What is Biblical
Counseling?
“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”
—A.W.Tozer
Biblical Counseling
Biblical counseling is about bridging the disconnects between our hearts and minds about who God is in our story. It’s also about looking for those things in our story that only Jesus can heal. Psalm 103:14 best describes this process in identifying two key components. First, that God considers how you are formed. God is looking at your story—your whole story—and understands completely why you are struggling. He isn’t this judgmental God with a holy clipboard evaluating you. Rather he is a God who “longs to be gracious to you” (Isaiah 30:18). The second component, as stated in Psalm 103:14, is that He remembers you are made of dust. He’s not expecting you to do it on your own. He wants you to live in the freedom of 2 Corinthians 12:9 where you can “delight in your weakness because it’s there that Christ’s power [waits] for you.” So as we identify our struggles, we boldly present them to God asking Him to do what we know we cannot do in our own strength.
For example, I could walk around all day believing that “God is love” but then if I find out that my home just burned down, you might see me change my mind. After all, how could a loving God let my home burn down? If I stay in that disconnect long enough, I will likely start thinking that God isn’t involved in the details of my life. That it’s all up to me. And that belief might lead me down a path of feeling constantly anxious and alone. And so the disconnect grows larger and I get further away from God’s truth. In this headspace, I will likely either depend on myself to be “god” or I will look to other things or people to provide me with the security I so desperately want. Of course, anything I turn to apart from God will not satisfy and it will not heal. So in this scenario, biblical counseling would be about processing through the hurt and devastation of the fire and wrestling with how it made me doubt God and His provision. Secondly, it would be about identifying the false gods I have turned to (self-reliance, money, other people, substances, etc) and then asking God to help me to believe Him for who He is while simultaneously walking away from the false gods I have worshiped (aka, idolatry in my heart). Practically, it would look like my counselor helping me to identify passages of Scripture that would counter the lies I have been believing about God and presenting me with practical strategies to bounce my anxious thoughts, breathing exercises to calm my body down and giving me action steps for any current problems in my life.
In short, biblical counseling is a comprehensive approach that allows you to experience the Gospel in all areas of your life and living in the freedom that comes with it.
What is your view of medication?
I believe that medication can be a common grace from God for some individuals but I do not believe that it is necessary for all. The decision to use medication should never be rushed and I will never pressure you one way or the other in that decision. In situations where I believe that medication may be helpful, I will ask you to schedule an appointment with your primary care physician for a medical evaluation. I also have trusted Christian providers that I will recommend as needed—whether it be a psychiatrist, nutritionist, functional medicine provider or any number of other specialized care professionals. I do not believe that medication alone will heal your emotional struggles or your problems but for some, it can assist them in being able to better address their struggles and take the actions steps that God is calling them to take.
Are you just going to throw Scripture at me and tell me to have more faith?
No way. In Jesus’s life here on earth, he didn’t spout high and lofty wisdom principles to people or condemn them. Rather he sought them out, met them exactly where they were at and compassionately spoke truth to them that He knew would set them free. While I will never be able to come close to living up to Christ’s example, I seek to image Him in the counseling room by listening carefully to what you bring to the table, asking thoughtful questions to get to the root of the matter and then carefully and clearly helping you to apply biblical principles to your situation. This means that I give you practical directives and specific Scriptures to help with the disconnect we all feel when it comes to knowing God’s truth in our hearts but not being able to apply it to our struggles.
Do you only use the Bible in your counseling?
First and foremost, I believe that Scripture is the Living Word and it is the grid through which I run everything. The reason for this is two-fold. First, the Bible gives us so much practical and life-giving advice and secondly, the Holy Spirit actually uses God’s Word to transform our hearts and minds in ways we can’t explain just by simply meditating on it. 2 Corinthians 3:18 describes this mystical process best, “And we all, with unveiled faces, beholding the glory of the Lord,are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” But to answer your question, I do believe that all truth is God’s truth. I am a huge science, sociology and psychology nerd and regularly incorporate data and resources I find into the counseling room as long as it agrees with Scripture. I love equipping my clients with helpful psychological strategies, apps and resources to better assist in giving practical action steps to help in their healing.
What if I’m not a Christian?
You are so welcome! I’d love to meet you exactly where you are at—no hidden agenda. My goal is not to push the truth of Jesus on you but to give you a safe space to work through your problems and then share how Jesus could be a huge part of that story if you’d like. But I will never bully you or force you to read Scripture and will be respectful of your comfort level in that. Please know that God wants you to feel cared for and helped regardless of where you are with Him. I’d love to walk with you.
What if I’m angry at God?
Come as you are. I love the example of Job in the Bible because while he started strong in his suffering, he (just like the rest of us) had his breaking point where he questioned God, begged God to kill him and rued the day he was born. Yet God met him with compassion and blessed him beyond measure. King David, who Scripture says was “a man after God’s own heart”, cried out to God many times questioning Him, asking God “How much longer are you going to let my pain continue?” (Psalm 13:1-6). And then there is my favorite example of Jeremiah in Lamentations 3 who, in his anguish, even called God “a bear lying in wait” for him and accused God of abandoning him. Yet Jeremiah was used greatly by God. So bring your anger, your hurt and your fear. God is waiting for you.