Episode Details

How can Christians face anxiety without losing faith?

Season 4 Episode 54 Published 2 months, 2 weeks ago

Description

In this episode of Faith & Clarity, Dr. Mark Turman sits down with author and cultural commentator Sara Billups to talk about anxiety and how it shows up in our bodies, our churches, and our culture, and how we can respond with faith and wisdom. Sara shares from her own life: caring for aging parents, navigating personal and family health concerns, and learning to live well amid persistent worry.

They explore how anxiety shapes our daily lives, influences our relationships, and even colors the way we engage with the world around us. Drawing on her new book, Nervous Systems, Sara offers thoughtful reflections on how to navigate fear and uncertainty with a sense of calm and groundedness, helping listeners consider practical and spiritual ways to live faithfully even in anxious times.

Topics

(00:00): Introduction
(00:42): Introducing Sara Billups
(03:29): Sara's personal journey
(09:24): Understanding anxiety and fear
(18:33): Spiritual practices and anxiety
(22:07): Caring for aging parents
(27:48): Wellness culture and embodiment
(30:44): Discipleship and anxiety in the church
(31:49): Non-anxious presence and leadership
(35:35): Normalizing doubt and embracing suffering
(37:56): Anxiety and the role of women in the church
(40:05): Scrupulosity and moral OCD
(43:36): Cultural anxiety and identity
(48:05): Spiritual practices for overcoming anxiety
(52:31): Ignatian spiritual exercises and indifference
(59:09): Conclusion and final thoughts

Resources

About Sara Billups

Sara Billups is a Seattle-based writer and cultural commentator whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Christianity Today, Aspen Ideas, and others. Sara writes Bitter Scroll, a monthly Substack letter and co-hosts the podcast That’s the Spirit. She earned a Doctor of Ministry in the Sacred Art of Writing at the Peterson Center for the Christian Imagination at Western Theological Seminary.

Sara works to help wavering Christians remain steadfast through cultural storms and continues to hope for the flourishing of the Church amid deep political and cultural division in America.

Her first book,