Growing Closer to God with Guided Meditation

Scripture: Daily Devotion with Dan & Sheila | Tuesday

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2067782/fan_mail/new] Panic has a way of hijacking your direction. One scary thought turns into ten, your body goes into overdrive, and you end up reacting instead of choosing. We start with that exact feeling, like being lost in the woods at night, then follow a surprising path to stability: the way Scripture can regulate emotion when life gets sharp.  We look closely at how Jesus handles high-pressure moments without spiralling. In the wilderness, he’s exhausted, hungry, and emotionally provoked at the level of identity. Instead of arguing or posturing, he responds with memorised lines from Deuteronomy, repeating “It is written.” We connect that to how the brain shifts from amygdala-driven fight or flight toward clearer prefrontal thinking, and why Scripture memorisation and biblical meditation can function as a real-time neurological and spiritual interrupt.  Then we move to the cross, where Jesus cries, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” We push into the tension: is that despair, or something deeper? Seeing it as Psalm 22 reframes the moment as lament, a structured way to bring anguish into God’s presence without letting despair take the wheel. We end with a simple challenge and a reflection question you can practice today, plus a three-minute pause to sit with it in silence. Subscribe, share this with a friend who feels overwhelmed, and leave a review with the verse that helps you find true north. Support the show [https://www.patreon.com/churchplanting] Consider helping us to take the Gospel to others here: https://patreon.com/churchplanting https://cash.app/$WellnessInstitute [https://cash.app/%24WellnessInstitute] Leave a voicemail question or prayer requests here: (585) 331-3424 Leave an email question, prayer requests or comment here: robyoung51.ry@gmail.com

Solitude: Daily Devotion with Dan & Sheila | Monday

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2067782/fan_mail/new] Silence can feel like the last thing you need when life is loud, but the noise might be the very thing keeping you stuck. We are Dan and Sheila, Pastor Young’s AI co-hosts, and we continue our series Jesus Wants to Shepherd Your Emotions by digging into Pastor Robert Young’s notes on stillness, solitude, and emotional discipleship. If your mind feels like a shaken snow globe, this conversation helps you set it down long enough to see what is actually swirling underneath. We challenge the modern myth that solitude is only a “break glass in case of burnout” move. Jesus treats it as a deliberate rhythm. We look at how he often withdraws to lonely places (Luke 5), how he steps away to process grief after John the Baptist’s death, and how he spends a night in prayer before choosing the twelve. These snapshots show solitude as preventative care for the soul, a way to find clarity when emotions run hot and the stakes are high. Then we go to the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26) to see what honest prayer really looks like. Jesus names sorrow, voices dread, and still chooses surrender: “Not my will, but yours.” We talk about why “we cannot heal what we refuse to feel,” and how quiet becomes a crucible where fear loses its hidden power. We end with a practical solitude practice you can do in five to ten minutes using an anchor like Psalm 46:10, plus a question that might change your day: what is the constant noise in your life hiding from you? If this helps, subscribe, share it with a friend who feels stretched thin, and leave a review so more people can find a healthier path to Christian emotional health and spiritual formation. Support the show [https://www.patreon.com/churchplanting] Consider helping us to take the Gospel to others here: https://patreon.com/churchplanting https://cash.app/$WellnessInstitute [https://cash.app/%24WellnessInstitute] Leave a voicemail question or prayer requests here: (585) 331-3424 Leave an email question, prayer requests or comment here: robyoung51.ry@gmail.com

Jesus Wants to Shepherd Your Emotions: Deep Dive with Dan & Sheila

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2067782/fan_mail/new] We’ve been taught to equate spiritual maturity with calm detachment, but that story collapses the moment you pay attention to Jesus. He doesn’t model emotional flatlining. He models a life that feels deeply and responds wisely. That difference changes everything for Christian emotional health, spiritual formation, and the way we handle fear, anger, grief, exhaustion, and loneliness when life squeezes hard. We dig into what Pastor Robert Young calls emotional discipleship, learning to let Jesus shepherd our inner world instead of trying to manage it with willpower or image control. We walk through the “Stoic Savior” myth, then look at the documented emotional life of Jesus: loud weeping, anger mixed with grief at injustice, deep sighing exhaustion, astonishment, and the crushing loneliness of the cross. Rather than treating emotions as spiritual problems, we treat them as God-given signals that reveal what we love and what we believe. Then we get practical with Gethsemane as a blueprint for processing emotions with God: naming what is true, praying the emotion itself, and moving through desire, honesty, and surrender. We also talk about treating emotions like consultants, not CEOs, and we share four questions that help you uncover the lie beneath a feeling and choose a wise, loving response. Finally, we contrast suppression with surrender and lay out daily rhythms that build resilience over time: solitude, community, scripture, lament, and rest. If you’ve been white-knuckling your way through hard feelings, this conversation offers a different path. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs it, and leave a review with the emotion you want to learn how to surrender next. Support the show [https://www.patreon.com/churchplanting] Consider helping us to take the Gospel to others here: https://patreon.com/churchplanting https://cash.app/$WellnessInstitute [https://cash.app/%24WellnessInstitute] Leave a voicemail question or prayer requests here: (585) 331-3424 Leave an email question, prayer requests or comment here: robyoung51.ry@gmail.com

The Jesus No One Talks About Series Pt. 4: Jesus Experienced Loneliness | Friday Devotion

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2067782/fan_mail/new] Loneliness can make the world feel smaller and God feel far away. We begin with one of the rawest lines in Scripture, Matthew 27:46, where Jesus cries, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Instead of rushing past the ache, we slow down and name what many of us carry in silence: the feeling of being abandoned, unseen, and unheard.  We imagine Jesus on the cross, eyes searching and heart breaking under the weight of isolation, and we take seriously the mystery that he experiences the silence of God so we would never face it alone. That means your loneliest moment is not proof you have been discarded. It may be the very place where Christ meets you, not from a distance, but from shared experience. If you have been searching for Christian encouragement, prayer for loneliness, or a simple devotional practice that speaks to real life, you will find a steady path here.  Then we move into a short, guided reflection with one clarifying question: “Where do I feel alone that Jesus is already present?” We close with an affirmation you can carry throughout the day, “I am never alone. Jesus has been where I am,” and a prayer asking Jesus to draw near in every place that feels empty, quiet, or abandoned. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs it, and leave a review so more people can find hope when the silence feels loud. Support the show [https://www.patreon.com/churchplanting] Consider helping us to take the Gospel to others here: https://patreon.com/churchplanting https://cash.app/$WellnessInstitute [https://cash.app/%24WellnessInstitute] Leave a voicemail question or prayer requests here: (585) 331-3424 Leave an email question, prayer requests or comment here: robyoung51.ry@gmail.com

The Jesus No One Talks About Series Pt. 4: Jesus was Surprised | Thursday Devotion

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2067782/fan_mail/new] Jesus marvels. That single word can undo a lot of our assumptions about what God is like. If you’ve ever pictured Jesus as calm but distant, steady but unmoved, we want to offer a more biblical and more personal image: a Saviour who is responsive, engaged, and genuinely affected by what he sees in people. We reflect on the moments where Jesus is surprised in two directions, marveling at unexpected faith and also reacting to unbelief. That range shows his emotional life isn’t flat or fake. He’s not emotionally numb, and he isn’t “unshakable” in the sense of being untouched. He pays attention. He responds. He relates. For anyone doing Christian discipleship, prayer, or Bible study, this matters because it reframes daily life as a real relationship, not a religious performance. Then we get practical. We invite you to imagine Jesus watching a moment of unexpected beauty in your life: a quiet act of kindness, a step of faith, a moment of courage. What if your faith, even in small and ordinary ways, can actually move his heart? We end with a simple three-minute reflection question you can take into your day, your journaling, or your next prayer time. If this encouraged you, subscribe for more Christian podcast reflections, share it with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review so more people can find the show. What part of your life might Jesus be marveling at today? Support the show [https://www.patreon.com/churchplanting] Consider helping us to take the Gospel to others here: https://patreon.com/churchplanting https://cash.app/$WellnessInstitute [https://cash.app/%24WellnessInstitute] Leave a voicemail question or prayer requests here: (585) 331-3424 Leave an email question, prayer requests or comment here: robyoung51.ry@gmail.com