Recently, we read a study on stress statistics published by the American Psychological Association back in 2014. The numbers from even five years ago are sobering.

77% of people regularly experience physical symptoms caused by stress. 
73% regularly experience psychological symptoms caused by stress. 
48% feel their stress has increased over the past five years. 
And 48% reported lying awake at night due to stress. 

My guess is that things haven’t gotten better in these...

Welcome to an Inhaling Grace audiobook episode of the Unhurried Living Podcast. Here are the next three devotionals from Inhaling Grace. May you sense the real presence of God shepherding you as you listen.

When we get busy, it’s easy to neglect the care of our own soul. And when this happens, everything in our lives—our relationships, our perspective, our attitude, our work—is affected. On this week’s Unhurried Living podcast (episode 95), we talk about the Unhurried Living dynamic of Intentional Soul Care. Intentional is key. Leaders too easily assume the well-being of their own souls and, in our experience, it is a fatal assumption. Soul care requires intention.

We...

The statistics on anxiety, depression and stress are becoming more disturbing. According to a recent Gallup poll about 1/3 of the world’s population are feeling stressed and worried. In the U.S. that statistic climbs to about 1⁄2 of the population. Our instant access to world news combined with the pace of our lives and all the vacation time we leave on the table each year—it’s all coming to a detrimental head. We don’t pretend to have all the answers to this...

Picture this...you are at the gym and you’re getting ready to lift some weights. It’s been a while, but you’ve decided to go for it. The barbell is in your hands and you are prepared to lift it up over your head.

But before you do so, a guy walks over to you and says, “I bet you can lift more than that. Here, let me help you.” You protest, but he insists and then he proceeds to add 20 more pounds to each side. And then he just walks away,...

 Welcome to an Inhaling Grace audiobook episode of the Unhurried Living Podcast. Here are the next three devotionals from Inhaling Grace. May you sense the real presence of God shepherding you as you listen.

In our new book, What Does Your Soul Love?, one of the eight questions we ask is, “What Are You Clinging To?” It’s the question of control. Many of us struggle with control issues. We want to feel safe, so we seek to take control of things and even people around us. This doesn’t generally turn out so well, for us or for others.

What we’ve discovered in our journey with God is that our souls actually love to be abandoned to the loving and good purposes of God for...

We are diving into part two of our discussion on our new book, What Does Your Soul Love? 

When it comes to our life in Christ, change is part of the invitation. Transformation is essential to the journey. But we get stuck when we let what we perceive to be negative emotions and issues stop us from moving forward. Today we are going to address pain, fear, control and, finally, joy.

When asked to choose between one or the other, would you prefer to ask questions…or to have answers? Most of us would readily admit that we like answers. And as soon as possible, thank you very much.

However, as spiritual directors, Alan and I are accustomed to asking questions and then not striving for answers right away. Sometimes a good work is actually accomplished inside of us as we hold the questions—to linger with them and let them be answered in layers. 

If...

How do you feel about change? Some of us naturally love change. We like spontaneity, variety, new experiences. And some of us naturally resist change. We like stability, tradition, we like to “do it again.”

But personal preferences are not exactly what we’re talking about today. When it comes to our life in Christ, change is part of the invitation. Transformation is essential to the journey. This week and next we are going to share some key insights from our new book, "What...