rooted (IN).ten.tionally

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.

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.

In this episode, I have the joy of bringing you author and theologian Paul Young. Paul's books, including The Shack, The Pastor (co-authored with Bradley Jersak), and Lies We Believe about God (to name a few), have impacted millions, inviting us to see God and ourselves through the lens of love.

In this rich and vulnerable conversation, Paul shares how his image of God was formed, his own deconstruction and his journey of restoration. We talk about the problem of pain and the question of protection as Paul invites us to understand the work of love in our lives. Then I lead us in an imaginative practice opening space for you to reflect on how you image Father, Jesus and Holy Spirit, and to notice where your images might be distorted. At the end, Paul lets us in on the three books he's writing right now, including (wait for it) a sequel to The Shack! Connect with Paul at wmpaulyoung.com and at opentableconference.com.

Are you looking for a safe space to experience a transformational encounter with God? Join me at www.susancarson.net.

In this episode, you'll practice lectio divina (or sacred reading) meditating on John 15:9-12.  These are some of Jesus’ words at his last meal with his friends. He knows he’s about to leave them. He knows they’ll be confused, lost, grieving. And his message to them is simple and central: Abide in my love. Remain in love. In these days, we're confused, lost, grieving, too. We've never needed these words more. Because this love is saving us all the time.  

What if it really is all about love after all? 

Are you looking for a safe space to experience a transformational encounter with God? Join me at www.susancarson.net.

Connect with Brian at brianzahnd.com and find his books at all the usual places.

Are you looking for a safe space to experience a transformational encounter with God? Join me at www.susancarson.net.

In this first episode of Season 3, you’ll pray imaginatively through Psalm 23 as we journey together through the shadows. Shadowy times are familiar to all of us. These are times when, perhaps, we feel death is near. Times of loss, lament, sickness. Perhaps, like me, you or a loved one have encountered the shadow of cancer. In the shadows we find we are never, ever alone. 

Today, we’ll pray imaginatively through a version of Psalm 23 from Psalms for Praying by Nan Merrill. Engage all your senses to place yourself in the scripture. What do you see, feel, experience? How is Jesus with you today, even in the shadows? 

Are you looking for a safe space to experience a transformational encounter with God? Join me at www.susancarson.net.

How we see God is how we see everything. In this episode, we wrap Season 2 with Gem and Alan Fadling, and a conversation on the way of unhurried living. This episode feels a little bit like a spa to me, an invitation to an internal slowing that restores your soul. How does your view of God affect your ability to live in an unhurried rhythm rooted in grace and rest? A beautiful guided meditation on Psalm 23 opens the way for you to re-image God as your good shepherd.   

Gem and Alan are leadership coaches, spiritual directors, authors, podcasters and speakers. You can connect with them, sign up to receive weekly inspiration, and find their books and podcasts at unhurriedliving.com.

Are you looking for a safe space to experience a transformational encounter with God? Join me at www.susancarson.net.

In this second half of Season 2, I’m bringing you a series on healing our image of God. Because how we see God is how we see everything. In this episode, I’m joined by the delightful Jonathan Puddle, author of You Are Enough and host of the Puddcast (one of my faves). In this very honest (and fun) conversation, we share our journeys of deconstructing and reforming our images of God. Then I get to lead Jonathan and you in a practice to illuminate the differences in how we image Father and Jesus. Turns out, it's a big deal.  

Watch the full interview on my YouTube channel. And if you haven't watched Jonathan's first episode with me, check out the Zoomcast with Jonathan Puddle: Learning to Love Ourselves the Way God Loves Us. The practice he shares is beautiful!

 Are you looking for a safe space to experience a transformational encounter with God? Join me at www.susancarson.net.

In this second half of Season 2, I’m bringing you a series on healing our image of God. How we see God is how we see everything. In this episode, I’m joined by Felicia Murrell, author of Truth Encounters. She shares how a broken image of God hindered her ability to fully receive God’s love. Spoiler alert, both Felicia and I had help reimaging God from Paul Young's novel The Shack. Plus she leads us in a practice of guided inquiry that heals and restores. You're going to want to follow her on Facebook because her posts are honest, deep and meaningful.  

Are you looking for a safe space to experience a transformational encounter with God? Join me at www.susancarson.net.

How we see God is how we see everything. In this second half of Season 2, I’m bringing you a series on healing our image of God. In this episode, theologian and author Bradley Jersak joins me to talk about how you form a more Christlike image of God through Scripture and encounter. With lightness and humor, Bradley encourages you to see the connection between theology and experience. Then, he walks you through a deeply transformational experience of beholding God, using me as his example. You guys, it made me cry right on camera! (No, I was not expecting that.)

Are you looking for a safe space to experience a transformational encounter with God? Join me at www.susancarson.net. Find Bradley's books and resources at www.bradjersak.com.  

How we see God is how we see everything. Does that sound like an overstatement? Maybe. But I've come to believe it's true. 

We’re changing things up in the second half of Season 2 to bring you a series on healing our image of God. In this episode, spiritual directors (and super awesome people!) Dave and Beth Booram of fallcreekabbey.org. join me to talk about how your image of God is formed and why it matters. Then, they lead you through a powerful reflective exercise to identify how your image of God may be shaped by something other than love. How do you experience God experiencing you? This may be one of the most important questions you can explore as you seek to heal your image of God.  

Are you looking for a safe space to experience a transformational encounter with God? Join me at www.susancarson.net.

Shame lies to you about who you are. It is a relentless abuser, telling you you're not fully loved by God. In this imaginative prayer experience from John 21, you’ll engage all your senses to meet Jesus and Peter at the beach. As Jesus walks with Peter back to the scene of his betrayal, shame dissolves as love and grace break in. With Peter, you’ll experience the healing work of love and the reminder of true self. Replay the podcast and return to this place on the beach with Jesus again and again. The story becomes richer with repetition. 

Join the rooted community at susancarson.net. Find Susan's book there. You can also work with Susan as your personal spiritual coach or invite her to speak or teach at your next event, blog or podcast.