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

• Ask Us Anything: [email protected]
• How has Denison Forum impacted your faith?
• Support Denison Forum 2025
• Sara Billups
• Sara Billups | Substack
• Nervous Systems: Spiritual Practices to Calm Anxiety in Your Body, the Church, and Politics
• Orphaned Believers: How a Generation of Christian Exiles Can Find the Way Home
• That’s The Spirit - Podcast
• Sara Billups (@sara.billups) • Instagram photos and videos

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, Orphaned Believers, follows the journey of a generation raised in the 80s and 90s of evangelicalism reckoning with the tradition that raised them and searching for a new way to participate in the story of God. Her second book, Nervous Systems, is now available from Baker Books.

About Dr. Mark Turman

Mark Turman, DMin, serves as the Executive Director of Denison Forum, where he leads with a passion for equipping believers to navigate today’s complex culture with biblical truth. He is best known as the host of The Denison Forum Podcast and the lead pastor of the Possum Kingdom Chapel, the in-person congregation of Denison Ministries.

Dr. Turman is the coauthor of Sacred Sexuality: Reclaiming God’s Design and Who Am I? What the Bible Says About Identity and Why it Matters. He earned his undergraduate degree from Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Texas, and received his Master of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. He later completed his Doctor of Ministry at George W. Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University in Waco.

Before joining Denison Forum, Mark served as a pastor for 35 years, including 25 years as the founding pastor of Crosspoint Church in McKinney, Texas.

Mark and his high school sweetheart, Judi, married in 1986. They are proud parents of two adult children and grandparents to three grandchildren.

About Denison Forum

Denison Forum exists to thoughtfully engage the issues of the day from a biblical perspective through The Daily Article email newsletter and podcast, the Faith & Clarity podcast, as well as many books and additional resources.