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…
When Your Relationship Isn’t Working
There’s little if anything that makes a greater difference in your sense of wellbeing than the quality of your closest…
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…
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…
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…
More Is Available Now—But It Still Never Feels Like Enough
We don’t like to wait. Especially in today’s instant-gratification culture where you can get Amazon Prime delivery in an hour,…
A Holy Week Reflection: Three Aspects of Our Redemption
This week Christians around the world are remembering and celebrating the most momentous event in history – the death and…
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…
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…
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…
When You Might Need a “New God”
Let me be clear; you don’t get to have any God you want. You don’t get to make God in…
The Good News of Christmas
Merry Christmas! As we celebrate this holy day, let me remind you that it’s a day of good news! On…
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,…
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…
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.…
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,…
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…
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…
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,…
Intimacy Gone Wrong: the Biggest Obstacle to Connection with God
You were created in the image of God, with the need, desire, and capacity for intimacy. That need is part…
Lies That Kill Intimacy: Common Myths About Sex and Relationships
You learned things about intimacy, sex, and relationships long before you knew you were learning anything. What you saw modeled…
Five Reasons Why Intimacy Is Hard: What No One Tells You
One might think that something as vital to our wellbeing as intimacy is wouldn’t be so hard. But it is.…
How to Find a Friend: Who is Your Peter, James, and John?
Everything’s fine? Great! I’d love to meet you! But for the rest of us, the whole world doesn’t need to…
How to Write Your Story with God as Your Co-Author
You have a story. Perhaps you’ve made partial peace with some of the previous chapters of your story. But what…
A Holy Week Invitation: Three Ways to Make it More Meaningful
While there have been many solar eclipses, the sun has never again hidden its face for three hours (Matthew 27:45).…
When Church Hurts a Woman’s Relationship with God
Church should be the safest place on earth. The family of God should be the place where every single human…
Messed Up Again? Use Your Slip to Fall Forward
Jesus loves repeat sinners. (Are there any other kind?) It’s not that slips are OK; they’re not. But what 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…
The Lies, Wounds, and Empty Places that Messed You Up
The human heart is not a pretty place. At least not after living in this world for any length of…
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?…
Your Story Holds the Key: Find Deeper Intimacy with Yourself, Others, and God
Oh, how good we are at hiding! Humans have been practicing hiding ever since the Garden of Eden, and we’ve…
A Gift For a King: Offering Jesus a Birthday Present
A few years ago a friend shared with me an important part of how she celebrates Christmas every year; she…
How to Make Your Time with God Meaningful, Long or Short
Are you satisfied with how your spiritual life is going? Are you more like Jesus than you were a year…
How to Find “Your People” When You Need Help
Isolation is dangerous. But connecting is often hard. In my work with people this is almost always the most challenging…
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…
What Messy Families Tell Us About the Kingdom of God
Family is messy! You don’t get to choose your parents, your siblings, or your extended family. Any parent will tell…
Deep Transformation: How to Become Different from the Inside Out
Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. You’ve probably heard that before. But you may find yourself…
