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.
Your mind and your spiritual health
If you’re like many North Americans, the “mind system” probably feels comfortable and familiar. From the perspective of your spiritual anatomy, the mind system is your ability to think and learn. This system is shaped and molded by many influences as we grow up. Some of these influences are institutional—the schools we attend, the churches in which we worship, the extracurricular activities that we pursue. Other influences are cultural, such as peer pressures and societal
Soul prayer – How does one do soul work?
A couple weeks back, I talked about your “soul system” in the blog post: “Why Are We Drawn to Personality Tests?” To remind you the “soul system” is the part of the spiritual anatomy that represents one’s true identity. As I said then, sometimes, talking about your “soul” can feel very abstract and removed from reality. And there’s a good reason for that. Your soul is a vast ocean. It’s where you commune deeply with
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
Lent 2026: Do you want to be closer to Christ?
Do you ever worry? Do your days sometimes seem empty? Do you worry that you are living on autopilot? When joy seems out of reach, our first impulse is often to do more. “If I just read my Bible and prayed every day,” we say to ourselves, “I wouldn’t feel this way.” As if we’re being punished for not completing an invisible checklist of daily spiritual activities. Reading your Bible is good. Praying every day
Lent 2026: What does it mean to be you?
In two-and-a-half weeks, on February 18th, churches around the world will gather and observe Ash Wednesday. It’ll be the start of the 2026 Lent season. The church has observed this holy day and this season for centuries. Like Advent, Lent is a season of preparation. It’s a time where Christians reflect on the sober reality that led the Son of God to come to earth. We don’t just celebrate Easter in a vacuum. We
Your soul is a Visionary Guide
How well do you know your soul? If you’re like many modern Christians, the word “soul” feels abstract and ethereal. You know you have one, but you’re not quite sure what—let alone where!—it is. But what if I told you that your soul, when healthy, is perhaps the most grounded part of your spiritual makeup? Would you believe me? As a refresher, we’re in the middle of a series about the four parts of our
Your heart is a Loving Companion
Last week, I introduced the characters that describe the 4 parts of our spiritual anatomy. If you need a refresher: In my years of doing this work, I’ve noticed a common tendency: people often tell me, “I don’t have this one or that one.” But that is a false assumption. You have them all, though some may be drowsy or buried deep. The first of these characters is the Loving Companion, a.k.a. your heart. It
Do you know the characters within you?
We spend a lot of time looking for things that will make us feel complete. This search drives us to read widely, to follow gurus on Instagram, to collect experience after experience. Along the way we learn things. Good things, even! And yet, that hunger for meaning doesn’t go away. Just like that U2 song, we still haven’t found what we’re looking for. If any of that resonates, you might believe that you’ll never find
The soil of a divided heart
For the last few weeks, we’ve been exploring the Parable of the Sower, sitting with the question, “What kind of soil is in my heart right now?” As I’ve said before, this parable is not primarily describing the reasons unbelievers refuse to hear the Gospel. Rather, in this little story Jesus is inviting us to a life of constantly paying attention to our own hearts. The truth is that sometimes our hearts are hard and
