Counseling at Riverside
(posted by Zsofi)
A few months ago, I met with Scott Heare, the pastor of a nearby church (Riverside Community), about the possibility of offering Christian counseling to some women. As you may know, I had the privilege of undergoing a 4-year Master’s program in Christian Psychology at IGNIS, one of the only institutions in all of Europe that offers training in Christian Psychology—a unique island in the otherwise secular European landscape. So while we finish raising support to serve as missionaries in Hungary, I thought that I would like to invest this training to help bring healing to women here in the U.S.
In any case, Scott was very excited and supportive about me offering counseling at Riverside, and after more talks, prayers and preparation, I began meeting with some of the women from the church. It has been such a rewarding experience! I believe God is the ultimate healer and I, as the counselor, can be a helper in the unfolding of His healing for my counselee… and this is for me one of the most amazing and breath-taking experiences--to see how God shows up in every counseling session and continues to pour out more of His love, restoration and guidance.
This past week, one of my counselees told me that she feels like our meetings have made a huge impact in her life and she is so excited about me offering this kind of counseling to women in Hungary that she and her husband decided to give us a $1000 check for our missionary support account! I was really touched by her generosity and even her appreciation of our counseling sessions, as well as by God’s goodness. God does not just allow me to be part of this lady’s journey of healing (which is one of the greatest experiences in itself), but He also inspired her to support us, something that both encouraged and touched me deeply.
A few months ago, I met with Scott Heare, the pastor of a nearby church (Riverside Community), about the possibility of offering Christian counseling to some women. As you may know, I had the privilege of undergoing a 4-year Master’s program in Christian Psychology at IGNIS, one of the only institutions in all of Europe that offers training in Christian Psychology—a unique island in the otherwise secular European landscape. So while we finish raising support to serve as missionaries in Hungary, I thought that I would like to invest this training to help bring healing to women here in the U.S.
In any case, Scott was very excited and supportive about me offering counseling at Riverside, and after more talks, prayers and preparation, I began meeting with some of the women from the church. It has been such a rewarding experience! I believe God is the ultimate healer and I, as the counselor, can be a helper in the unfolding of His healing for my counselee… and this is for me one of the most amazing and breath-taking experiences--to see how God shows up in every counseling session and continues to pour out more of His love, restoration and guidance.
This past week, one of my counselees told me that she feels like our meetings have made a huge impact in her life and she is so excited about me offering this kind of counseling to women in Hungary that she and her husband decided to give us a $1000 check for our missionary support account! I was really touched by her generosity and even her appreciation of our counseling sessions, as well as by God’s goodness. God does not just allow me to be part of this lady’s journey of healing (which is one of the greatest experiences in itself), but He also inspired her to support us, something that both encouraged and touched me deeply.
posted by John at Monday, April 10, 2006
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