In this solo episode of the Pain, Passion, and Purpose podcast, host Shakeea Torres blends mental‑health education with biblical teaching to explain the difference between soul care and self‑care and why both are essential for a Christian’s well‑being. She opens with a promotional segment encouraging listeners to join her paid podcast community, mentorship programs, and the Empowered Purpose Academy. She then defines soul care as intentional, Christ‑centered practices that nurture the spiritual heart—daily time with God, prayer, worship, journaling, and creative expression using one’s God‑given gifts. She supports this with Scripture (Matthew 16:16, Mark 6:31, Matthew 11:28‑30) and shares personal anecdotes about using art, poetry, and drawing in therapy. Next, she outlines self‑care as physical and emotional restoration—healthy eating, exercise, massage, vacations, and relational support. Torres emphasizes that self‑care alone is temporary, while soul care offers lasting rest in Christ. She encourages integrating both, offers a YouTube “Wait on the Lord” playlist for meditative listening, announces a free Facebook community for aspiring and existing Christian therapists, and provides links for coaching and counseling services. Throughout, she stresses the need to avoid burnout by seeking divine guidance, especially when pursuing ambitious projects like her nonprofit. The episode concludes with calls to subscribe, leave reviews, and support the ministry financially.
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Welcome to Pain, Passion, and Purpose. I am your host, Shakeeta Torres, where I share mental health education, biblical teachings, and tips to help you to heal on purpose so you can walk boldly in your God-given purpose. This podcast is sponsored by Empowered Purpose Academy, a certified online Christian academy where where we provide services such as certification for Christian life coaches, mentorship for master's level aspiring and existing Christian therapists, mentorship for Christians, and continued education courses for the body of Christ. You can visit www.empoweredpurposeacademy.com to learn more and to download your free guide. If you like today's episode, please subscribe and leave us a raving review so that others can tap into the knowledge and wisdom that will be shared on this podcast.
Thank you so much for being here.
Hey, so before I get started on today's episode, if you have not subscribed to the paid membership of my podcast community, please do. It is going to bless your life. Listen, my episodes are already like therapy slash coaching sessions where I give you strategy and insight and all that good stuff. But the community, you're going to get a lot more. You're going to get more resources, more tools, and be able to ask more questions where I can create episodes around your questions. And you will be able to get discounts on some of my, my products and my events. So what are you waiting for? The price is very affordable. This is for those who are not quite ready to invest in one-on-one coaching with me or into the Pain, Passion, and Purpose mentorship program, which is also low, by the way, but that one is a lot more in-depth. You get access to courses, you get access to the Facebook community, and all that good stuff. But this is for those who just need to just listen and just gain some tools along the way. So what are you waiting for? Go ahead, subscribe. You won't regret it. It'll bless your life. We'll have topics around mental health and faith, biblical teachings, prayer, um, boundaries, communication, anxiety, depression, purpose, and so much more. I have had experience in mental health since actually about 2008 when I first finished my bachelor's program, and then from that point all the way up today and moving forward, I have gained so much knowledge, so much experience, so much wisdom, and I am anointed for it. So go ahead, hit that button, and I hope to see you in the community.
Hey, you guys, welcome back to my podcast. So today I wanted to kind of give you guys a little something to help you with self-care and soul care. Um, my past few podcasts have been more about trauma And of course, talking about trauma, thinking about trauma, trying to heal from trauma can be very exhausting. So I wanted to check in to make sure you guys are engaging in self-care and soul care, right? So your question may be, okay, what's the difference between soul care and self-care? Some of you guys may know what that is, some of you guys may not know, but soul care and self-care is just so important. And so I want to break down with you today in this episode about soul care, right? So what is soul care? It is the act of taking time to care for your spiritual well-being, which stems from our soul and our heart. Our soul is where everything dwells from. If it grows weary, then it begins to impact every other area of our life. When our soul grows weary, we must make sure that we turn to Christ who restores it. Soul care is focused around Christ and spending time with the Father whenever we begin to grow weak. Well, here's the thing, it's important to spend time with God daily, okay? For every believer, that looks different. For every believer, the time you give God can be different, um, from day to day. We have life, we have work, we have children, we have family. But I'm telling you, engaging in soul care daily will keep you anchored It will help you to be able to do the thing that God is calling you to do. I mean, I can say this for myself. God has called me to do many things, and I have to engage in soul care. I have to spend time with him. I have to spend time in my word. I have to spend time worshiping him. And do I do all these things all in one day, all the time? No, there are some days that I just read a devotional. There are some days where all I want to do is just worship God and pray. There are some days where I just need to just really just sit in his presence and just listen, okay? Like, just rest in God's arms. And, uh, speaking of that, I created this playlist on my YouTube channel, um, called Wait on the Lord. I will attach that into the link, that link into my bio for this episode for you guys to go listen to it. And it's intended for you to just sit in God's presence and allow him to just saturate him— saturate you with his love and his glory and his presence. And it's so beautiful. I've did it a few times with that particular playlist, and it's amazing. My husband listened to it. He said, wow, this is a very beautiful playlist. Like, you will just feel God just fill your room, fill your heart, fill your temple, you know, heal your mind from you know, the day, you know, days of where you feel overwhelmed and stressed, and allow him to strip you of that and replace that worry and fear with his peace. Okay, so that's self-care. Other forms— I'm sorry, soul care. Other forms of soul care could be journaling, you know, writing down how you feel. It could be coloring, it can be painting, it can be drawing. There are so many different things that we can do to engage in soul care and include Christ in the center of that. And so if you have natural gifts, those gifts are not just for other people, they're also for you. Oftentimes whenever I counsel my clients, you know, I ask them, okay, what are some of your gifts? What are some of the things that you're good at doing? And I try to use their natural gifts and abilities to help them cultivate their own coping skills. It works every single time. So if I have a client who can draw and paint very well, I might have that person, okay, draw me, paint me a picture of your safe place. And I have did this before, it is very powerful. And she took out time to draw her safe place and it was amazing, okay? I had one client before who likes to write poetry. She is great at spoken word. She's great at poetry. And I had her write a poem about her voice, like using your voice and being assertive, right? And so she did that. She wrote a poem about it, and she actually said the poem at a spoken word event, and the people were just amazed because it spoke to so many different people. So your gifts are not just for others, they're also for you. God created the gifts for you as well. And I even had to learn that for my own self. The same thing that I'm good at doing, God can use that for me and for my, you know, immediate family and my household, okay? So soul care is— it takes being intentional. You have to schedule that thing, okay? Schedule it. Don't wait till you have time. You have to make time for soul care. You know, we hear, you know, these different mantras, and we hear these different things from different people saying self-care, self-care, self-care, which is great, but self-care, you guys, is very temporary. I've definitely been in in my life in a season where I was overwhelmed, and I would engage in self-care, but it was not enough. In that moment, I feel great, but when I left that particular, you know, self-care activity, I had to go right back into my situation that, that caused me stress. And that moment, God was saying, rest at my feet, come meet me, come meet me, you know, in your prayer room, meet me in your prayer closet, like lay down with me and just rest. And that's what soul care is— it's resting in the Lord's arms. You know, put— play you some music, just meditate, you know, read. I mean, it's so many different things you could do. Okay, so what does the word of God say about soul care? So one of the scriptures that come to mind, um, is, what good will it be for someone to gain the whole world yet forfeit their soul? But what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? This is Matthew 16:16. Our soul is what God has gifted to us to be connected with him through our spirit. This verse shows the importance of our soul. We need our soul to be able to connect with our Heavenly Father. If we're not caring for it, then we are not realizing the importance of our soul. We also see that the only way we can truly find rest is through Christ. That is so true. I know that firsthand, okay? Um, Mark, uh, chapter 6 and 31 says, and he said to them, come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest for a while, for many were coming and going and they had no leisure even to eat. Great scripture. Another one that comes to mind is Matthew chapter 11, verses 28 through 30. It says, come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Says, take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Okay, and so I have a quick confession to give to you guys. So, you know, many people say, Shakeeta Torres, how do you do all the things that you're doing? I see you on social media, I see you on Instagram, I see you on TikTok, I see you doing your nonprofit work, You've been a therapist. Listen, all these things took time. I had to build. I've been building for many, many years in the background, okay? And I'm very intentional about trying to hear God, okay? But I know me. If I don't spend time with the Lord, I am very, um, I'm very ambitious. Sometimes I can be overly ambitious. So I like to get stuff done. I want stuff to get done. I want to be a certain way. But if I don't go spend time with God to continue to get the plan, to continue to get strategy from him, I would exhaust myself out because I'm trying to do things in my own strength. And it may be an area and something that I'm doing that I'm overdoing. So what does that— so what do I mean by that? Like, let's say, say for example, you know, God told me to start the nonprofit. He did, clear as day. I did that. But when I started, I was so excited that I began to like start working and building and building and building. And I was doing so many different things with it, and I had a really just and I was starting to get really tired. I had to sit for a minute and I'm like, God, you know, you told me to do this, but I have to continually come to you for guidance and continually to ask you questions about things that pop up, things that are on my heart to do through this nonprofit, to prevent myself from overdoing it and to prevent myself from burning out. Okay, and not one time that I ever feel any pressure from God to get anything done in a certain amount of time. Okay, um, I never feel pressure from God, but I had from other people. Okay, when is this going to be done? Okay, can you guys do this? Can you guys do that? And it wasn't time. And so when I take out time to hear God and engage in self-care, sometimes he'll bring up things that I'm not even asking him about. Let's say I said, okay, I'm gonna get in my word today, I'm gonna read about, you know, XYZ, and I begin to read or worship. And so when I do that, you're opening up your ears and your heart to hear what the Father has to say. And he could speak to you about specific situations that you probably forgot about, or things that you prayed about and need an answer to. He might give you an answer then, because sometimes when we ask God a question, he might not always give us the answer right then. It could take a few days, a few weeks, a few months. Sometimes it could even take years, okay? And keep in mind that God's timing is not our timing, okay? So waiting on him— that's why I have that playlist, Wait on the Lord. That is the word that God has God has given me for, um, the rest of this year is wait on the Lord. There are some things that God wants to do for his people and through his people, and it's not going to be done in our strength. It's not going to be done by man. God himself is going to have to make that thing happen, okay? Especially when you've done all you can to make a thing happen, all right? So please keep that in mind, all right? So we are not superhumans. We are not, um, God did not create us to be dependent on ourselves. He created us for himself. God used his imagination to create us, to create his children, and he desires fellowship with us. He desires to speak to us. He desires to have relationship and intimacy with us. So that is the importance in soul care. Soul care. Now, self-care. Self-care is really taking care of, um, your body, taking care of your temple. Self-care could be eating healthy, right? Um, self-care can be going to get a massage. Self-care can be taking off work for a whole week, going on vacation, or at home just chilling. Um, self-care can be exercising. Self-care can be, you know, spending time with your friends and loved ones, people who fill up your tank. People who add to your life and not take away from your life, right? So all these things are self-care activities to me, and that combined with soul care is so powerful. It's so powerful. God doesn't want us to be stressed out all the time. He doesn't want us to go through season after season of no rest, of turmoil and being burnt out, you know. If you find yourself having a hard time resting and finding soul care, you know, seek counsel. That's what I'm here for. You know, I don't only do mental health counseling but also do life coaching as well. I do— we can do one session. Well, you know, I have a— I will post also the link to my services for coaching as well, and I can do that with anybody worldwide. There's no contract, there's no assessment you have to do. Um, you do have to do a little mini, a mini assessment for me to be able to know what your needs are so that whenever we get on the phone together, we can maximize our time together. Okay, I want to— I'm a big believer of— I like transformation. So the more you can give me about your situation, um, the, the better I can prepare to give you, uh, what God is saying, for one, and to give you feedback and strategy for your situation. Okay, so I'll post that link as well in this particular podcast. Um, and so also I wanted to announce that God has put it on my heart to create a virtual safe, um, safe place for aspiring and existing Christian therapists. And I have a free Facebook community for those who may be interested in that. And so in there, you know, I feel like as a Christian therapist, there's so many people, um, therapists out there who want to be a Christian therapist or an aspiring Christian therapist that need a place for them to grow wanting to learn spiritually and clinically and then understanding how to combine the two together. All right, so the Lord put it on my heart to create this space for, um, for you guys to be able to talk, to be able to share what you're struggling with, to have community, to support one another. And I'm super excited about it. I'm so excited about it. So I'll also put the link to that, um, as well in here. And if you have any questions, feel free to shoot me a message on my Anchor, um, Anchor tab. Or just shoot me an email. All right, so thank you so much for listening to this podcast. I look forward to sharing with you guys some more information, and I am going to do, um, maybe about 2 more episodes about trauma that I really want you guys to hear. All right, so until next time, have a blessed week, and I'll chat with you all soon. Bye-bye.
Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode. Our prayer is that this podcast episode has blessed you. Don't forget to go and subscribe and leave us a raving review. If you would like to sow into this ministry or to this podcast, Pain, Passion, and Purpose, you can do so at anchor.fm/painpassionandpurpose or Cash App, dollar sign Shakeeta Torres. Thank you so much, and I will talk to you next time.
