...continued from yesterday
Counseling is about naming blindness. (Is. 42:18: “Look, you blind, and see!) A good counselor can help you learn to be honest about what is true in your own heart and the hearts of others who have impacted you. Can you see the ways that you are blind? Can you see the places in your story that name the ‘why’ of your blindness?
Counseling is about waking up. (Ps. 57:8: “Awake, my soul!”) Are you awakened to the ways you stay asleep? A good counselor can bring awareness to the ways you avoid pain and forfeit honesty for safety in relationships.
Counseling is about holding together the tensions of human dignity and depravity. Each human being has been given a glorious stamp of His image, which is marred but not wiped out by the Fall. Can you name your depravity, without self-hatred, while also humbly delighting in the beauty He has uniquely placed inside of you?
Counseling is about learning to live longingly in a fallen world. To the degree we learn to live with hearts that are not numb to the pain of what is not yet, we begin to experience the joy of all that is “becoming” in Christ. (Rom 8:25: “But if we hope for what we do not yet have, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it!”)
Counseling is about growing hearts that are FREE to be loved and to love. Being freed from the shackles of doubt, fear, anxiety, addiction, etc... are not ends in themselves. The heart that is on the path to freedom can increasingly rest in being loved, and boldly love others for His sake! “The brave heart willingly moves into the darkness to feed himself and others with the bread the soul needs.” —Bruce Edstrom
These snapshots of perspective inspire me as I study the field of counseling. Naming blindness, waking up, living in tension with longing in a fallen world, being free to be loved & to love well by the Spirit of Jesus—it’s about the flourishing of the gospel into every corner of your heart!
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