I became a Christ-follower at the age of 8, while visiting a friend’s church with her.  I had grown up going to church with my family.  I still remember how ecstatic I was to begin a personal relationship with God and fully experience Him, vs just listening to stories about Him. In 5th grade, I knew God designed my heart to have great compassion for those hurting and a desire to help them. He then blessed me with a life-long curiosity and drive to learn about how we struggle with stress, depression, anxiety and the effects of health problems, as well as the treatments.  Another part of my testimony was watching Ephesians 5:20 play out in “real life.” Beautiful examples include: gaining a wonderful blended family as a teen; receiving surprise blessings connected to job-layoffs; and witnessing unbelievable miracles during family health problems. Just as Scripture states, all of these God-designed scenarios played out in ways I could have never even imagined.

A few of my favorite scriptures for life in general, but also when counseling, are Jer. 15:16, Eph. 3:20, Phil 1:6, Thes. 5:16 and II Cor. 10;5. I unashamedly begin with Jer. 15:16 because I have to pray regularly for The Holy Spirit to help me crave God and His divine Word, as I do not naturally seek it, despite deeply loving God.   And, I use II Cor 10:5 as an introduction to the highly effective model of CBT, which also serves as my belief that the Bible shows us that psychology and therapy (from a Biblical view) has always been valuable.