Healing Our Image of God with James Bryan Smith

I'm thrilled to welcome author, speaker and friend Felicia Murrell back to the podcast as we talk about her new book, And: The Restorative Power of Love in an Either/Or World. You'll feel the power of love as you listen. Weaving together poetry, prose, prayers and practices, Felicia shares vulnerably, guiding us from her own story to encourage, challenge, confront and call us to love. This beautiful, healing book takes us on an embodied journey, inviting us to fully inhabit our humanity, to defy our divides, to live as one.  To hear more from Felicia, listen to our conversation about her first book Truth Encounters in Season 2 Episode 8.  You can connect with her at feliciamurrell.com and through her Facebook (felicia.murrell.9) and Instagram (hellofelicia_murrell) accounts.  If this conversation is meaningful for you, please take a minute to like, subscribe and share with a friend who needs this encouragement today. You can connect with me, find free resources, my book and more at susancarson.net.  Thanks for joining us! 

In this episode, my guest is author, professor and theologian James Bryan Smith. Jim is a prolific author with a brand new book in The Good and Beautiful Series, The Good and Beautiful You. The first book in this series, The Good and Beautiful God, released about ten years ago, was a milestone marker in healing my image of God. Today, we’re talking about how our toxic self-narratives shape our view of God and ourselves, and how we can live more fully into the good and beautiful truth of who we truly are. As always, there’s a practice at the end you won’t want to miss! Jim is director of the Apprentice Institute for Christian Spiritual Formation at Friends University, and host of the Things Above Podcast. A founding member of Richard Foster's spiritual renewal ministry, Renovaré, he’s all about spiritual practices that restore our souls. If this conversation is meaningful for you, please take a minute to like, subscribe and share with a friend who needs this encouragement today. You can connect with me, find free resources and more at susancarson.net. Thanks for joining us!

What a joy to welcome Gem Fadling back to our series! I spoke with Gem just before her latest book, Hold that Thought: Sorting through the Voices in Our Heads, released in the fall of 2022. In this conversation, Gem shares her own journey in healing as she learned to identify the unaddressed voices in her head. We all have them right? The voices that drive us to live from our false selves, wreaking havoc in our lives. We talk about the power of Trinitarian love, nonjudgmental self-observation, inner healing, finding our own voice and sense of self, and more. Then Gem leads us in a practice for transformation as we learn to sort through the voices in our heads.  Gem is passionate about training women to rest deeper, live fuller and lead better. (Spoiler alert: I have the honor of contributing to her new online community for women, Replenish!) She's founding partner of Unhurried Living, a Certified Life Coach, and a certified spiritual director who coaches women at the intersection of spiritual leadership and soul care. She's also host of the podcast I Can Do That! Connect with her at unhurriedliving.com/gem.  Are you looking for a safe haven for soul care and emotional healing? Join me at www.susancarson.net.

In this episode I'm sharing a prayer I pray almost daily these days. When my spiritual director first pointed me to this practice, honestly, I didn't like it at all. But I knew I needed it. With time, it's shaping, healing and deeply challenging me in all the best (but not comfortable) ways. This prayer invites us to a giant trust fall, inviting us to fall into the arms of Love working all things together for our healing and wholeness. While the prayer is associated with Father Thomas Keating, the practice was originally crafted by Mary Mrozowski, Keating's friend and colleague. I'm thankful to them both. Watch the YouTube version at @SusanCarson. Are you looking for a safe space to experience a transformational encounter with God? Join me at www.susancarson.net.

In this episode of rooted (IN).ten.tionally, I'm bringing you Bradley Jersak and Felicia Murrell (two of my favorites!). Together we talk about Bradley's new book, Out of the Embers: Faith After the Great Deconstruction, available now. This conversation is deep, rich and real as we consider how we're invited to heal from and through our deconstruction. What new life might be waiting to emerge? Listen to the end as Bradley leads us in a prayer experience to help us heal. This interview was part of our 2022 Virtual Fundraiser for Roots&Branches Network. Connect with Bradley at bradjersak.com, and with Felicia on Instagram at hellofelicia_murrell. Are you looking for a safe space to experience a transformational encounter with God? Join me at www.susancarson.net.

In this imaginative prayer experience, we engage with Jesus' story of the Good Samaritan. As you watch the story unfold, you'll consider the question, Who is your neighbor? Who, in your life today, is the outsider, the one religious leaders might pass by on the road? Jesus makes the outsider the hero of this story, the one who shows mercy. How are you being invited to show mercy, to move to the margins to love your neighbor, today? Are you looking for a safe space to experience a transformational encounter with God? Join me at www.susancarson.net.

This conversation with pastor, leader, podcaster and author Matt Tebbe is deep and wide, funny and true. We talk about the new book he's co-authored with Ben Sternke, Having the Mind of Christ: Eight Axioms to Cultivate a Robust Faith, and we cover lots of good ground--from the evolution of Matt's image of God; to how we see and re-see God; to the centrality of love; to God present with us; to the problem of pain; to embodied participation, trust experiments and transformation. Then Matt leads us in an embodied practice I've never experienced before, and it's a beautiful one, full of grace and healing. This is one of my favorite episodes to date! Matt and Ben co-pastor a church in Indianapolis, co-lead Gravity Leadership, co-host the Gravity Leadership podcast and co-author. You can connect with them and learn more about the amazing work they do at gravityleadership.com.  Are you looking for a safe space to experience a transformational encounter with God? Join me at www.susancarson.net.

In this prayerful, peaceful space, you're invited to release your burdens. What burden or weight are you carrying? What might you gain in releasing this to God? As we meditate on these verses from The Message version of Matthew 11, we'll consider with Jesus how we might learn to live more freely and lightly, even today. “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Are you looking for a safe space to experience a transformational encounter with God? Join me at www.susancarson.net.

What an honor to talk with pastor, speaker, author and truly such a nice guy, Rich Villodas! This conversation is rich (pun unintended) as we talk about his new book and his own journey into knowing God as good, beautiful and kind. In Good and Beautiful and Kind: Becoming Whole in a Fractured World, Rich speaks directly to the things that fragment us and our relationships; then leads us wisely through the internal and relational work of healing. We dive into the causes of our fragmentation; then focus in on prayer (what it is and isn't) and the contemplative life. (Spoiler alert, we've both been influenced significantly by the writings of Henri Nouwen and Brennan Manning.) Listen to the end as Rich leads us in a practice in examining our icebergs--all the stuff under the surface. It's so good! Connect with Rich at richvillodas.com. And you'll want to follow him on Twitter or Instagram. Are you looking for a safe space to experience a transformational encounter with God? Join me at www.susancarson.net.

This listening prayer practice, called The Meeting Place, comes to us from theologian, author and friend Bradley Jersak. Together, we're opening safe, imaginative space for you to meet with Jesus. No matter how close or far you feel from God today, no matter where you are in your life right now, Jesus has promised he never leaves you and you can hear his voice. This practice reminds us that Christ is alive, living within us and longing to immerse us in the high, wide, long and deep love of God. Connect with Bradley Jersak at bradjersak.com, and find this practice here: The Meeting Place. Are you looking for a safe space to experience a transformational encounter with God? Join me at www.susancarson.net.