“The Creator himself has given us a handbook for a healthy soul: the Bible.”- Judah Smith “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God.”- 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV) In Chapter 2 (“Original Home”) of How’s Your Soul?, Pastor Judah Smith opines that […]
The Broken Way (Zondervan, 2016) Ann Voskamp opens The Broken Way: A Daring Path Into the Abundant Life with a bold assertion. She proclaims: “Not one thing in your life is more important that figuring out how to live in the face of unspoken pain.” Yet, we don’t know how to put all our broken […]
Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name.”- Psalm 103:1 Judah Smith concludes Chapter 1 of How’s Your Soul? by noting it’s notoriously hard to define the term soul. Since we cannot see our souls, we find it difficult to describe them, much less proactively care for […]
“Our health and wellness don’t move from the outside in, but from the inside out.”- Judah Smith As Judah Smith continues Chapter 1 of How’s Your Soul?, he notes that our physical bodies, bank accounts, vehicles, and families get regular attention. However, we rarely, if ever, focus on our souls. Routine soul checkups?- almost nonexistent. […]
“There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.”- C. S. Lewis, Collected Letters “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as […]
“Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.”- 3 John 1:2 (ESV) In Chapter 1 (“Home Sweet Home”) of How’s Your Soul?, Judah Smith informs us that, while he loves arriving, he despises traveling. Unfortunately, Pastor Smith quips, […]
“The ‘Are you okay?’ question is scary, because it has to do with the real you.”- Judah Smith “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each.”- Jeremiah 17:9-10 (NIV) Judah Smith, lead pastor at City Church […]
“The fellowship of the broken believe that suffering is a gift He entrusts to us and He can be trusted to make this suffering into a gift.”- Ann Voskamp Ann Voskamp concludes Chapter 18 of The Broken Way by noting we tend to shrink back from the razor edge of broken things. However, Ms. Voskamp […]
“Full cruciformity . . . to give someone your broken heart means breaking pride, breaking lies, breaking fear.”- Ann Voskamp Ann Voskamp continues Chapter 18, the concluding chapter of The Broken Way, by noting the benefit of sitting in your burn and brokenness. As you live into the givenness even of your brokenness, the crisis […]
“Generosity does give birth to intimacy — but there’s a far deeper intimacy when we’re generous in sharing our brokenness.”- Ann Voskamp Ann Voskamp begins Chapter 18 (“Why You Don’t Have to Be Afraid to Be Broken”) with a definition of faith. Ms. Voskamp defines faith as “confidence in the kindness of God, no matter […]
“It’s relatively easy to pontificate on how to live the gospel; it’s infinitely harder to incarnate the gospel in your life.”- Ann Voskamp “When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd.”- Mark 6:34 (ESV) As Ann Voskamp continues Chapter 17 […]
“There’s more abundance in daily giving your presence to one than daily diligence for the furtherance of hundreds.”- Ann Voskamp Concluding Chapter 17 of The Broken Way, Ann Voskamp lists other traits of compassion. Compassion is: not a trite feeling of the heart as much as a willing breaking open of the heart always dying to bits of […]