Good Endings: Learning from Powlison about Restoring Joy for the Sexually Broken
As a biblical counselor to women, I regularly find myself in the privileged role of walking alongside those facing sorrow in their lives because of the impact of sin on God’s good gift of sex and sexuality. As a woman who lives in that same fallen world, I have benefitted greatly from the message of hope and renewal found in this honest, compassionate, and eminently practical book. I reread it nearly every year, and I wholeheartedly recommend it for those wanting to understand steps they can take toward Jesus as they seek the renewal only he can give.
Bilbo, Books, and Biblical Counseling
In my own quest, small as it seems, I am on a journey to find the books that point the way to the good endings. Not unlike Frodo and friends, our journeys are fraught with danger, temptation, and evil. Same-sex attraction? Suicidal ideation? Lasting depression? Paralyzing anxiety? Decimating grief? Destructive marriage? Wayward children? Treacherous betrayal? Incest? Intrusive thoughts? Adultery? Abandonment? Divorce? Cancer? Chronic illness?
All dark and unpleasant. But in the series, “Good Endings,” I hope to introduce the books that tackle these subjects and others in truthful, beautiful, and helpful ways so that we can find our way to the good endings in our own stories.
How to Thrive in Counseling, Even If You're Scared to Start
I’ve sat on both sides of the counseling room. That first session? It often brings a flood of emotions and a tangle of thoughts. I remember it well. Every woman who walks through the door carries her own blend of concerns, expectations, hopes, and questions. Some of the most common ones include:
Thoughts on Grief and Hope a Week After Easter
“The Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”
It is comforting to me that God the Spirit, who has command of every language, groans to God the Father, to God the Son. He is groaning for a believing family as they sit, still reeling with the unexpectedness and depth of their loss, groaning with them as they grieve.
On Pollen and Humility. Or, How I Learned the Truth of 1 Peter 5:3-8 the Hard Way
Sorrow did not soften my stance on sin, but it did humble me and help me be slower to make assumptions until I know someone’s story more deeply and understand the context of their lives well enough to discern what biblical commands speak into their situation.
Detecting Abuse in Marriage: Setting Aside Myths and Seeking Hope
Stereotypes about domestic violence can blind victims and those who love them to the reality of what’s really going on in abusive marriages. Correcting the myths we believe about the dynamics of abuse is essential if we want to help victims find a path toward healing.
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
I had, no doubt, spent the last hour describing the troubles that were pressing in on me in the months subsequent to a season of excruciating rescue. My counselor was apt to remind me in that season, that while I might not have been in Egpyt anymore, I had most definitely not arrived to the Promised Land.