Discovering Soul Care

If we look at the spiritual life through the lens of a marathon, we will discover that many of us are nearing exhaustion. We may not be on the sidelines or stumbling noticeably, but we are dangerously low on reserves, running on fumes. We aren't sure that we've got what it takes to get to the end of the race. If you identify with the image of a fainting runner, then this book will come as refreshing water for your thirsty soul. You have been running hard, and you've run a long way. But the end is nowhere in sight, and it may be uphill from here. You are going to need some resources to get you there. Soul Care Resources are designed to be simple, but not simplistic, guides to maintaining or recovering the life and health of your soul, that essential personhood created by God as you. To do that, we'll do assessments to discern the current health of your soul. We'll reflect on the reasons why your soul's health matters so much. Finally, we'll explore practical ways to restore life and vitality to your soul through authentic connection with God as Father, Son and Spirit--one step at a time. There are four sections in this guide divided into five subparts. You can go through a part each day, covering the whole book in the course of four weeks. The material is flexible if you want to work in longer or shorter chunks of time. At the end of each section is group discussion material that you can use if you are meeting with a small group or a spiritual friend. Also available in the Soul Care Resources series is Spiritual Friendship. This guide will allow you to explore specific ways to care for your soul in companionship with others. Are you ready to recover your reserves?

Soul Care explores seven principles that can lead to lasting transformation and freedom for all who struggle with a broken, damaged, and sin-stained soul. Brokenness grasps for the soul of humanity. We are broken body, soul, and spirit, and we need the healing touch of Jesus. Soul Care explores seven principles that are profound healing tools of God: securing your identity, repentance, breaking family sin patterns, forgiving others, healing wounds, overcoming fears, and deliverance. Dr. Rob Reimer challenges readers to engage in an interactive, roll-up-your-sleeves and get messy process -- a journey of self-reflection, Holy Spirit inspiration, deep wrestling, and surrender. It is a process of discovering yourself in true community and discovering God as He pierces through the layers of your heart. Life change is hard. But these principles, when packaged together and lived out, can lead to lasting transformation, freedom, and a healthy soul. Soul Care encourages you to gather a small group of comrades in arms, read and process together, open your souls to one another, access the presence and power of God together, and journey together into the freedom and fullness of Christ.

"Mindy Caliguire knows and cares about the deep things of the soul. She's been there. And she can be a wise guide here for you," says John Ortberg, author of The Life You've Always Wanted. We are tired. Many of us long for sources of nurture for our weary souls. But we don't know where to turn. We've tried various Christian plans for growth, yet sometimes these programs leave us even more drained and frustrated. Interestingly, the answer can be found in our everyday lives: ordinary relationships can restore life and health to our depleted souls. So why do we resist intimacy with others if it's part of our soul's architecture? Because people also cause us pain. Soul Care Resources are designed to be simple, but not simplistic, guides to maintaining or recovering the life and health of your soul. Spiritual Friendship introduces you to principles of friendship that bring focus to your spiritual life. You'll discover what it takes to have a rich, God-centered relationship that will nourish your soul. You use this book in small chunks of daily reading, covering the whole book in the course of four weeks. Also included are four guided group discussions for use with a small group or a spiritual friend. Also available in the Soul Care Resources series is Discovering Soul Care, an introduction to the resources for spiritual health we have in Christ. Are you ready to recover your reserves?

Our closets, our garages, our cupboards, our lives are--let's face it--cluttered. Stuff is everywhere: old yearbooks, projects we started years ago but never finished, commitments to activities that we now regret making but don't feel we can pull out of. Are you longing for space--for simplicity? Here is a book to bring you there. Soul Care® Resources are designed to be simple, but not simplistic, guides to maintaining or recovering the life and health of your soul, that essential personhood created by God as you. In four sections Mindy Caliguire helps you discover and embrace who you are, set healthy boundaries and embrace simplicity as a lifestyle that brings freedom. You use this book in small chunks of daily reading, covering the whole book in the course of four weeks. Also included are four guided group discussions for use with a small group or a spiritual friend. Are you ready to start your journey toward simplicity?

This book "helps us to do the hard -- but good and necessary -- work of self-examination, taking an honest look inside, allowing the Holy Spirit to lead and guide the work. In the process, you'll come to know yourself better -- both the sins that threaten the health of your soul, as well as your unique gifts and abilities and the new places God might be calling you to".-- from back cover.

In the face of climate change, species loss, and vast environmental destruction, Belden C. Lane's spiritually centered environmentalism suggests that we must look to teachers in nature to understand how to save ourselves. Pairing anecdotes of personal encounters with nature with the teachings of spiritual leaders from a range of religious traditions, this book invites us to participate once more in the great conversation among all creatures and the earth itself.

Would you like to understand the deeper spiritual meaning of physical illness, parenting handicapped children, drug addiction, alcoholism, the death of a loved one, accidents, deafness, and blindness? Your Soul’s Plan (which was originally published under the title Courageous Souls: Do We Plan Our Life Challenges Before Birth?) explores the premise that we are all eternal souls who plan our lives, including our greatest challenges, before we are born for the purpose of spiritual growth. Through compelling profiles of people who knowingly planned the experiences mentioned above, Your Soul’s Plan shows that suffering is not purposeless, but rather imbued with deep meaning. Working with four gifted mediums, author Robert Schwartz reveals the significance of each person’s life plan and allows us a fascinating look into the “other side.” Each personal story focuses on a specific life challenge, organized by type for easy reference. Accessible both to those familiar with the metaphysical aspects of spirituality and to the general reader, the moving narratives that comprise Your Soul’s Plan help readers awaken to the reality that they are transcendent, eternal souls. With this stirring book as a guide, feelings of anger, resentment, guilt, and victimization are healed and transformed into acceptance, forgiveness, gratitude, and peace. Robert Schwartz is also the author of Your Soul’s Gift: The Healing Power of the Life You Planned Before You Were Born, which explores the pre-birth planning of spiritual awakening, miscarriage, abortion, caregiving, abusive relationships, sexuality, incest, adoption, poverty, suicide, rape, and mental illness. There’s also a chapter about the pre-birth planning we do with our future pets. Robert Schwartz is a hypnotherapist who offers general Spiritual Guidance Sessions, Past Life Soul Regressions, and Between Lives Soul Regressions. Visit Robert online at www.yoursoulsplan.com.

In recent years, many Christian clergy, laity and mental health professionals have rediscovered the ancient practices of spiritual direction. Seen as a refreshing alternative to the techniques and limitations of modern psychology, such practices offer new insights for pastoral care. But many remain unclear on what spiritual direction is and whether its methods are applicable to their own clients and parishioners. Spiritual direction is a practice of Christian soul care that is found most notably in the Catholic, Orthodox and Episcopal traditions but is also present in Wesleyan/Holiness, Pentecostal/charismatic, social justice and Reformed communities. Predating modern counseling and psychotherapy movements but sharing key principles and insights for spiritual formation, spiritual direction offers significant resources for today s pastors, counselors, therapists, chaplains and other caregivers attuned to the work of God in people s lives. In this landmark volume, editors Gary W. Moon and David G. Benner, along with a team of expert contributors, provide a comprehensive survey of spiritual direction in its myriad Christian forms. Specific chapters offer careful historical perspective and contemporary analysis of how Christians from various backgrounds have practiced spiritual direction, with particular attention to each tradition s definition of spiritual direction, the process of authentic transformation, the role of the spiritual director, indicators of mature spirituality and other aspects of the spiritual direction process. Chapters also provide psychological and clinical insight into how spiritual direction is similar to, different from and can be integrated with psychotherapy and pastoral counseling to help others experience spiritual transformation and union with God.