Book Review: Spurgeon’s Sorrows, by Zack Eswine
A lighthouse dons the bright blue cover of Zack Eswine’s book, Spurgeon’s Sorrows. We often see picturesque lighthouses displayed prominently on postcards, travel guides, and desktop wallpaper, but we can easily forget the actual function of a lighthouse.
Pastor’s Wife: Check Your Mental Temperature
We live in an age where we check our temperatures to go to work, school, the dentist, and even inside a restaurant. This external thermometer gauges how healthy our physical body is, but is no help in gauging our mental and emotional health.
Battling Anxiety and Depression in Pastoral Ministry (Part 2)
Some of the greatest heroes of the faith battled anxiety and depression. Paul once said he was so burdened beyond his strength that he despaired of life itself, feeling he had received the sentence of death (2 Corinthians 1:8-9a). Likewise, David once prayed, “I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me” (Psalm 69:2).
Battling Anxiety and Depression in Pastoral Ministry (Part 1)
I have been in pastoral ministry for nearly ten years. This ministry has its highs and lows. In the highs, we are tempted toward anxiety. In the lows, we are lured toward depression.
Grace For Anxious Hearts
Unsettling. Disorienting. Strange. Unprecedented. These words dominate the conversations I’ve been having with pastor friends over the last several weeks. There is much we don’t know about COVID-19, but we are all acutely aware of how much our lives have changed.
Prayer Without Words
Perhaps you have been there. Maybe you happen to find yourself there now, a place where you cannot seem to conjure up words to pray. Your lips can make the movements, but nothing comes out. How is it that you got to this point? Maybe you have found yourself getting caught up in recent news headlines. Maybe the repeated blows of life have left you feeling as if all hope is lost. Maybe you’re like me and suffer with bouts of anxiety. Or maybe you find yourself in this position for no known reason at all. All you know is that you cannot seem to muster up adequate words to present to our holy God.
Personal Prayer in Spiritual Warfare
Jesus instructs us that the thief comes to “steal, kill and destroy.” Jesus, however, has come that we may have life, indeed, abundant life in Him (Jn. 10:10). Paul reminds us that his life in the Kingdom is “righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17). But the enemy comes and when he does his only desire is to ruin that which God is doing in the life of His sons and daughters. Among other things, the thief wants to destroy our ongoing testimony with God (witness) and to kill our communion with and dependence upon the Spirit and the Word. The father of lies wants to steal from us the tangible awe of who God is and the immediate remembrance of all that God has done for us practically and personally.
Panel: Handling Anxiety During the COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has struck many with fear, depression, and anxiety. Join this roundtable discussion with biblically trained counselors as they discuss some practical ways to address these issues that come as the pandemic progresses.
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