Running on Empty: Contemplative Spirituality for Overachievers

Learn to live with God instead of for God. In this candid and achingly authentic book, Fil Anderson shares the healing insights that restored his spiritual compass and guided him back to God--the God who specializes in filling empty souls. 

Fil Anderson had accomplished more for God than most of his contemporaries, but his worn-out body housed an empty soul. His frenetic pace of ministry had earned him just one thing: greater pressure to do even more. He had fallen for the soul-killing lie that doing more for God would give his life meaning. Then the godly admonition of a spiritual director set this burned-out believer on a life-saving spiritual path. Sometimes the only way to get a new life is by running your old one completely into the ground. 

This powerful story of a reawakened soul can be the story of every person who has pursued spiritual productivity over intimacy with God and come up empty. It’s the story of reclaiming your soul and finding a home in the center of God’s relentless love. It’s the journey from self-importance to God-importance.

“To the harried and the unharried, I pray that this book will minister to your heart in the profound way that it has blessed mine.” —Brennan Manning

Fil Anderson is executive director of Journey Resources, based in Greensboro, North Carolina. He’s a frequent speaker at conferences, offers individual spiritual direction, and directs retreats and workshops around the country (for more information, visit www.journeyresources.org). A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and Fuller Theological Seminary, he also completed the Graduate Program in Spiritual Guidance at the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation in Bethesda, Maryland. Fil worked with Young Life for twenty-five years, serving as area director and regional director before becoming national director of training.