Mental Health Mondays: Recent Episodes
South Tacoma Assembly of God
Have you ever noticed a disconnect between what you believe about God and what you live out in your every day Christian life? Our mental health is an important aspect of our wholeness and wellness. Tune in every Monday morning as Pastor Jonathan Burger of Emmaus Ministries NW helps to acknowledge mental health and its role in our walk with Christ, and bridge the gap between what we know and what we live.
Recounting an experience he had after a recent traumatic experience, Jonathan shares how to walk someone through what they experienced with sensitivity and understanding.
This video was recorded last week right after the Maui fires began. Join Jonathan for this Mental Health Monday as he discusses how to respond in the midst of someone communicating about traumatic experiences.
If you have been wounded, you’ll need to learn from the experience before you’re able to move forward. Join Jonathan for this week’s Mental Health Monday as he talks about going from wounded to scarred.
If everything happens in the context of relationships, are your relationships serving you, or barriers to your health? Join Jonathan this week as he discusses what the quality and character of our relationships should be.
Are you searching for the right things in the wrong places? Join Jonathan in this week’s Mental Health Monday as he discusses the importance of looking for what we need in the Person Who will always be the right place.
What good is it to have a life that looks good on the outside but is crumbling on the inside? Join Jonathan this week as he talks about the importance of pursuing strength over appearance.
Why are the numbers of mental health disorders and challenges about the same for those in the church and those outside of it? When we don’t take the time to get grounded in peace, we have a hard time holding on to the life and Promises that God has given us. Join Jonathan this week as he discusses the importance of being secured by peace.
Can conversations about psychology be in the same conversations as God and theology? Join Jonathan for this week’s Mental Health Monday as he discusses where psychology fits within the church and believer’s context.
Resilience is defined as "the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness" and "the ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape; elasticity." Some people make mistakes and/or experience failure and setbacks, and have a difficult time bouncing back. Join Jonathan as he discusses how to approach recovering from the things you've experienced.
Are you waiting for God to do something in your life, but feeling like your time has passed for it to be accomplished? Does God seem silent? No matter how long it has been since God promised you something, if He promised it, He’ll fulfill it. Join Jonathan as he encourages that God’s silence is more for preparation than a sign that you’ve been forgotten.
The cocoon of transformation may feel like it’s permanent, but it’s a temporary place of rest, protection, safety, and re-creation. If we stay there too long, we surrender the ability to be prepared for the seasons that are to come. Join Jonathan for this Mental Health Monday as he shares on the fight for flight that occurs during the process of transformation.
When we come to Christ, we not only find freedom, but have the opportunity to live in freedom. No matter what you are facing, you do not have to cower in fear. In the opposition, you’ll find what you need to take the giant down. Join Jonathan for this week’s Mental Health Monday as he talks about “Facing Goliath”.
Join Jonathan and Abby for this month's Mental Health Monday Q & A! Do you have a question? Ask it in the comments and Jonathan and Abby will do their best to answer it. If you would like to remain anonymous, you can send your question in an email to contact@staog.org.
Mental health is biblical - but what does prayer and worship have to do with mental health? Join Jonathan for this week's Mental Health Monday as he dives into the topic.
Boundaries help you to protect both yourself and your relationships. Last week Jonathan talked about what boundaries are. Join him this week as he discusses what boundaries are not!
What is one of the main causes of broken relationships? Boundaries. Join Jonathan as he discusses what it means to live with boundaries, and how we can establish relational lines where who we are ends and the other person begins.
Join Jonathan and Abby Burger of Emmaus Ministries NW as they answer your questions concerning mental health.
Our feet our foundational for our lives, so what “shoes” we choose to walk with can help us navigate the season we’re in - or make things more difficult. Join Jonathan for this Mental Health Monday as he discusses wearing the right “shoes” for the right season.
Our perspective influences the way we respond, and how we respond influences the outcome. Join Jonathan Burger for this week’s Mental Health Monday as he talks about the importance of our perspective.
The emotion is not wrong, it’s often the action that follows the emotion that can be wrong. When we avoid dealing with our emotions, other aspects of our life suffer as a result. Join Jonathan as he helps us unpack the purpose of emotions, and how to properly respond when we feel them.
Join Jonathan and Abby of Emmaus Ministries NW for this Mental Health Monday Q & A as they answer your questions concerning mental health.
Pastor Jonathan, along with his wife, Abby, have a blended family of five children ranging from 9 to 18 years old. Their journey to one another and to the place of ministry together has not been a smooth one. However, through the tough circumstances, God has used that journey to uniquely equip them for the ministry of healing the broken-hearted and leading His sheep. It is their mission to bring individuals a deeper understanding of who God is and an awareness of their identities in Christ. Through the application of these biblical principles, individuals develop a greater understanding of who God is, and as a result, experience a deeper level of healing.
Love never fails. But how can we tell the difference between infatuation and true love? Is there a difference? Join Pastor Jonathan for this Monday's Mental Health Monday as he challenges us to reevaluate what we may have considered love to be.
Register for the Mental Health and the Bible seminar: www.staog.org/mentalhealth
Schedule a Counseling Appointment: www.emmausministriesnw.com/contact
There are several different sources that want to tell us the meaning of love, but what is it, really? Join Jonathan Burger of Emmaus Ministries NW as he talks about the nature of love, and how we can display it in our actions toward others.
Schedule a Counseling Appointment: www.emmausministriesnw.com/contact
Register for the Mental Health and the Bible seminar: www.staog.org/mentalhealth
Join Jonathan and Abby Burger of Emmaus Ministries NW as they answer your questions concerning mental health.
The younger generations are experiencing a mental health crisis on a massive scale. For several areas of mental health, the crisis begins at home as children observe their parents in broken homes, even if the parents are together. Whether it’s in the home environment with our children or in the workplace with co-workers, Pastor Jonathan challenges us to revisit our foundations and build/relationships from first finding common ground.
Schedule a counseling appointment: www.emmausministriesnw.com/contact
Register for the Mental Health and the Bible seminar:
www.staog.org/mentalhealth
Why are you trying harder?
When we try hard, we are taking the situation out of God’s hands and putting it on to our shoulders. Join Pastor Jonathan Burger for this Mental Health Monday as he encourages us to try softer, not harder.
Happy new year!
It’s a year of expectation. Are you ready for the downpour? What are you expecting, and are you ready to go through the process to receive it?
Can you hear the chains falling?
Imagine what deliverance sounds like to God. It was part of the reason He came - to set the captives free.
God has provided freedom, but we also have to do our part. Where does deliverance start? With coming with expectation that our Heavenly Father is good and wants good for us. In this Mental Health Monday, Pastor Jonathan encourages us to ask God for our breakthrough, seek Him until we find Him, and knock on the doors He has provided.
Have you ever expected something from God, but delay in receiving the answer caused you to doubt and keep your religion but not your expectation? Even if the process to your promise doesn’t look like what you expected, let your devotion continue to fuel your expectation.
Join Jonathan and Abby Burger of Emmaus Ministries NW as they answer your questions concerning mental health!
Schedule a counseling appointment at www.emmausministriesnw.com/contact
There’s an old saying that says, “Unforgiveness is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.” When we pray “Father, forgive them.”, it’s not excusing their behavior, but committing them and the situation into God’s hands. In this Mental Health Monday, Pastor Jonathan reminds us that forgiveness is an action, not a feeling, and also challenges us to forgive those who may have done us wrong.
Sometimes walking in victory doesn't look like having no opposition; it looks like having opposition and still being able to walk through to the other side. It's in the "going through" that reveals the victory. Being more than a conqueror doesn't mean we avoid what's happening in our lives - Rather, we are able to overcome because we pushed through. What are you avoiding that you need to go through? In this Mental Health Monday, join Pastor Jonathan Burger as he challenges us to walk in victory.
What are you thankful for? It can be difficult to be thankful for opposition and struggle, but those things provide the opportunity to shift our perspective. Having a heart of thanksgiving allows us to look at the things we have faced and find joy and peace in what we have overcome. In this Mental Health Monday, Jonathan encourages us to look at our circumstances differently, and choose to live with a heart of thanksgiving.
Schedule a counseling appointment at www.emmausministriesnw.com/contact
Is there an aspect of your life that you need to check in on before the damage gets worse? When we don't deal with things preventatively, we have to address the catastrophic issues that are the result. In this Mental Health Monday, Pastor Jonathan shows why counseling isn't just for when things get bad - it's to routinely make sure that things don't go in that direction.
Schedule a counseling appointment at www.emmausministriesnw.com/contact
In Monday's Mental Health Live Q & A, Jonathan and Abby of Emmaus Ministries NW answered questions concerning forgiveness, navigating challenging relationships, raising a child that has been labeled with a disorder, and so much more! Listen to this podcast-based version of Monday's Mental Health Live Q & A with Jonathan and Abby Burger.
The more burdens you're carrying, the less availability you have to pick up what God has for you. Not only do our burdens weigh us down, but they restrict us from being able to help bear the burdens of others. If you're feeling the weight of the things you've been carrying, this Mental Health Monday is for you!
Your story is important in the communication of who you are. If you had to ask yourself the question, "Who are you?", what would be your answer? When you know yourself, you can better navigate how to present yourself to others, as well as accept who others are.
Would you put a bandaid on a broken arm? When we don't deal with trauma, it causes an infection in our soul that leads to further infection. What are you avoiding that you need to return to in order to be healed? In this Mental Health Monday, Pastor Jonathan challenges us to use grace to move forward, and grace to go backward to revisit those things that keep us from moving forward.
Mistakes aren't disqualifiers as long as we keep moving beyond the failures. When we're pursuing living in the abundant life that Jesus provided for us, there will be things that can trip us up. If you've started the process towards wholeness, don't let failure stop you. Have grace for yourself. It's okay to not be okay.
In God's presence we find deliverance - but what happens afterwards? Once deliverance takes place, there are habits that need to change so that we don't invite the same spiritual problems that we previously had. In this Mental Health Monday, Pastor Jonathan challenges us to live in freedom that lasts through habits that sustain our deliverance, not take us back to what we were delivered from.
It's not a sin to be emotional or display those emotions - they alert us to what is going on inside of us. It's not the emotions that are the problem - it's what we do with the emotions that often gets us in trouble. In this Mental Health Monday, Pastor Jonathan challenges us to consider where our emotions are directing us, and if they are leading us to places of freedom or coping.
When God provided manna for the Israelites, He also told them to only take what they needed for that day. Anything stored and left over would become moldy and spoil. In this Mental Health Monday, Pastor Jonathan challenges us to question whether we are still trying to grow and live on something that was only supposed to be a temporary provision.
What we allow into our lives will either make us sick or give us life. What are you taking in? This Mental Health Monday, Pastor Jonathan discusses rancid water, and the importance of making sure what we put into our souls is feeding us, not destroying us.