My counseling is unique.
At its core, my counseling is rooted in the hope of Jesus and I use scriptural categories to frame my approach. Although I pull methodology from many sources, am clinically informed, and very experienced with trauma, I am not a therapist. What I do is technically a specialized form of pastoral care.
I am a biblical counselor, but it’s not the kind of “biblical” counseling that traces every problem to a sin in your life. If you are a believer, you are first and foremost a child of God – a saint, in the biblical sense! That means the Holy Spirit is active in your life and we can bank on that. So we proceed in faith that he is already at work and up to something good in you. And I will hold hope for that for you even if you can’t.
Sometimes we suffer because of things other people have done. Sometimes we suffer because of consequences of our own actions. Sometimes our suffering seems random because we live in a world that is twisted and broken. And sometimes all of those things are mixed up together. But regardless of how or why you find yourself in my office, one of my priorities is to scavenge for God’s grace in your life and discover evidences of his good work in you, even when life is hard.
It is one of my highest privileges to get a front row seat to the Spirit’s work of redemption and healing in painful areas of people’s lives.
WE ARE EMBODIED SOULS
Part of being human means we are made up of two parts = Body + Soul.
Sometimes religious communities prioritize the soul over the body and the secular world tends to prioritize the body and ignore the soul. But God created us with both parts – one can’t be separated from the other until death! So both are significant to God and should be to us, too.
When you are sinned against in particularly heinous ways, or have a painful experience that stays with you and affects your everyday relationships and functioning, both the body and the soul have been affected. You might experience racing or spiraling thoughts, panic, irrational fears, or many other things that play out physically, emotionally, mentally, & spiritually. We are vulnerable creatures and when injury has occurred, we must do the slow work of healing.
If you are hit by a car and break your legs we wouldn’t ask you to get up and run a mile in your casts, but sometimes we act that way with emotional wounds – we expect each other to “forgive and forget”, to move forward as if the injury never happened without first tending to the wounds. Sometimes there is pressure to “count it all joy” or “trust that God works all things together for good” and while those are biblical concepts, they can be used to short circuit the deep work with God that brings about true joy and trust. Healing IS the goal, but it can’t be rushed and often requires a slow journey that includes processing grief and many other complex feelings.
A SAFE PLACE TO WRESTLE
My goal is that you will always have a safe place to process your pain and articulate your thoughts, tell your story, and ask your questions. Often we have deep questions or beliefs underneath our feelings and behaviors. Questions like – where is God in this? Does he even care or am I on my own? If God is good, why is life so messed up? Is it up to me to fix this situation? Why did this happen? Has God abandoned us? What if he isn’t who I thought he was? How long, oh, Lord?
We might not always find answers to all of our questions, but being honest with ourselves and God is important. In the Bible, the Psalmists model deep, raw honesty with God and I think it’s an incredibly beautiful and powerful thing that God invites us to join our voices and questions with theirs. And as we do, he draws near. Biblical counselor and theologian David Powlison said, “In the hands of a loving God, sorrow and suffering become the doorways into the greatest and most indestructible joys.”
When we wrap up our time together, however long it may last, my prayer is that you will more deeply sense that you’re held in God’s hand, you will see the Spirit’s movement in your life, you will have a practical vision for moving forward, and your confidence and hope will be more firmly fixed on the reality that no matter what we face in this life, we have a God we can count on.
I know from experience getting to that place can be a long and painful process, but persevering is worth it.
A few other things to know:
- I will not offer reductive solutions or trite advice. You are a complex person and so are your struggles.
- I have a lot of experience working with abuse survivors, grief & loss, depression, anxiety, relational conflicts, church hurt, faith-struggles & doubt, adoption-related difficulties, parenting struggles, issues of identity, and more.
- When appropriate, I can come alongside your faith community to offer resources or insights or help create systems to help support you (with your permission, of course)!
- I might suggest you speak to your doctor about particular symptoms you are experiencing.
- If you suffer from diagnosed mental illness, I can work alongside medical and mental health professionals and offer specialized spiritual care that you won’t find in secular therapy, but that your faith community may not be prepared or equipped to support you with.
Still have questions? Feel free to contact me
