“Most of us find it very difficult to want “Heaven” at all – except in so far as “Heaven” means meeting again our friends who have died. One reason for this difficulty is that we have not been trained : our whole education tends to fix our minds on this world. Another reason is that […]

Thank you to YOU, our listener, for joining us in this journey of 150 podcasts with companion blogs! This pause invites us to explore Tim’s favorite 5 episodes and Leah’s favorite 5 episodes followed by YOUR favorites!! What is your personal favorite?

For the last few years the topic of a loneliness epidemic has dominated much of chatter in interpersonal news. This conversation has focused on healthy friendships. In life, we often have to walk through the exploration of meeting a number of acquaintances in order to find true friendships. This growth mindset might even lead us to look inward and develop the qualities of a healthy friendship in ourselves.

Emotional health is vital to our physical and spiritual health. Taking inventory of our whole person is critical to moving through each day with our optimal potential. When thinking about embracing my everyday, it is especially important to recognize any toxic thinking patterns that might sabotage any capacity for growth. Latency or underdevelopment may hamper what I could be or eliminate future success. If shame is a reoccurring theme in my thoughts, it might be identified as a bully. Let’s explore shame in contrast to guilt along with the healthy pathway to eradicate this type of toxic thinking.

Because I know God as my Father, I am confident of who I am in Him. His fondness for me is unfathomable, reliable and true. On any day when the vortex of the world threatens to vomit fear, despondency and panic, I still. Grabbing a front row seat somewhere near nature allows me to breath deeply and remember my identity as a deeply loved child of God.

The audible Word of God is available for you and for me anytime we desire to hear it. Truthfully, I read my Bible out loud even when I am with myself so that I can use more of my senses to fully take in His truths. So often when I read, I am overwhelmed by God’s love for me as well as His power as Creator of this physical world that I live in daily. Our Father God designed me and you for relationship with Him. The great void in our spirit when we are not intimately connected to Him is satisfied when we hear the audible Word of God.

How much of life is lived in the shallows? Suddenly, life becomes deep as a tragedy, a death or even a birth sharpen our awareness. When my interests only go as deep as myself, I am shallow. A deep soul empathizes and sees others. A deep soul lives in awareness of who others are in God’s image. A deep soul exists in an everyday sense of eternity and God’s presence in all things. Remember, the stream is your soul and you are the keeper.

Nobody is immune to the virus of stress. All of us are vulnerable to the bacteria of stress. We all have to deal with three things that just come with life and they all cause stress. The boundaries between work and leisure, public and private, are dissolving so that we have no rest and we are forced to be time jugglers and multi-taskers. We’re all rats in the rat race. We’re all overwhelmed by all we have to do and we struggle with priorities to remember and agendas to keep under control.” Check out these ideas to get the stress out when you are stressed out!

From the time I was a little girl, I would pray out loud and talk to God. Then I would listen. I would listen all day everyday. It was like an ongoing conversation. It can be words or music. Because my mother and father loved God and spent time nurturing our spiritual formation, I had a firm confidence in God’s love for me and his desire to communicate with me.