The hyper-examine life is where we're constantly looking inward to figure out where we should go outward.

We say, you know, am I happy today? Am I happy in my job? Am I happy in my marriage?

We're taking our spiritual temperature, our emotional temperature, all day long.

And we use that as a barometer as a guide for the directions we should take.

You know, I think scripture does call us to examine ourselves. But for what end? It takes us out of

ourselves. Am I loving the Lord? It's not like, how do I feel? I think the more we curve in and

try to assess our lives based on our feelings, the more muddled we're going to get.

Welcome to the Crossway podcast, a show where we sit down with authors each week for thoughtful

interviews about the Bible, theology, church history, and a Christian life. I'm Matt Tullion. Today I'm

talking with Lydia Brownback. Lydia serves as a senior editor at Crossway and is a speaker at women's conferences around

the world.

She's also the author of a number of books including Flourish, How the Love of Christ

Frees Us from Self-Focus with Crossway.

Today, Lydia and I discuss some of the common false messages directed at Christian women

in our culture. She reflects

on the prevalence of depression and anxiety among believers, the importance of discernment when

it comes to what we read online, and the danger of the hyper-examined life. Let's get started.

Lydia, thank you for being here with us on the Crossway podcast. It's great to be here today, Matt.

So as you look at the evangelical church broadly and women in the evangelical church and your

experiences as a woman in the church and talking with other women, what are some of the things that you're excited about,

that you feel like are ways in which women are thriving?

You know, when I see women passionate about the truth of God's Word and applying that to their

...