A Quick Counseling Checklist
Take a deep breath! We’ve reached the end of this series at last. Here are some final suggestions and recommendations to help you achieve a healthy and beneficial counseling relationship: 1. Ask others for recommendations. Friends, ministers, family members, even professional acquaintances might have the information you need. 2. Ask God for guidance. He knows…
Seeking Counseling? Here are Some Recommendations.
Are you currently seeing a counselor? Have you made the decision to start? Now that you’re ready, willing, and able to begin (or continue) the healing journey, how about some tips for connecting with a good counselor? Here are my recommendations:
Why Can’t I Believe What God Says?
What can you do if you just can’t believe God isn’t mad at you or that He won’t hurt you? What if you have a little voice inside that keeps telling you how bad He thinks you are? I have news for you: that voice is lying. It’s paralyzing you with two-faced hypocrisy. With treacherous…
Do You Fear Abuse from God?
The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me (allows and enables ) to lie down in green pastures and leads me by quiet waters (from Psalm 23:1-2). You’ve probably heard Psalm 23 more times than you can count. It’s a beautiful picture of peace and protection. This Psalm explains the shepherd-sheep…
Is God Mad at Me?
Does it ever feel like God must be mad at you? For most of us, that feeling shows up when we think God is holding out on us. When He promised us something (like healing) and we aren’t seeing it happen. We also have the tendency to believe He is punishing us when…
Healing is Simple, But Not Easy
You may have noticed a pattern in this series on abuse recovery: I always direct people who need healing back to the Healer. Our Creator, our Redeemer, our Provider, the Great I AM . . . you remember. His name is Jesus. He is the only one who can heal us. Sometimes it sounds like…
God Has Good Plans for You
Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans that I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope.” (NASB) That verse has been of great comfort to many, me included. Ever wonder what God’s plans are for you? Me, too. Ever ask…
Getting Rid of Shame
We’ve been talking a lot about shame in the last few posts. There’s a good reason for that—it’s the most common result of abuse, and one of the most damaging. Since shame is a feeling of “I am something wrong” while guilt is the feeling of “I’ve done something wrong”, shame permeates our very soul.…
Shame
Shame covers me like an old wool coat, Heavy, rough, it even smells musty. It doesn’t let me breathe . . . I can’t get out from under it. I let them do it. Nothing can ever change that. There is no hope . . . I can’t get rid of it. Nothing I do…
Do You Feel Like You Hate Your Own Soul?
A definition of shame: S– Soul H– Hatred A– At M– My E– Expense Do you hate your soul? We know the soul comprises the mind, will, and emotions. People who live with destructive shame tend to hate their own feelings and mistrust emotions. They try to live in their mind, where reasoning can protect…