1st Birthday,
2 Exciting Events

You may’ve heard about Surviving Difficult People: When Your Faith and Feelings Clash, which I published in February 2020. In its young life, this book has:

• scaled Amazon’s #2 best-seller list in Christian Counseling,
• soared to the top spot on Amazon’s 45-min Short Reads in Religion & Spirituality, and
• sold abroad—in Australia, Canada, and even European countries.

But did you know the real-life need that birthed this book?

I’m both a licensed psychologist and practicing Christian. Some quirk an eyebrow at this dual allegiance given the (erroneous) belief that psychology always opposes biblical doctrines.

I admit, at first glance psychology and spirituality seem to offer dueling ways to respond to those who raise our hackles.

For instance, the Bible underscores the importance of forgiving those who wronged us. Scripture warns that without releasing these offenses, we can grow bitter and forfeit God’s many blessings. At the same time, however, I’ve heard too many sermons belittling the role of emotions. “Don’t trust feelings,” this type of sermons would preach. When it comes to forgiveness, they urge us to forgive regardless of any hurt or angry feelings.

Such notion sounds semi-blasphemous to psychologically minded people. Psychology accords so much value to emotions, student therapists have to learn the skills to attune to their client’s emotions. Major approaches to psychotherapy such as Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) change their clients’ lives through emotions. Bottom line, you won’t successfully convince a psychologist that ignoring your feelings is a valid option, including in the service of forgiveness.

But what if there’s a way to bridge these realities? What if we can honor our feelings and still do what’s right, scripturally speaking, when dealing with life’s difficult people?

Voilà! You’ve just witnessed the thought processes behind Surviving Difficult People. True to its purpose, the book paves a way to adopt Scriptural mandates without dismissing feelings.

Now that you’ve learned about the book’s history, let’s make one together. I’ve planned two exciting events to celebrate the book’s first birthday.

First, you’re cordially invited to an online class based on the book. The Church on the Way will host this free class on March 1 and 8, 2021, at 7 pm (PDT). Not only will I share more details than what’s in the book, we’ll also do a game-changing exercise together. (It’s “game-changing” because there’s a good chance you’ll view the difficult person in your life more favorably afterwards). Register here to secure your spot.

You’ll get more from the class by reading the book first, so head to Amazon to secure your copy. But here’s the second exciting news: from now until the end of February, $1 will snatch you a copy of the book.

Can you name one difficult person? This book, and its class, are waiting for you.