With You in the Weeds: Where Faith Meets Mental Health

Broken trust hurts, but it can be rebuilt. Lynn, Shay, and Austin walk through 5 concrete steps to take when you’ve had trust broken in a relationship:  T - Take a step back R - Reflect on who you’re dealing with U - Understand the impact S - Set boundaries T - Test over time If these steps seem daunting, then you’re in good company because most of us didn’t have this modeled when we were growing...

Trust is the energy that creates and maintains healthy relationships. Without it, your relationships cannot thrive or survive.  Lynn, Shay, and Austin dig deeper into what trust actually is, how it’s built and broken, and the damage broken trust causes in friendships, marriages, jobs and families. If you’re hurting because of broken trust, this episode will normalize your pain and give perspective...

You want to be at peace with everyone, but can every conflict be resolved? Maybe not, but there are 4 key commitments you can make to help you manage conflict in your life. John and Shay explain these 4 commitments and how to apply them in practical ways: 1. Take ownership 2. Practice discernment 3. Set boundaries   4. Persevere If you find this episode helpful, please text this episode to a frien...

Why are you in conflict? It’s really simple: you want something. And when you don't get what you want, or your desires are at odds with someone else's, you're in conflict before you know it.  John and Austin discuss 4 questions you need to answer if you want to get to the root conflict in your life: 1. What type of person are you in conflict with? Figuring this out will determine how you approach...

Shame says, "You're disqualified from being loved." But your connection with Jesus means that you are eternally loved, and nothing can separate you from that love. So how should you respond to the shame signal when it shows up? John, Lynn, and Austin explain how we need both connection & correction in order to manage our shame. Learn how this critical framework offers an antidote to the painful ex...

Did you know that shame is more than just a painful emotion that affects your self-perception and self-worth? It's an infection of the soul. Yet it's so subtle that it may be hard to recognize. Lynn, John, and Austin explain 5 characteristics of shame to help you learn where and how it may be impacting you: S - Shame is Sneaky H - Shame makes us Hide A - Shame Attacks our personhood M - Shame Magn...

There are many Christians who believe that we need guilty feelings and a punishing conscience to help us grow and keep us from sinning. But this is a direct product of our tendency to perform under the law, and is the opposite of what the Bible teaches. Our guilty feelings need to be put under the laser beam of the gospel and analyzed by our Father who loves us. Our conscience may condemn us, and...

An immature person uses anger to bend and shape reality and relationships to meet their demands. A mature person will learn what their anger is showing them and manage it constructively in ways that bring redemption. In light of how important it is for us to mature in our ability to manage anger, John, Lynn and Austin give an overview of how to address anger when it shows up: A - Admit it N - Noti...

Is being angry a sin? The internal experience of anger is powerful and can feel overwhelming. Yet anger is a natural, God-given emotion that is designed to help us accomplish two things: to protest something bad and protect something good.  But when anger shows up, we may turn into “the hulk” and our anger can become destructive instead of constructive. John and Austin discuss the importance of ex...

John, Lynn and Shay get into the topic of grieving losses, which may be the most important process we learn in our lifetime. There are 5 principles to grieving including the fact that we can resist grief, but we shouldn’t. Grief involves the need to face reality, the natural desire to protest reality, letting go of what you can’t change, and making room for new things. Grief is a humbling experien...

John and Lynn discuss how sadness is a bittersweet emotion (John’s favorite!), and is necessary for us to experience so we don’t get stuck. We face losses everyday: loss of beauty, health, control, influence, loved ones, hopes and dreams. Our sadness can quickly turn into deep sorrow and anguish when we face devastating loss.  The painful feeling of regret naturally occurs when we look back on the...

Are you living in the fog of depression? If so, there are many things to consider, from the physiological components of depression, to distorted thinking, toxic relationships or spiritual hopelessness.  John, Shay and Lynn discuss the art of self-diagnosis when you’re experiencing depression including how to question yourself, reflect on yourself and talk to yourself.  Managing the weeds of depres...

Are you depressed? The truth is, there’s a lot to be depressed about, and God never judges anyone for feeling depressed. That’s why “spiritual bypassing”, or discounting our painful feelings with biblical platitudes is unhelpful. Our team will help you assess what mild to severe depression looks like and discuss the common roots of depression that may stem from our past experiences, a present hard...

We know that anxiety is a normal part of life, so how are we going to manage it? Since there’s no quick fix, we explain a holistic approach to addressing anxiety from spiritual, mental, relational and physiological perspectives. Listen in as we discuss what Jesus says about anxiety, what makes our anxiety worse, why we need self-awareness to “think about our thinking”, and how to implement some ea...

Why are we so anxious? We all feel it, but do we know where it’s coming from? Anxiety is a physiological state of uneasiness or distress and is our brain's way of telling us there’s a problem that needs to be solved.  Knowing the source of our anxiety is the first step to managing it! Listen as we discuss the potential root causes of our anxiety, how it shows up in the body and the most common lif...

Get to know us! We are a team of Christian counselors and pastors who are routinely “in the weeds” with people helping them navigate the hardships of life from a psychological and spiritual perspective.  We want to offer you wisdom and insight from a trusted Christian viewpoint so that you feel normalized in your struggles and equipped to manage the weeds of life. We invite you to listen as we hav...

Why should we pay attention to our emotions? Can’t we just ignore them and hope they go away?  This series, Managing Your Emotions, is going to address unavoidable emotions like anxiety, depression, sadness, anger and shame that we often don't know how to handle, so we need to start by understanding our emotional dashboard. Let’s be honest, in the church we often see two extremes: all facts (head...