Review: Replenish - Leading from a Healthy Soul by Lance Witt

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A healthy soul. That sounds great.

But what exactly does that mean?

The answer you get to that question depends greatly on who you ask. Most Christian leaders, hopefully, will answer based on what the Bible teaches us. After all, the Bible is very clear that we need to be healthy. The Apostle Paul instructed the church in Corinth: 

Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.

Our body and spirit can be pretty contaminated from everything our toxic culture throws at us. Our soul can also be toxic from the sin that lurks deep within our own hearts. Yes, even us Christian leaders and Pastors. An honest look at our hearts should QUICKLY tell us we all have work to do in this area of our lives. Sadly, most of us give priority to the wrong things and put our own spiritual health as a lower priority in our schedule.

Lance Witt's book, Replenish - Leading from a Healthy Soul, was given to Danielle and me during our week-long retreat put on by Focus on the Family.  I had started reading it right away, coming home from the retreat. But it put it away... It's not a large book. It actually just felt very overwhelming!

The book is broken down into forty-one short chapters, each covering a different topic, with the goal of:

  • Prioritize matters of the soul
  • develop healthy spiritual practices
  • address problems that lead to burnout
  • create a healthy rhythm in your life
  • craft a healthy leadership culture
  • develop better systems in your church
  • move toward an unhurried life

This just felt like way too much to attempt to implement all of this.

I came back to this book after my trip to Istanbul. The Father used my time away to show me specific areas of my soul that he wanted to work on. He brought me back to this book to explore it more closely.

The goal isn't to implement forty-one topics into our lives. The goal is the realize that all of us, every single person who lives on planet Earth, has holes in our souls. Whether from wounds, insecurities, sins, or just the stresses of life, all of us need healthy spiritual rhythms to keep our souls healthy.

Will suggests a three-part strategy in the book: Realize, Repair, and Refill.

Realize is about taking the necessary time to have honest reflection with our heavenly Father and ourselves about the issues that are a threat to our soul.

Repair is where we have a hole identified, we allow God to change us and bring healing into that area. This is where we start taking steps to have a healthier soul.

Refill is how we refill our soul bucket now that the holes in it are being repaired. Each of us feels refilled in different ways. We develop new habits that can sustain a lifetime of spiritual health.

There is something in this book for everyone. The beauty of it is that each chapter is short but points to additional resources to dive deeper into topics that really speak to you. I've done this from several of the work I'm doing in my own spiritual journey.

Replenish - Leading from a Healthy Soul is a great book for every follower of Jesus to use as a starting point into the Father building healthier souls in his church!


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