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The Anxious Christian is Coming Soon….Sneak Peek

December 21, 2011 in Writing with 1 Comment

This has been an exciting month for me as I have been wrapping up some details on the soon to be publication of The Anxious Christian: Can God Use Your Anxiety for Good?.

The book will be released by Moody Publishers on March 1.

I’m very thankful for the amazing group of people who have endorsed the book, and a special thanks to the New York Times best selling author of Quitter, Jon Acuff for writing the foreword to the book.

If you are someone who has wrestled with anxiety, then I believe this book is for you.

Here is a sneak peek:

Anxious Christian from ETS Productions on Vimeo.

Anxiety is Good…

November 29, 2011 in Ministry-Theology, Therapy-Psychology, Writing with 1 Comment

Philosophers and Poets, from their perch on the cutting edge of reason, have always seen the advantage of anxiety. It is the “dizziness of reason,” argued Soren Kierkegaard; “the handmaiden of creativity,” said T.S. Eliot; “the beginning of conscience,” observed novelist Angela Carter. So have actors backstage, summoning eternal energies and edges for the roles they play, and sprinters on the block, finding hormonal springs in the fear of failure that allow them to achieve race times they never managed in practice.

So begins the opening paragraph of TIME Magazine’s December cover story, The Two Faces of Anxiety.

This is a timely topic as the release of my book The Anxious Christian: Can God Use Your Anxiety for Good? is being published by Moody Publishers on March 1, 2012. When I was in the book proposal writing/submission phase in the late Fall of 2010, anxiety was the topic that my acquisition’s editor Randall Payleitner seemed to be really focused on. You see, in all my anxiety of trying to submit the right proposal I had submitted a large, sprawling dissertation that lacked any real focus or clarity, but Randall seemed most excited about a chapter I had submitted on anxiety. So eventually, one chapter idea became the whole theme of my new book.

I think anxiety is an important topic because everyone at some point in their life struggles with it, and many struggle with it on an ongoing basis.

But is all anxiety necessarily bad?

I don’t believe so….in fact, anxiety can actually be good for us as I see it as a catalyst to help us grow as people. There are only a couple of options when you begin to feel anxiety.

  1. Pretend it doesn’t exist and push it below the surface.
  2. Acknowledge that the anxiety is there and use it as an opportunity to move you forward/to grow in life.

You choose.

New Directions: 5 Changes in My Life and Career

November 11, 2011 in Marriage-Family, Ministry-Theology, Pastoral Counseling, Therapy-Psychology, Writing with 2 Comments

The last year and a half of my life has been a complete whirlwind. That’s the best word that I can use to describe all the things that have been going on.

So today, I’m excited to announce several different events and changes that have happened and that are on the horizon.

First: As many of you already know, I signed a book deal with Moody Publishers back in March. The manuscript has been completed (edits and all), and is on its final leg before it hits the e readers in February (I believe), and the bookshelves on March 1. I’m thankful for everyone who has been involved in this process. If you are interested, you can pre-order your copy of The Anxious Christian: Can God Use Your Anxiety for Good?

Second: I resigned my job from HopeWorks Counseling one month ago, and I’m excited to announce that I have ventured off into a new practice at Auxano Counseling. This move allows me to really focus on several things that I’m excited about. So if you need/want counseling, or know someone who does, I am now taking referrals at my new practice. Auxano is located in the beautiful Willow Bend Wellness Building in Plano, TX, and I’m excited to be a part of the great practitioners in that building.

Third: I have officially launched a new counseling website that better conveys the three things I’m passionate about–therapy, writing, and speaking/teaching. Check out the site and the beautiful design by Ryan Smith. If you are wanting a new site, I recommend Ryan.

Fourth: I’ve launched a new monthly newsletter that you can subscribe to. Each month you will receive information, tips and resources on a variety of topics such as family, marriage, anxiety, emerging adulthood, transitions, youth ministry and more.

Fifth: I’m currently in the midst of working on a new self-care/counseling group that is for youth pastors. The group will launch in Jan/Feb. (in Plano, TX) of 2012 and will equip youth pastors in better understanding who they are (identity issues), how to set proper boundaries, manage their emotional reactivity, practice self-care, take care of their marriages/family, etc, etc. Stay tuned for more details. If you are interested in being a part of this limited group of 6-8 youth pastors, please send me an email.

Thanks for all of your support and encouragement in my endeavors.

One Woman’s Journey to Help Others Share Their Stories

August 9, 2011 in Transitioning, Writing with 1 Comment

A few months ago, a friend of mine pointed me towards the blog and online shop of Katie Clemons. My friend knew that I love to journal and thought I would like her stuff and her story.

And he was right. I love the story of how Katie came into journaling and how that passion for story and writing fueled her endeavor to develop her own line of journals.

Keeping a journal has been one of the most important ways that I have been able to thoughtfully reflect on my life. That reflection has been really important as I have made decisions and transitioned through different stages of life.

So I decided to ask Katie a few questions about journaling and life. I hope you enjoy, and I hope you find her story inspiring.

  1. Katie, I love the story about how your journals came to fruition. Can you share what the catalyst was behind you launching Gadanke?

A couple of years ago, NPR’s StoryCorp was in town. It was also my grandma’s 90th birthday.

The two of us decided to hop into the recording studio to capture some pieces of her story. I had all sorts of prompts to help her with her story telling. (I was always the listener, the one who asked question after question.)

The only problem?

My grandma couldn’t remember. Too much time had passed.

Later, my dad turned to me and said, “Katie, I need you to write down your story.” I knew he wished he had his mom’s stories. So I started writing. I started wondering about all of the other women who have stories deep inside of them, and I started thinking about how my tendency to just listen and ask could help put those stories onto paper. Gadanke was born with fabulous writing prompts and recycled papers. I feel so lucky to be living my dream.

I’m fascinated by the various transitions in our lives and I’m wondering how journaling one’s story can better help them navigate these transitions? Have they helped you navigate your own transitions in life? How for example?

When you journal, you are not audience-focused. Blogs, facebook, and conversations with friends have added so much to our lives. But we tend to share what we want other people to know or what we think will get the biggest response.

Journaling is about connecting with your heart or God.

I often think of a dear customer of mine. She has been struggling with infertility. Not too long ago, her sister announced her own pregnancy, and in all this joy for the sister, the woman also felt so much pain and sadness. She couldn’t talk about this pain on something like Facebook or her blog. She wanted to be happy for her sister!

So she journaled.

She let out that pain by writing about it.

These are transitions in life that are obvious and that we can feel. I want to help people draw those stories out.

I also want to draw out the stories that we don’t even realize are something that matter. We don’t realize that our normal right now will be totally different in 20 years. So often, we don’t even realize the transformations growing in our hearts. But they show up on paper. In 20 years, wouldn’t it be awesome to read about? Wouldn’t it be awesome to read that about our parents and grandparents?

What advice would you give someone who really wants to write more about their life, but feels like they have nothing to say….or feels like they don’t know how to organize their thoughts?

First – your story DOES MATTER. It matters to the people who know you. It matters to the people who will know you in the future. It’ll matter to the people who will never get to meet you but will hear about you. And it matters for you.

My entire mission with Gadanke is to create prompts that capture the stories for you. I love creating quotations that will have you thinking about favorite foods in childhood, where you dream of going, and what a typical today is like for you.

Katie, there are lots of journals out there in the marketplace, but I was wondering if you could tell us why you believe yours are best designed for people who want to “celebrate their story.”

I cannot claim to be better because our stories are all so different. So I focus on making something that can be most adaptable to anyone. Here are two things customers embrace in my products:

1. Gadanke journals have loose rings that you can pop open. Add more pages; reorganize the pages; hole punch and add letters, postcards, and memorabilia. It becomes a scrapbook with your story if you want it to be.

2. Gadanke journals have lots of extra bits. Library cards, tags, pockets, stickers, and Italian patterned papers give your stories a visual dimension. Plus they’re so fun to vary your writing on!

You can connect more with Katie online at:

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