Faithful Voices: Christians Who Thrive
Real Life. Real Faith. Practical Skills to Help You Thrive.
Summary: In this first Faithful Voices feature, meet Christians Who Thrive, a Faithful Path Network publication helping believers approach everyday struggles through Scripture-based principles and practical psychological skills. Dr. Mike and Susan draw from 36 years of experience in counseling and psychotherapy as they create articles, books, Thrive Guides, and resources designed to encourage spiritual, emotional, and relational growth.
Welcome to Faithful Voices
One of the purposes behind the Faithful Path Network is to help Christian readers discover faithful voices and resources they may not otherwise encounter.
That is why I am especially excited to introduce the very first publication featured through Faithful Voices: Christians Who Thrive.
What first drew me to Christians Who Thrive was the practical way Mike and Susan approach the places where faith and everyday life meet. Their work does not treat spiritual growth as something disconnected from grief, relationships, anxiety, emotional struggles, or the patterns of thought we carry with us.
Instead, they seek to help Christians apply biblical truth while also drawing upon the wisdom gained through decades of professional experience.
Their mission is described simply:
At Christians Who Thrive, we help you turn everyday struggles into stepping stones for spiritual, emotional, and relational growth using Scripture-based principles and psychological skills that make faith work in real life.
As Mike and Susan enter a new season of their work, they are building something I believe many readers within the Faithful Path community will want to know about.
Rather than tell their story for them, I invited them to share it with us in their own words.
In Their Own Words
At Christians Who Thrive, we help you turn everyday struggles into stepping stones for spiritual, emotional, and relational growth using Scripture-based principles and psychological skills that make faith work in real life.
Real Life. Real Faith. And Practical Skills to Help You Thrive.
A Bit of Background and A New Direction
Since moving our weekly newsletter, Christians Who Thrive, to Substack about five months ago, we have begun to focus in a new direction for this next phase of our life and work—which is for Mike to transition from psychotherapy and counseling to writing full time.
This shift allows us to begin building our library of psychospiritual books, guides, and other resources that will grow out of our 36 years in private practice. And in the process we will be fulfilling a dream we’ve been incubating for a decade now.
Mike’s driving passion, in his own words, is to “learn all I can and share what I learn.” In fact, a quote from Chaucer sits on his desk, “And gladly wolde he lerne, and gladly teche.”
His desire is to start transitioning from seeing clients which he can only do one at a time, to writing books and articles which allow us to help many people at once.
Not only that, after working with clients from all walks and backgrounds in our practice, we want to spend the rest of our years directing everything we do to our fellow Christians.
This explains why we have been diligently looking for and praying about the right social media platform on which to share and grow our Christians Who Thrive newsletter.
So when we discovered Substack and the amazing network of believers we’ve connected with here, we knew we had found our place!
This singular move, as I said above, has allowed us to pivot toward our new direction. And the first phase of this new direction is the creation of the Christians Who Thrive Resource Library.
Thrive Guides
Integral to our ever-growing Library, Thrive Guides are a series of value-filled and reader-friendly books exploring singular topics with seasoned wisdom, encouragement, and practical, effective steps that promote healing and growth.
Because these shorter books (averaging 100 pages each) are written specifically for Christians, they are grounded in Scripture, informed by sound psychological insights and practices, and enriched by decades of real-world counseling and psychotherapy.
And let me add one further point.
You can be assured that everything we create, whether article, Thrive Guide, or full-length book, is actually written by us. Not AI. We believe this is important to say in today’s world.
Book 1 in the Series is Grace in the Ashes – the Soul’s Journey Through Grief.
We chose this topic for the first Thrive Guide for several reasons.
First, in a continuing way, every life is touched by loss of one sort or another.
Which means grief is everywhere… because grief is the emotion of loss. Not just of death.
In other words, all loss carries grief.
In fact, we find that a lot of our clients suffer the effects of trapped grief simply because they misguidedly believe that grief is a process reserved for dealing with death.
Second, Mike felt an urgency… almost a compulsion… to write this book. An experience he described to me as really unusual.
Any author feels drawn to their project (or at least should feel drawn to it). However, he indicated that Grace in the Ashes just felt somehow different.
In fact, he was actually working on another project, which he set aside in order to write this one because he just had the sense that Grace in the Ashes should take precedence.
Third, throughout the entire editing process the impact of the truths found in this work genuinely moved us both (I was tearful most of the way through our first edit).
So we pray that God will use this book to comfort, instruct, and fortify all those who read it, all those who are carrying the weight of grief.
More to Follow
Book 2 in the Thrive Guide Series is The Unbreakable Mind: The Biblical Path to Changing How You Think. We plan to release Book 2 within the next 30-45 days.
And of course, we’ll let our Christians Who Thrive Subscribers know as soon as The Unbreakable Mind is available.
Beyond that, our goal is to release a new Thrive Guide every several months.
You might be wondering how such a release schedule could be possible (especially if you yourself are an author).
The answer is that we have had five books in process over the last six years. And we are delighted to see the first two of these come to life (more about the second book in a moment).
But before we leave this topic, we want you to know that the Christians Who Thrive Resource Library was created primarily with you, our valued Substack reader, in mind.
It is our intent to fill this library with a wealth of trusted resources providing practical, grace-filled guidance that equips you to live and grow in every area of life as God intends.
Now for the second phase of our new direction.
Books
Whereas Thrive Guides are spiritually-forward content with a psychological backdrop, our books are more psychologically-forward content set in a biblical context. This is purposeful… with the intent of reaching unbelievers as well as Christians.
With that in mind, our first book (published some years back) is Shadow Work: A New Guide to Spiritual and Psychological Growth.
Shadow Work explores the repressed part, or “shadow side” of our personality. And though this is a complex reality to unpack, Mike’s warm, approachable, and reader-friendly style makes the subject comfortably accessible.
His purpose for writing Shadow Work was to show, using biblical principles, historical examples, and real-life case studies, that we cannot truly grow spiritually and psychologically until we are willing to confront and heal those aspects of our self and our story that we historically have refused to own.
In fact, until we’re willing to own them, as he explains, we are just busy “rearranging furniture in the living room” of our life, and not truly transforming.
The late psychiatrist and best-selling author of The Road Less Traveled, M. Scott Peck, M.D., reviewed the manuscript prior to its publication and remarked that it was “One of the truly great and well-written books about our human journey.”
This book is of course available in our online bookstore.
And here’s an announcement we’re truly excited about–
In addition to Book 1 in the Thrive Guide Series, our second full-length book, Anxiety and How to Conquer It, was just published! It is also now available in our online bookstore as well as through Amazon (and very soon, other familiar outlets like Barnes & Noble).
As mentioned earlier, we have been working on five different manuscripts as time allowed for the last six years.
However, we chose to prioritize completing Anxiety because, as we all know, anxiety is such a struggle for so many today.
In fact, along with whatever presenting problem led them to first call our office, we estimate that about 70 percent of our clients also struggle with anxiety.
But what makes Anxiety and How to Conquer It unique is the fact that Mike tackles head-on what most every other author and clinician on the subject avoid—the reality that anxiety is not just a clinical issue.
Indeed, many… if not most… of the anxieties we experience as human beings are sourced in matters spiritual, moral, and/or existential. Not clinical.
So in addition to helping the reader see how anxiety develops throughout the lifespan, Mike also explores its other sources with compassionate wisdom, while guiding the reader to a place of peace and healing.
This book, therefore, provides a much more complete understanding of this prevalent problem as well as how to conquer it, regardless of the source.
And I’m excited to tell you that the final section of the book deals with Anxiety and the Anxious Christian.
Coaching
On a personal note, while Mike intends to transition away from his practice in the not-too-distant future to focus completely on research and writing, my plan is a bit different.
I intend to continue my coaching practice, as well as contributing to our Thrive Guides Library.
You can find out more about our Coaching Services here.
The Bottom Line
Whether you’re battling self-doubt, struggling in a relationship, navigating a life transition, or just hungry to explore a deeper level of personal and spiritual maturity, Christians Who Thrive is here for you.
Our aim is to offer you a wealth of resources that are Scripture-based and psychologically-informed in order to help equip you to navigate life well.
Because the truth is that living well—living as God intends—does not come naturally for any of us.
The ability to thrive isn’t without effort.
So it is important that we take responsibility for pursuing the life God has called us to. And when we do, He will supply the grace, and the means, necessary for the journey.
We hope you join us on that journey.
Dr Mike & Susan
From Faithful Path Living
Mike and Susan’s story captures much of what I hope Faithful Voices will accomplish.
There are Christians faithfully creating thoughtful, Scripture-centered resources in many different areas of life. Yet finding those voices can sometimes be difficult amid the enormous amount of content available online.
Faithful Voices exists to help change that.
Through these features, I hope to introduce you not simply to another article to read, but to Christian writers and publications worth getting to know.
I am grateful to Mike and Susan for agreeing to be the first Faithful Voices contributors, and I am delighted to welcome Christians Who Thrive to the Faithful Path Network.
If their approach to spiritual, emotional, and relational growth resonates with you, I encourage you to visit their publication, read some of their work, and follow along as their resource library continues to grow.
About Christians Who Thrive
Christians Who Thrive helps believers approach real-life struggles through Scripture-based principles and psychologically informed practical skills. Drawing from 36 years of experience in counseling and psychotherapy, Mike and Susan create resources addressing spiritual, emotional, relational, and personal growth.
Their growing collection includes the Christians Who Thrive newsletter, Thrive Guides, full-length books, and coaching resources.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Christians Who Thrive?
Christians Who Thrive is a Christian publication focused on helping readers grow spiritually, emotionally, and relationally through Scripture-based principles and practical psychological insights.
Who writes Christians Who Thrive?
Christians Who Thrive is created by Dr. Mike and Susan, who draw upon 36 years of experience in private practice as they develop articles, books, guides, and other resources for Christian readers.
What are Thrive Guides?
Thrive Guides are shorter, reader-friendly books created specifically for Christians. Each guide explores a focused area of life through Scripture, psychological insight, practical guidance, and the wisdom gained through decades of counseling and psychotherapy.
What topics does Christians Who Thrive cover?
Their work explores areas where Christian faith intersects with everyday life, including grief, anxiety, relationships, personal growth, emotional health, thought patterns, life transitions, and spiritual maturity.
Where can I read Christians Who Thrive?
You can read and subscribe to Christians Who Thrive on Substack and explore their growing collection of books, Thrive Guides, and other resources through Growth Resources.
What is Faithful Voices?
Faithful Voices is a feature of the Faithful Path Network created to introduce readers to Christian publications, writers, ministries, and resources whose work aligns with the Network’s commitment to faithful, biblically grounded Christian content.
Discover More Through the Faithful Path Network
Christians Who Thrive is part of the growing Faithful Path Network, a community created to help Christian readers discover trusted publications and resources while helping faithful Christian creators find and support one another.
Explore the Faithful Path Network to discover more Christian voices and resources for your walk with Christ.
Faithful Voices is a feature of Faithful Path Living and the Faithful Path Network, created to introduce readers to Christian publications and resources worth discovering.
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