Podcasts + Posts

Emotional Wholeness involves recognizing your emotions, reading what they say before you react, and then responding to the world around you in a healthy + intentional way. 

In this video we discuss three important ideas about emotional health… and then we end with the three-point emotional wholeness checklist. 

I'll start with the three main ideas and then provide you with the checklist...

1. Emotional health is a vital component of total health.

Emotional health is a vital component of total health- yet it’s one that we often overlook (or don’t even own in ourselves). We may be unaware of emotional issues.

Peter Scazzero (Emotionally Healthy Spirituality) observes that many Christians walk through life with an under-developed emotional center. He reminds us, first of all, that we are multifaceted people- each of us having various components: 

• Physical
• Spiritual
• Intellectual
• Social / relational 
• Emotional

Most of us readily...

In this episode I want to introduce you to a family friend, Shelley Black. We met Shelley two years ago when Cristy attended Bethel Church’s Worship U one summer. Bethel created geographically-based small groups during the two week event, placing people who lived in the same regions of the U.S. in the same room during multiple sessions so that everyone would meet like-minded people who weren’t too far from their home… 

Shelley is a worship leader, an entrepreneur, and an author hailing from Mississippi- way up in the northeast corner of the state the converges right into Memphis, Tennessee. We have her in our home (she even kept our kids for a full week while we attending a business convention last year!), we’ve been to her city, and we’ve learn more about who she is as a person… 

As a woman.

As a leader.

As a daughter of the King. 

At some point, Shelley mentioned to us, “Oh, I’m quitting my job and I’m writing...

Faith is something that usually penetrates our only. We think of it as belief- as something that happens in the head. Perhaps that's why we make theological fences, counting some people "in" and other people "out" based on how well their beliefs (their logical framework) lines up with our own...

That's kinda odd, isn't it?

Don't get me wrong- I'm all for truth. But when the Bible speaks about truth it calls us NOT into a relationship with facts and figures and data... not even to a relationship with a book. Rather, it calls us into relationship with a person.

Are relationships information-based or experience-based?

Solomon was pretty clear that "without vision people perish" (Proverbs 29:18). 

Or, they "cast off restraint." 

Or, to say it another way, they lose heart, motivation, and drive...

The word Solomon uses for vision here isn't the word Hebrew people in his culture used for "ideas" (read: logic). Rather, he uses the word they used to denote the...

Look at EVERY significant turning point in your life- the good ones AND the bad ones. Most of them probably have MORE to do with a RELATIONSHIP than any other factor…

Someone believed in you…

Or someone steered you in the wrong direction…

Someone called forth the greatness in you- or shared with you an amazing idea that TOTALLY transformed your outlook on an opportunity… 

Or someone else wounded you in some way…

You see? No blaming here. Just observing… 

Relationships have POWER. Tremendous power. 

Whereas we tend to plan life around “what” we’ll do… or even “how” we’ll get it done…

… the biggest defining factor is… yes…

RELATIONSHIPS!

I’ll be honest. I never would have thought this one was true. I would have thought talent, position, money, experience… that those would get you higher, farther, faster…

Time + Experience proves it to be...

We often use the wrong words to define relationships. Take Facebook for example. I have 4,993 “friends” as of the date I’m writing this post. Statisticians and sociologists and people who study these kinds of things say that I can- at most- manage 200 relationships at once. And that’s just relationships, not real friendships. 

That means that, clearly, I can’t manage 4,773 of the relationships on any level at all. Yet these are my “friends.” 

You may have noticed the same trend in your profile. You have all of these people to whom you’re connected. But who are they, really? 

Now, I’m not arguing we should go on an “unfriending” rampage. I’m simply stating the obvious: just because someone is labeled a “friend” doesn’t mean they are. It just means, well… they have a label. A title. Not a role, but a title…

What are friends, really?

Solomon, the wisest guy who...

Tension is a natural part of relationships. Most of us hate it for sure. But tension can make us even better versions of ourselves. And, tension can only be “lived out” where deep trust exists. If trust isn't there, the relationship might actually snap.

(You might also want to review the "paper plane" post, too, if you're interested in learning more about relationships.)

I often illustrate this concept by using a rubber band. And, I'll be honest with you... this illustratation came about completely by accident. And, I'm sure I heard this somewhere before using it- I just don't know where and to whom I should give credit :-)

The back story

At Advance 3.0 in Kansas City, my friend Derin asked a question about leadership: "How do you move in a certain direction if the people who are with you- the people you are in relationship with- don't necessarily want to go...?"

Now, he wasn't talking about going somewhere and trying to beg complete strangers to take the...

In session 6 at The Advance, we talk through the power of relationships. One of the biggest takeaways is this: every significant turning point in your life- good or bad- is probably marked more by a PERSON that it is a PLACE. That is, we rarely make decisions “in a vacuum.” We’re far more influenced by the people around us than any other thing. 

It’s why we read observations- and coaching statements- in the Book of Proverbs like, “He who walks with the wise will be wise, but the companion of fools suffers harm” (13:20). 

And- “A man who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin” (Proverbs 18:24). 

Quite simply, our “inner circle” in some significant sense determines our destiny. 

Show me your friends, and I'll show you... 

I had a youth minister who regularly said something like this: “Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future.”

Most of us are old enough now to...

There’s a rabbinical tradition that says Moses’ burning bush was always burning. Or, at least, that it had been burning for quite some time before Moses stumbled upon it.

Furthermore, tradition says that God was there and was READY to speak the entire time. It was only after Moses stopped and “came in close” that God reveals Himself to him… 

(In the same way, it's believed that God is always looking... waiting... wanting to reveal Himself to us...)

The name of God that’s revealed here is interesting, too. The name, YHWH, is actually unpronounceable. It’s the sound of breathing- like a whisper. It a real sense, that name shows us that- 

• You can’t fully place God’s identity into a single word (like they thought they did with names), and
• You can’t begin to understand God apart from relationship. From close relationship. From close enough to hear the sound of a whisper. 

Here are the links mentioned...