<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 22px; outline-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 21px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"> This is one blog in a series where I will be reflecting on the subject of mental illness. My purpose in raising this series of questions is not to lead the reader to the same conclusions I have, but to facilitate better conversations and reflections on this subject within the church.</p> <p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 22px; outline-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 21px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"> <span style="line-height: 1.7em;">When engaging a difficult and highly personal subject, it is better to start with good questions than a list of answers. The better our questions are, the more responsibly we will utilize the answers of which we are confidant, the more humbly we will approach areas of uncertainty, and the more we will honor one another in the process of learning.</span></p>
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Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.(Proverbs 4:23, NLT)
<p> <strong>By Robb Besosa</strong> (Regional Team Leader)</p> <p> Recently I had the opportunity to sit with a couple for several days. They poured out their difficulties in an attempt to find resolution for the constant conflict that plagued their marriage history of 17 years. Hectic work schedules, traveling, social commitments, teenagers in activities, and church responsibilities were all part of the contributing factors for years of unresolved conflict.</p>
Several times over the past two weeks I’ve been reminded of Mark 9:14-29, where Jesus heals the boy with the unclean spirit. There is much to digest in those 15 verses, but perhaps what has always moved me the most is the fathers cry: “But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.”
<p> <span style="line-height: 1.7em;">Discouragement and disappointment are normal emotions we all experience even as Christians, but it’s important to know how to make sure those debilitating emotions don’t get the best of us.</span></p> <p> First, let’s look at four reasons why we get discouraged and disappointed.</p>
Yesterday in the car I was listening to a Christian radio station (Moody Radio out of
God’s Word really does open up to us the mysteries of the universe. It really does make us wiser than we could ever be without it. And yet, having said this, it's sad that we don’t take more advantage of this wisdom God has given us. It's sad that we don’t think his thoughts after him, that we don’t require ourselves to look at life through the lens of his revelation. It's sad that we swindle ourselves into thinking that we are wiser than we are. We're not irritated by our foolishness, nor are we motivated to seek his help. One of the places you see this most clearly is in the struggles we experience in our relationships.
I’ve been reading, thinking, and praying much about the meaning of the Gospel. As a biblical counselor I believe the gospel is the central element of change. By that I mean that the gospel is necessary in order to change the heart from its natural pursuit and slavery to sin toward the pursuit of things pertaining to Christ. The gospel is good news. But what is the good
Sadly, when many of the couples I counsel first enter my office, conflict is frequent and often volatile. Sometimes, the issues couples fight over are so minor that they can’t even remember the cause of the fight by the time they come to counseling. Still, the fighting is constant. They are asking, “Why do we fight and quarrel so much?”Fortunately, God foresaw that this would be a common problem, not just in marriage, but among
It will not take long, when counseling within the realm of family dynamics, to encounter the concepts of enablement, entitlement and boundaries. Whether you are a counselor or not these words are prevalent in our culture. They are, however, words that can be confusing, particularly due to their misuse.