Some of my favorite Scriptures are significant to my personal testimony and continue to influence my work as a counselor.

For as long as I can remember, I believed God existed and He created all that was created. Unfortunately, I developed a serious hearing loss as a young child but attendance at church continued throughout my life. As a result of my hearing loss, the only message I heard was when the preacher yelled from the pulpit. Sadly, that repeated message was, “You are never going to be good enough to get into heaven.” So, I believed no matter how good I tried to be, God was still going to punish me and condemn me to hell for all eternity.” Needless to say, that terrified me. Romans 3:23 tells us, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” That was the passage the pastor referenced. Because my hearing loss went undetected for many years, I never heard the rest of that message — the most important part — until much later in life.

I was 30 years old when I started experiencing a series of devastating, life-altering events. Those events became the catalyst that took me to the rest of the message I missed as a child. That is when my understanding of who God was… who God is, started to change. Still believing God existed, but so broken and disconnected from everything life had been, I started reading my Bible, anxiously searching His word for something – anything to make life make sense again. Reading and scouring the Bible every day, I was desperately seeking to find some small measure of hope. Hope for me. Hope for a future.

The more I read, the more I wanted to read. And then, there it was. John 3:16. “For God so loved the world [me] that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world [me] but the world [I] through Him shall be saved.” Finally, I found hope for my future.

God revealed Himself to me as God my Father, my Healer, my Comforter, the One who always sees me, hears me, and loves me unconditionally. Through the Cross of Christ, I was forgiven and set free. God set me on a new path. That path took me back to college to get a degree in counseling. I am a licensed counselor today because God, my Father comforted me. He redeemed my life to give me a future and a hope for His good purpose, Jeremiah 29: 11. 2 Corinthians 1:3 tells us, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” For His glory and the advancement of His kingdom.

My profession and my experiences have shown me how fragile life can be. God is faithful, and my faith continues to grow in the truth and knowledge of His word. We all face new experiences and new challenges, sometimes on a daily basis.  One Scripture that has been particularly insightful is found in Ecclesiastes 1:9, “There is nothing new under the sun.” This passage instills confidence in me. As a counselor, I meet new people who share new situations and problems. However, God’s word in Ecclesiastes reminds me that there is no one and nothing new to Him, and this is one of the ways that Biblical teachings influence my approach to counseling. I can listen knowing that God already made a way for me to come along side them and walk through the journey together.