LeaderFitSample

In reflecting on the importance and preserving power of emotional health, I couldn’t write this book on leader fitness without emphasizing the importance of emotional health. I want to take this a step further and say that I advocate emotional health over physical health! If we are truly going to be LeaderFit, we must first choose to become emotionally healthy and embrace all of the life-giving and sustaining benefits associated with this area of health. 3 John 1:2 captures this so well, “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be healthy, even as your soul prospers” (The World English Bible). Let me frame it this way: Leader fitness is a one-two combo that is essential to our overall wellness and soul care. I’m not telling you something I read about, I’m telling you what I know from my lived experiences. I know from experiencing one of the most painful caves that with the help and guidance of God, my therapist, and some of my closest friends who served as my spiritual spotters, I was able to crawl out of healthy and whole. Read that again. I needed more than my faith in God when my soul was unexpectedly shipwrecked. I needed the help of God, my counselor, and my spiritual spotters. I also had to choose to rely on spiritual and leadership disciplines developed over time that had become a part of my daily routine. In particular, I had to choose to spend time in prayer and meditation, read the Word of God, get filled by the Word, engage in small group fellowship, and be vulnerable to a few trusted leaders and mentors on my good days and even on my most debilitating days.