Over the last six months, I’ve taken some fairly drastic steps related to my eating and exercise. Mainly, I’ve cut out a lot of my usual high sugar and high carbohydrate preferences. It was quite hard at first. My cravings would arise and I would feel a compulsion to eat my usual snacks. 

Over time, though, I actually found that my tastes changed. What had tasted boring to me in the past now had a fresh appeal to me. The sweetness of a carrot surprised me. The crisp...

Today we’re sharing a five part framework for change. We’ve been using this process in our own lives for years and it has kept us on track.

Last Fall, our book What Does Your Soul Love? was published. It’s a book about necessary change--a book about how to cooperate with the transforming work of God in us and through us. What does it take to stay on this journey of change over our lifetime?

We know that you’re the kind of person who is hungry to make...

No. It’s such a small word. Why is it so hard to say?

Guilt? Obligation? Pride?

But sometimes saying "No" is actually a "Yes."

• Yes to margin.
• Yes to boundaries.
• Yes to rest.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been one large and invasive “NO!” to all of us. 

• No, you may not get together with your friends. 
• No, you may not go to your traditional office or place of work. 
• No, you may not travel.
• No, you may not carry on as usual in your daily life.

You are likely...

Many years ago, we found ourselves in an extended season in which we felt like we were moving from transition to transition in our lives. Sometimes it involved outward transitions like new roles or new neighborhoods, but more often, it was a matter of transitions inside of us.

• Transitions of what was meaningful currently compared to what had been meaningful to us before.
• Transitions in our experience of God with us or, sometimes, wondering why God didn’t feel as close to us as before.
...

The message at the center of our new book "*What Does Your Soul Love*" is the invitation and opportunity to change, to be transformed. That’s the idea we’ll focus on today. The big idea of how God is with us in the many changes we experience in our lives and in our communities of faith.

When it comes to change, sometime back, Gem and I found ourselves in an extended season of years in which we felt like we were moving from transition to transition in our lives. Sometimes it involved outward transitions like new roles or new neighborhoods, but more often, it was a matter of transitions inside of us. 

• Transitions of what was meaningful now compared to what had been meaningful to us before. 
• Transitions in our experience of God with us or, sometimes, our wondering...

We enter a new year full of new opportunities. Perhaps there are changes you are hopeful to begin making with this fresh space in front of you. It’s a blank canvas on which perhaps you can create something new.

When it comes to change, there have been too many times when I opted to be hard on myself, expecting that this would drive me to change. But being critical of myself has never led to lasting change (even if it caused some change for a season).

One of the wise lines of scripture...