How often should I practice solitude? What if I don’t have a good time or the right place to practice solitude? What if solitude makes me more anxious? These are all questions that you, our audience, wanted help with! Join John Mark Comer, Bethany Allen, and Bryan Rouanzoin on this final Question and Response episode of season 4 of the Rule of Life podcast. You may just hear the question you asked. 

This podcast accompanies the Solitude Practice, developed by Practicing the Way. Thanks to the generosity of The Circle, all our resources are free. To learn more about The Circle or to run a Practice with your church, community, or small group, visit https://www.practicingtheway.org/.

In this podcast season so far, we’ve discussed two encounters that we may experience during solitude — an encounter with ourselves and an encounter with God. In this final interview of the season, John Mark Comer and Bryan Rouanzoin interview Emily P. Freeman about how solitude enables us to encounter the living God. Through this encounter, we can experience his presence, hear his voice, and witness his power personally. 

Emily P. Freeman is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of five books, including The Next Right Thing: A Simple, Soulful Practice for Making Life Decisions. As a spiritual director, podcast host, and workshop leader, her most important work is to help create soul space and offer spiritual companionship and discernment for anyone struggling with decision fatigue. Her work has been featured in Today Parents, Christianity Today, and Patheos. Emily holds a master’s degree in spiritual formation and leadership from Friends University where she also serves as a residency lecturer. She lives in North Carolina with her family. Find her work on her website, instagram, and her Substack, The Soul Minimalist.

This podcast accompanies the Solitude Practice, developed by Practicing the Way. Thanks to the generosity of The Circle, all our resources are free. To learn more about The Circle or to run a Practice with your church, community, or small group, visit https://www.practicingtheway.org/.

In solitude, we not only encounter ourselves and who we are before God, we also encounter the voices of others. We can be met with fear, regret, and external voices that may be challenging to distinguish from God or ourselves. Is this why solitude can be so challenging? How can we tell the difference between God’s voice and the voice of the enemy? Why does solitude and silence facilitate this encounter with our enemies? 

In this conversation, John Mark Comer interviews Ken Shigematsu. Ken is the senior pastor of Tenth Church in Vancouver, BC, one of the largest and most diverse city-center churches in Canada. He is a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal awarded to Canadians in recognition for their outstanding contribution to the country. Before entering pastoral ministry, he worked for the Sony Corporation in Tokyo. Ken is the author of the award-winning bestsellers God in My Everything and Survival Guide for the Soul, and his recently released book (May 2023) Now I Become Myself. Ken lives in Vancouver with his wife, Sakiko, and their son, Joey.

This podcast accompanies the Solitude Practice, developed by Practicing the Way. Thanks to the generosity of The Circle, all our resources are free. To learn more about The Circle or to run a Practice with your church, community, or small group, visit https://www.practicingtheway.org/.