Emotional health is vital for mission. Being on mission means doing the work of justice, healing, beauty, and evangelism. That healing starts in our own hearts.
Jesus’ teaching is that the kind of heart that reacts to others in anger is a heart that will lead me toward God’s judgment. Anger is a sin that fails to honor the precious people whom God has created. When I routinely directed anger at Katie over money matters, I was failing to see her as the kind of being to whom such anger simply should not be directed. She is too precious for that.
Somehow, my pain had become a place where I could experience God’s love. It was as though I needed the warm-up of paying attention to my emotions more intentionally for a few months before it was even possible for me to experience something like that. As I got to know my emotions for myself, I now could share them with God. I could find God in the sadness.
Our soul may be in danger of death, but God sees and delivers us. We may find ourselves in a time of famine, but God feeds us. He is paying attention.
Our soul may be in danger of death, but God sees and delivers us. We may find ourselves in a time of famine, but God feeds us. He is paying attention.
One news story after another has revealed lurking cases of abuse in faith communities that, from the outside, looked vibrant and whole. These stories can be disorienting. They leave us asking difficult questions. How can I know if a new church community is a safe place? When is it right to extend my trust to the leaders of a church? If I’m serving in leadership, how can I tell whether my own community is a good place for people to find their spiritual footing?
As we attempt to make our media habits prayerful, we give the Lord an opportunity to work his purposes into our apps, screens, and conversations. He can change our engagement with media from aimless or destructive to thoughtful and even spiritually fruitful. That’s the kind of experience with media that we won’t regret.
As we attempt to make our media habits prayerful, we give the Lord an opportunity to work his purposes into our apps, screens, and conversations. He can change our engagement with media from aimless or destructive to thoughtful and even spiritually fruitful. That’s the kind of experience with media that we won’t regret.
When we look at others’ needs in competition with our own, it’s easy to think about life as a zero-sum game. But if the way of the cross is the way of life, then there’s a new dimension to self-sacrifice.
We can feel hurried for many different reasons. Life, work, relationships, responsibilities. There’s a standard iPhone ringtone that still makes my skin crawl whenever I hear it. It was my morning alarm during a few months of intense stress when chimes signaled the start of. a cortisol-packed morning routine. Turns out, I’m not the only one familiar with that minor trauma.” The hurry from that season is still with me in the feelings that ringtone invokes.
How we respond to suffering sets the bounds on our personal growth, including our emotional health and maturity. Our response to suffering is not just a one-time act of the will. It’s a whole set of habits that are reinforced over time as we encounter small difficulties, either preparing us or leaving us empty-handed when a bigger trial comes our way.
