Landscape of Healing

When I arrived at the Soul Care Institute in the winter of 2021, I had exhausted my reserves and had come to quit. To quit ministry, serving, and striving. More than two decades of pastoral ministry had demanded more than I had to give. Exhausted, I dragged my deflated soul and my suitcase into the front door of the retreat center as a last-ditch effort at redemption. My options were to change or walk away. I could not imagine what awaited me on the other side of those two massive wooden doors.

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In 2010 I went to my first counseling session. After a dramatic shift in the direction of our ministry, I suffered from a several-year struggle with depression. Counseling was the first step in untangling my distorted thoughts. I continued going to therapy off and on through the years until I received the invitation to begin a two-year spiritual formation journey with the Soul Care Institute. 

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My counselor had helped me reframe negative thoughts, but the Soul Care Institute helped me create space for God to do a much deeper work in my soul.

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David Benner wrote, “Christian soul care that succeeds in reunifying the psychological and spiritual aspects of persons holds the promise of relevance and potency that has often been lacking in the ministrations of both Christian clergy and mental health professionals.”

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My experiences with God over the past two years have opened new landscapes of healing and freedom within. The combination of psychological and spiritual formation practices has resultedin a greater sense of belovedness and belonging. I’m dreaming again. My soul feels full again. Joy is no longer something I grasp for. It flourishes from a deep knowledge that as I abide in Him, He also abides in me. 

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Soul care is much more than caring for the soul. It is an excavation of the heart that creates space for God’s goodness, grace, and kindness to come rushing in like a river unleashed. It is the way of unforced rhythms and abundant life. It is the way of Jesus.

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