How do we experience true rest in a culture that demands striving and encourages fatigue? What does it even look like to live from a place of rest instead of burnout and exhaustion like most people around us do?

For author, pastor, speaker, and mom of four, Jess Connolly, these were the questions she had to wrestle with in the face of all the demands coming at her from her various roles. When life hit a fever pitch and she seemed to reach a breaking point in every way, she knew that she needed more than some sort of watered down self-care answer. She needed to find a way to truly live from a place of trust in the goodness of God to provide and carry her through the noise and speed of life around her. It was through her own journey of figuring out how to deal with the soul-deep exhaustion that she decided to take others along in her latest book, Tired of Being Tired: Receive God’s Realistic Rest for Your Soul-Deep Exhaustion.

In this episode, Aubrey and Jess talk about how difficult it is to find rest in our modern culture, the different ways fatigue can show up, and how to lead in our pain and grief.

If you are tired of being tired--mentally, physically and spiritually--this conversation will show you that you don't need the world's false versions of rest, but you need an encounter with the one who offers you true rest in the depths of your being.

How can music help us heal? What role does worship play in our most difficult seasons?

Songwriter, worship leader and singer Mack Brock has written countless songs that have helped people connect with God. But there is one song that became a rally cry for Davey Blackburn after losing his wife, Amanda and their unborn child in a home invasion. It was the song Nothing is Wasted by Elevation Worship. Mack was one of the songwriters and the singer on the release of that song. Mack could never have known that the words he penned years ago, would become a glimmer of hope to Davey in his darkest moment and a living reminder on which he would later build a ministry.

What does God invite us into in our pain? How do we learn to bring our honest emotions and thoughts to God?

Pastor and author Rich Villodas has learned and taught others the importance of choosing honesty through lament when it comes to engaging with feelings of grief, anxiety and every other emotion that is a part of the human condition. As he has pastored in one of the most diverse parts of the country, he has walked with many individuals through their own stories of pain from their families of origin, loss, and disappointment and has led them towards the invitation from God to confess and name what they are feeling while leaning into the practice of lament.

In his latest book, The Narrow Way: How the Subversive Way of Jesus Satisfies Our Souls, Rich teaches how the Sermon on the Mount is an invitation to a countercultural way of living that will lead to peace, love, and fulfillment in a generation where anxiety, depression, and polarizing politics seem to lead the way.

In this episode, Aubrey and Rich talk about why vulnerability and inner work are so important for both leaders and lay people alike, how we can begin to address our pain, and the difference between good and bad self-awareness.

If you have found yourself running from the reality of your pain, this conversation will encourage you to take the brave step of facing what you're feeling and allow God to meet you in the truth of where you are.