Awaken Delight: Learning to Lean Into God’s Goodness in Every Season | with Chris Hall

 Chris Hall joins Stephanie Rousselle to reflect on the practice of delighting in God, especially during life’s later chapters or grief-laden season. The conversation weaves through wisdom gained in the “winter of life,” the significance of gratitude, and the centrality of God’s relational nature.

Listen here: https://www.podcastics.com/episode/409087/link/ 
Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/gospelspice 

Ready to awaken your delight in God through "Awaken Delight" the book? Purchase it here: https://a.co/d/0625K1AZ 

Chris Hall begins by honestly discussing aging, recognizing the “gift of years,” and learning acceptance—particularly of life’s inherent limitations and future partings. Acceptance, he says, is not resignation, but a posture of gratitude and detachment from what’s fleeting, allowing deeper attachment to what matters most: God’s loving presence and the relationships He’s given us.

Daily, Chris Hall and his wife pray, focusing on thankfulness. Even in uncertainty or suffering—as exemplified by their grandson with Down syndrome—gratitude centers their hearts on God’s mercy. “Lord, have mercy” becomes a foundational prayer, acknowledging deep dependence and God’s persistent goodness.

The journey hasn’t always been simple. Chris Hall shares that, particularly through experiences as a deputy coroner and witnessing immense suffering in places like Los Angeles, Calcutta, and Rwanda, he’s grappled with whether God is truly good. Encountering pain and tragedy forced honest questions: “Are you good or not?” But with time and spiritual wrestling, he’s emerged with a hard-won conviction of God’s steadfastness.

In today’s culture, delight is often confused with self-focus—“you have to love yourself first.” Chris Hall counters this, insisting that genuine delight is secondary, a “byproduct” of being drawn out of ourselves by something beautiful (the character of God, deep friendships, acts of love). This self-forgetfulness mirrors the Trinity—God’s relational essence—and is central to spiritual formation.

Using friendship as an example, Chris Hall speaks of the deep grief that attends the loss of his best friend—grief is the “tax we pay for loving.” Yet, grief and joy are intertwined. The richness of a 50-year friendship is the soil from which delight blooms; our relationships (rooted in God’s relational nature) are the stage for both love and loss.

For anyone struggling to delight in God, Chris Hall gently advises: “Lead with beauty.” Recognize the goodness around you—even in small ways. Beauty draws us out of our self-absorption into a posture of wonder, gratitude, and worship. He encourages practices like meditating on the Psalms and savoring passages from John’s, Romans, and Hebrews to nourish this vision.

Delight in God is neither sentimental nor shallow—it’s a mature joy forged in gratitude, beauty, courage, and faithfulness through all seasons. It invites us to accept limitations, let go of self-preoccupation, and savor God’s goodness, even amidst suffering. As Chris Hall and Stephanie Rousselle remind us, delight is tasted, seen, and deeply known—not chased for its own sake, but discovered in God Himself.