Loving One Another

How does your personality impact your relationship with Jesus? A lot more than you might think! As psychologists and devoted Christians, Bill and Kristi Gaultiere have spent much of their lives helping people thrive with Jesus in life and leadership. Their nonprofit ministry, Soul Shepherding, teaches leaders and laypeople how to cultivate closer relationships with God and others by understanding their personality types and implementing healthy spiritual and emotional habits.

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When I (Bill) was younger, if you asked me how I felt, I was blank. I didn’t know what I felt or needed. It didn’t even seem important. Actually, it seemed selfish. So, I would turn the focus to support you. I didn’t know I was hiding behind smug, self-sufficient pride. I didn’t know I had an emotional vacuum in my soul that was distancing me from God and people and leaving me stuck in a vague, low-lying, dark cloud of a melancholy mood. Repressed emotions are a source of depression, anxiety, addiction, and distant relationships.

Today, an essential soul-care practice for Kristi and me is giving and receiving empathy in conversations that are emotionally honest and prayerful. We find that our intimacy with God parallels the intimacy in our marriage and our other relationships.

The Bible teaches us to “love one another” because this is a primary way that we experience God’s love and are strengthened to do good work that spreads the gospel of Jesus.

—Bill and Kristi Gaultiere, doctors of psychology, as told to Rapt Interviews

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