Finding God at Work

Your soul is a relater, meant to connect with God and other people. Your soul is a receiver, meant to take beauty in. Your soul is an integrator, meant to put experiences together. Depression affects your capacity to relate, your capacity to receive, and your capacity to integrate. That means depression affects your soul. Mild depression is like getting a spiritual cold. Severe depression is like getting a spiritual auto-immune disorder. That doesn't mean depression is sinful. It just means depression leaves its mark on all aspects of our experience, including our spiritual experiences. Sources: Lamentations 3:1-18 (ESV) Jeremiah 20:7-9 (ESV) Lamentations 3:22-24 (ESV) u/benp242, "depression is just struggling with you," r/wholesomememes, June 25, 2023. #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #MentalHealth #TheologicalAnthropology #ChristianHolism #TheGospel #Body #Embodied #Lamentations3 #Jeremiah20 #Jeremiah #WeepingProphet #Healing #Testimony #Sanctification #SpiritualGrowth #SelfAcceptance #Thoughts #Feelings #Heart #Will #SelfAwareness #Emotions #Body #Soul #Depression #Anxiety #Addiction #Recovery #Neurodiversity #Trauma #Healing #WholeHearted

When you're depressed, it affects all aspects of your life and personality, including your will. Depression can make it harder to choose, to make decisions. But our will can still help us when we're depressed. Willingness leads to healing, while willfulness does not. When we're willing to be led by God's mercy, we find it. But when we have to have our own way, we often miss out on what God is doing. Sources: 2 Kings 5:9-14 (NIV) #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #MentalHealth #TheologicalAnthropology #ChristianHolism #TheGospel #Body #Embodied #2Kings5 #Naaman #Healing #Multifactorial #Sanctification #SpiritualGrowth #SelfAcceptance #Thoughts #Feelings #Heart #Will #SelfAwareness #Emotions #Body #Soul #Depression #Anxiety #Addiction #Recovery #Neurodiversity #Trauma #Healing #WholeHearted

According to a 2023 Gallup survey, one in three U.S. adults have been diagnosed with depression at some point in their lifetimes. I'm one of those adults. Periodic episodes of depression have hit me all throughout my adult life. When I'm depressed, I feel weak. I hate to admit to weakness. I hate to admit I'm depressed. But the Apostle Paul shows us in 2 Corinthians 12 that we can "boast" in our weaknesses. We can name and accept exactly what we're facing. We can find God's grace right there, exactly when and where we need it. Sources: 2 Corinthians 12:6-10 (NIV) Dan Witters, "Depression Rates Reach New Highs," Gallup, May 17, 2023. "Depression (major depressive disorder)," Mayo Clinic, October 14, 2022. #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #MentalHealth #TheologicalAnthropology #ChristianHolism #TheGospel #Body #Embodied #Beauty #Receive #TasteAndSee #2Cor12 #Weakness #Strength #Paul #ThornInTheFlesh #Sanctification #SpiritualGrowth #SelfAcceptance #Thoughts #Feelings #Heart #Will #SelfAwareness #Emotions #Body #Soul #Depression #Anxiety #Addiction #Recovery #Neurodiversity #Trauma #Healing #WholeHearted

"Beauty points the way home." That's scholar Gregory E. Ganssle's way of putting it. When we stop to pay attention, we notice that "there's something there" for us in the world. This experience of encountering beauty suggests that we're meant to be *here,* but also that there's something more we're meant for. In the Christian story, we're meant for God. We're meant to receive life from him. It's ultimately the beauty of God that brings us home. Sources: Psalm 34:1-10 (ESV) Cormac McCarthy, The Road (New York: Vintage Books, 2006). Gregory E. Ganssle, Our Deepest Desires: How the Christian Story Fulfills Human Aspirations (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2017). #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #MentalHealth #TheologicalAnthropology #ChristianHolism #TheGospel #Body #Embodied #Beauty #Receive #TasteAndSee #Psalm34 #CormacMcCarthy #TheRoad #GregGannssle #OurDeepestDesires #Sanctification #SpiritualGrowth #SelfAcceptance #Thoughts #Feelings #Heart #Will #SelfAwareness #Emotions #Body #Soul #Depression #Anxiety #Addiction #Recovery #Neurodiversity #Trauma #Healing #WholeHearted

So many workplace interactions are soulless: transactional, manipulative, self-interested. You can smell other people's "commission breath"; they're after what's in it for them. What would it look like to love others at work with genuine, disinterested love? It's the life that Jesus gives us that redeems and restores our capacity to relate to God and to others in love. He restores our soul. Sources: Luke 10:25-28 (NIV) Genesis 2:7, 15-18 (NIV) Romans 6:8-11 (NIV) Dallas Willard, In Search of Guidance: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God (Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock, 1993). (Now available as Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God.) Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community (New York: HarperCollins, 1954, 2009). #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #MentalHealth #TheologicalAnthropology #ChristianHolism #TheGospel #Body #Embodied #Genesis2 #Romans6 #Relationship #Relational #IThou #DallasWillard #HearingGod #DietrichBonhoeffer #LifeTogether #Sanctification #SpiritualGrowth #SelfAcceptance #Thoughts #Feelings #Heart #Will #SelfAwareness #Emotions #Body #Soul #Depression #Anxiety #Addiction #Recovery #Neurodiversity #Trauma #Healing #WholeHearted

Your body is always with you when you're at work. You can't do your work without it. Scripture teaches us that the body is a gift. All of our work depends on this gift that we can't take credit for. It's good for us to apply effort, but our strength for the effort comes from a source beyond ourselves. Sources: Luke 10:25-28 (NIV) Matthew 15:17-20 (NIV) Psalm 139:13-16 (NASB) 2 Samuel 4:9 (ESV) Psalm 119:175 (NIV) Ecclesiastes 3:11-13 (NIV) "Nephesh / Soul" The Shema, Episode 5, BibleProject. Valerie E. Hess and Lane M. Arnold, The Life of the Body: Physical Well-Being and Spiritual Formation (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2012). #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #MentalHealth #TheologicalAnthropology #ChristianHolism #TheGospel #Body #Embodied #Matthew15 #Psalm139 #2Samuel4 #Psalm119 #Ecclesiastes3 #Nephesh #ValerieHess #LaneArnold #Sanctification #SpiritualGrowth #SelfAcceptance #Thoughts #Feelings #Heart #Will #SelfAwareness #Emotions #Body #Soul #Depression #Anxiety #Addiction #Recovery #Neurodiversity #Trauma #Healing #WholeHearted

Each of us has within us a center that gives us life and determines the direction of our life: our heart. Your heart can turn one way or the other. It's your heart that's the hinge. We each have a will, a capacity to choose. So how can we learn to choose well? Sources: Luke 10:25-28 (NIV) Deuteronomy 30:15-18 (NIV) Joshua 24:23 (ESV) James 4:13-16 (NIV) Luke 9:23-24 (multiple translations) The Episcopal Church, "Holy Baptism," in The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church: Together with The Psalter or Psalms of David (New York: Church Publishing, 1979). Nichola Tyler, et al. "Reorienting Locus of Control in Individuals Who Have Offended Through Strengths-Based Interventions: Personal Agency and the Good Lives Model." Frontiers in psychology vol. 11 553240. 15 Sep. 2020, doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.553240 #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #MentalHealth #TheologicalAnthropology #ChristianHolism #TheGospel #Sanctification #SpiritualGrowth #SelfAcceptance #Thoughts #Feelings #Heart #Will #Decisions #Luke10 #Deuteronomy30 #Joshua24 #James4 #NicholaTyler #LocusOfControl #Resentment #Anger #SelfAwareness #Examen #Emotions #Body #Soul #Depression #Anxiety #Addiction #Recovery #Neurodiversity #Trauma #Healing #WholeHearted

Our thoughts and our feelings can inform each other rather than compete with each other. When we're emotionally self-aware in the workplace, it actually helps us do the work of thinking through work problems logically. Have you ever developed a bit of resentment toward a boss or a coworker? That resentment leads to a division in your relationship, a kind of subtle two-faced dynamic. Like Shakespeare's Macbeth, your "False face must hide what the false heart doth / know." But that division happens on the inside, too. When you're not emotionally self-aware about your anger and resentment, you'll start making work decisions differently because of your feelings without realizing it. In contrast, when we become emotionally self-aware by God's grace, we can see ourselves, our colleagues, and our work challenges more clearly. Sources: Luke 10:25-28 (NIV) Matthew 5:21-26 (NIV) Jonah 3:10-4:11 (NIV) James 5:16 (NIV) 1 Peter 4:8 (NIV) Shakespeare's Macbeth 1.7.94-96 Gary Chapman, Anger: Taming a Powerful Emotion (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 1999, 2007, 2015). Alice Fryling, Seeking God Together: An Introduction to Group Spiritual Direction (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2008). Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2013). #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #MentalHealth #TheologicalAnthropology #ChristianHolism #TheGospel #Sanctification #SpiritualGrowth #SelfAcceptance #Thoughts #Feelings #Luke10 #Jonah4 #Jonah #Matthew5 #Matthew18 #James5 #1Peter4 #Compassion #AliceFryling #DanielKahneman #Shakespeare #Macbeth #GaryChapman #EliudWabukala #Resentment #Anger #SelfAwareness #Examen #Emotions #Heart #Will #Body #Soul #Depression #Anxiety #Addiction #Recovery #Neurodiversity #Trauma #Healing #WholeHearted

Spiritual director Alice Fryling calls our feelings "the spontaneous response we give to our interpretation of an event." Often, our immediate emotional responses are beyond our control. They're spontaneous. But if we pay attention to them, we can begin to see how they reveal our hidden beliefs—our interpretations of the world around us. Sources: Luke 10:25-28 (NIV) Jonah 3:10-4:11 (NIV) Alice Fryling, Seeking God Together: An Introduction to Group Spiritual Direction (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2008). Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2013). #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #MentalHealth #TheologicalAnthropology #ChristianHolism #TheGospel #Sanctification #SpiritualGrowth #SelfAcceptance #Thoughts #Luke10 #Jonah4 #Jonah #Compassion #AliceFryling #DanielKahneman #BehavioralEconomics #System1 #System2 #Feelings #Emotions #Heart #Will #Body #Soul #Depression #Anxiety #Addiction #Recovery #Neurodiversity #Trauma #Healing #WholeHearted