Soul Care

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.

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?

David Powlison Examines the Unique Role of the Pastor as Counselor A pastor inhabits multiple roles—teacher, preacher, youth leader, and counselor. Yet many church leaders feel unprepared to counsel church members who are struggling with difficult, multifaceted problems. David Powlison reminds pastors of their unique role as the shepherds of God's people, equipping them to apply biblical wisdom to the thoughts, values, moods, expectations, and decisions of those under their care.

A moving memoir and an extraordinary love story that shows how an expert physician became a family caregiver and learned why care is so central to all our lives and yet is at risk in today's world. When Dr. Arthur Kleinman, an eminent Harvard psychiatrist and social anthropologist, began caring for his wife, Joan, after she was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease, he found just how far the act of caregiving extended beyond the boundaries of medicine. In The Soul of Care: The Moral Education of a Husband and a Doctor, Kleinman delivers a deeply humane and inspiring story of his life in medicine and his marriage to Joan, and he describes the practical, emotional and moral aspects of caretaking. He also writes about the problems our society faces as medical technology advances and the cost of health care soars but caring for patients no longer seems important. Caregiving is long, hard, unglamorous work--at moments joyous, more often tedious, sometimes agonizing, but it is always rich in meaning. In the face of our current political indifference and the challenge to the health care system, he emphasizes how we must ask uncomfortable questions of ourselves, and of our doctors. To give care, to be "present" for someone who needs us, and to feel and show kindness are deep emotional and moral experiences, enactments of our core values. The practice of caregiving teaches us what is most important in life, and reveals the very heart of what it is to be human.

Did you ever wish there was more to your Christian life? Too often the Christian life is reduced to going to church, attending meetings, serving God, and doing devotions. But Jesus promised us abundant life – a deep, intimate, satisfying connection with the living God. How do we access the abundant life that Jesus promised? The key is the presence and life of the Holy Spirit within us. Jesus said that the Spirit of God flows within us like a river – He is the River of Life. But we need to dwell in the river in order to access the Spirit’s fullness. In his latest book, Dr. Rob Reimer offers a deep look at life in the Spirit and provides practical strategies for dwelling in the River of Life. We will explore the fullness of the Spirit, tuning into the promptings of the Spirit, walking in step with the Spirit, and developing sensitivity to the presence of the God in our lives. This resource will guide you toward becoming a full-time river dweller, even in the midst of life’s most difficult seasons when the river seems to run low. Together let's become River Dwellers, living where the fullness of God flows so that we can carry living water to a world dying of thirst!

When is the last time you thought about the state of your soul? Bestselling author John Ortberg guides you through practical steps to restoring your soul so you can finally experience a life of wholeness, balance, and hope. In an age of materialism and consumerism where many people try to buy their way to happiness, many souls are starved and unhealthy, unsatisfied by false promises of status and wealth. We've neglected this eternal part of ourselves, focusing instead on the temporal concerns of the world--and not without consequence. Including reflections from his decades-long relationship with his friend and mentor Dallas Willard, Ortberg presents another classic that will help you discover your soul--the most important connection to God there is--and find your way out of the spiritual shallow-lands to true divine depth. Join Ortberg as he guides you through the three distinct aspects of Soul Keeping: Discovering what the soul is Learning what the soul needs Experiencing the joy of a restored soul With his characteristic insight and an accessible, story-filled approach, Ortberg will help you connect more deeply every day with the God who gave you life to bring more meaning, hope, and abundance to that life. Praise for Soul Keeping: "This book will not only help you to realize that you have a soul, an interior life, and reveal its importance, but will also give you some tools and handles to grab as you develop that life. It will help you to get grounded again, or even for the first time, with the One who first breathed that life into you, and Who desires every day to breathe more and more life into every corner of your being." --Dr. Henry Cloud, New York Times bestselling author of Boundaries and Changes That Heal

In this groundbreaking work of first-order scholarship, Eric Johnson makes a vitally important contribution to the field of Christian counseling. He first presents a detailed overview and appreciative but critical evaluation of the reigning paradigms in the field of Christian counseling, particularly biblical counseling and integration. Building on their respective strengths, he seeks to move beyond the current impasse in the field and develop a more unified and robustly Christian understanding. Drawing upon the Bible and various Christian intellectual and soul care traditions, and through a Christian reinterpretation of relevant modern psychological theory and research, Johnson proceeds to offer a new framework for the care of souls that is comprehensive in scope, yet flows from a Christian understanding of human beings--what amounts to a distinctly Christian version of psychology. This book is a must-read for any serious Christian teacher, student, or practitioner in the fields of psychology or counseling.

Christianity Today Award of Merit In the midst of our hectic, overscheduled lives, caring for the soul is imperative. Now, more than ever, we need to pause—intentionally—and encounter the Divine. Soul care director Barbara Peacock illustrates a journey of prayer, spiritual direction, and soul care from an African American perspective. She reflects on how these disciplines are woven into the African American culture and lived out in the rich heritage of its faith community. Using examples of ten significant men and women—Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Darrell Griffin, Renita Weems, Harold Carter, Jessica Ingram, Coretta Scott King, James Washington, and Howard Thurman—Barbara offers us the opportunity to engage in practices of soul care as we learn from these spiritual leaders. If you've yearned for a more culturally authentic experience of spiritual transformation in your life and community, this book will help you grow in new yet timeless ways. Come to the river to draw deeply for your soul's refreshment.