Many people want to feel emotionally and spiritually well, but aren’t always sure how to get there. The Plumline blog offers practical guidance that will help you get unstuck, find rest, and experience peace.
Would you pray with and for us?
This week marks the launch of our fall weekly groups, which is always an exciting time for us. Some folks are stepping into our HEART program this season and Jake will be guiding them through the material we’ve recently made available in our online course. We’re proud of that course, but the in-person experiences take participants to a whole other level. Something profound happens when others walk with you as you confront your lies and embrace
Why are we drawn to personality tests?
How many personality tests have you taken in the last three years? For many North Americans, the honest answer would take two (or more) hands to count. We’re hungry to know more about ourselves. And we feel like we’re prepared to dig under the surface and unearth what lies beneath. That’s why we jump at the chance to discover our Myers-Briggs Type, or our DiSC profile, or our Enneagram number. Is there anything wrong with
You have no bad feelings
If you walk into my office right after I’ve led a PLUMLINE group, you’ll likely stumble across a laminated sheet. I often get distracted and leave it lying in the middle of the floor. Peer closely, and you’ll discover that it’s a vertical list of feelings. Eight, to be exact. When people first see this sheet, they look up at me with caution in their eyes. And for good reason. There are some heavy words
What’s with all this “heart” talk?
When you hear me talk about your “heart system,” you might wonder just what exactly I’m referring to. Your heart system is where your feelings live—the place where your true wants and needs reside. Many people find that their heart is the most neglected system in their spiritual anatomy. Sadly, this is not surprising. So many of us have been told, whether directly or indirectly, that our feelings and desires are the enemies of true
When You Feel Guilty
What exactly is the feeling of guilt? Guilt is the feeling that arises when you have crossed a moral boundary, or done harm to yourself or another. Guilt can be a heavy feeling to feel. It is often difficult to admit when we have harmed or hurt. It is for this reason that many are so defended against their guilt and will do ANYTHING not to feel it. Unfortunately, if you suppress your guilt, it
Learning From Your Loneliness
How do you know when you’re lonely? And, if you do find that loneliness is what you feel—what can you do about it? Loneliness is what you feel when you feel dismissed, unseen, and unknown by those in your life. This lack of meaningful connection with others may fill you with shame, remind you of hurt, or paralyze you with fear. Whatever the case may be, it is critical that you feel and face your
What type of soil is in your heart right now?
Sometimes when I ask people how they are doing, they respond by saying, “I’m crushing it.” They are not wrong. Driven forward by The Smothering Grind, they are crushing the life out of their lives. I’ve written about how The Grind pushes us into burnout, flame out, and tapping out. Now it’s time to talk about how to silence his villainous lies so we can become who we truly are and live the lives God
The Grind wants you to tap out
Over the past two weeks, I’ve described some of the ways The Smothering Grind of Life kills our joy and sabotages our lives. We looked at burnout, that state of mental, physical, and spiritual exhaustion. Then we looked at flameout, which happens when dissatisfaction with our lives drives us to sabotage ourselves. This week, it’s time to look at the most insidious of all The Grind’s intentions for you: tapping out. Unlike burnout (which drains)
The Grind wants you to flame out
Last week, I wrote about how The Smothering Grind of Life drives us into burnout – a state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion. But here’s the sobering truth: The Grind is not content with simply exhausting us. While it loves to render you useless with burnout, it wants to destroy everything you’ve built and the things which matter to you the most. The Grind wants you to flame out. Pushing you toward self-sabotage, moral
The Grind’s first destination: burnout
I’ve written a few times this year about a villain I call “The Smothering Grind of Life.” The Grind shows up in many different shapes and sizes. It’s the pressure businessmen feel to work late, avoid using personal days, and constantly monitor their emails while on vacation. It’s the guilt that moms feel when their kids don’t make the travel ball team or deliver a 4.3 GPA. It’s the fear that ministry leaders feel when
The 4 parts of our spiritual anatomy
“We have been designed by God to live, love, and lead with uniquely designed parts.” Instinctively, we know this is true. However, a lot of teaching on this topic – teaching that often centers on the concept of “calling” – leads us into confusion. We’re told that we need to search and pray that God makes our calling clear to us, as if our true identity is somewhere out there. Jesus didn’t talk that way.
What does “spiritual anatomy” mean?
If you’re new to Plumline, you might be wondering what we mean when we talk about your “spiritual anatomy.” That’s a fair question! Last we checked, biology textbooks don’t make any mention of it. In those high school science classes, we learned that our bodies are made of systems: each of us has a respiratory system, and a circulatory system, and a skeletal system, etc. Working together, these systems keep us alive and keep us
