Articles
Encountering God through Journaling
Why I Recommend Journaling Part 2 of a 2-Part Series In my previous article, I provided tips on how journaling can enable psychological healing. Expressive writing provides an outlet to release stress. It removes mental road blocks and uncovers solutions. Journaling also helps us to deepen our self-discovery, measure our progress, and provides us with a way of resolving the past. In addition, journaling is a profound tool for deepening your spiritual walk. The very act of writing down spiritual truths makes them graspable and therefore more real. In this article, I provide a few suggestions to help you experience God through [...]
How Writing Heals You
Why I Recommend Journaling Part 1 of a 2-Part Series Journaling is a powerful self-care tool. I recommend journaling to my clients because I have personally experienced its benefits. Increasing research attests to the physical and psychological benefits of expressive writing. In his book Writing to Heal, Dr. Pennebaker explains that "people who engage in expressive writing report feeling happier and less negative than before writing. Similarly, reports of depressive symptoms, rumination and general anxiety tend to drop in weeks and months after writing about emotional upheavals." Expressive writing also has long-term physical health benefits, such as improved immune function, reduced [...]
What is the Addiction Cycle? A Christian Counselor Explains
Part 1 of a 2-Part Series This is the first article in a two-part series that discusses the Addiction Cycle. Look out for the following article entitled “The Second Half of the Addiction Cycle” next month. Over the past ten years I’ve spent a lot of time with people who have become stuck in what I call Addictive Behaviors. I call them Addictive Behaviors because, whether they involve substances, sexual acting out and/or pornography, eating disorders, shopping, shop lifting, gambling … you name it, a pattern of thoughts and behaviors emerges that one can refer to as the Addiction Cycle. I [...]
Your Family in the Fight Against Porn – The Honest Truth
Part 2 of a 2-Part Series In my previous article, I discussed the mandate that fathers have to protect their families from the pornography that is widespread in our society. But let’s be honest, if pornography and sexual images in general were not interesting, desirable, and pleasurable to our human nature, sex wouldn’t “sell.” Pornography would not exist, the term sexual addiction would be an oxymoron, and the content of the mainstream media would look very different than it does today. The fact is that sex was always meant to be pleasurable and exciting, for this is how God designed it. [...]
How Fathers Can Prepare Their Children to Fight Pornography’s Lure: What Lies Ahead
Part 1 of a 2-Part Series As we evaluate the influence of the pornography industry on mainstream culture, we could easily become anxious about its negative societal and familial implications. Yet I write this article so that we as fathers will take courage from what we read in Scripture, and prepare ourselves to face the challenge of protecting our families from the vast amount of sexual exploitation and pornographic content woven into our American society. As we start this process, I would like us to consider the following biblical passage found in the book of Nehemiah: Do not be afraid of [...]
Stillness in Life’s Storms: Thoughts from a Christian Counselor
Try sitting perfectly still for five minutes. Just sit there and don’t move a muscle. Now go one step further. Sit still and don’t watch television, listen to music, read, or talk with another person. Just sit and do nothing. Now go one step further. Sit still and only think one thought. Let go of all other thoughts that flow through your head. Mystics go even one step further. Even their one thought is replaced by a gaze. Sound impossible? A Culture of Busy-Ness Our modern culture values busy-ness as its highest value. Our city centers have replaced cathedrals, where people [...]
Finding Stability in a Changing World: A Christian Counselor’s Thoughts
I’m from California, the land of earthquakes. Most of us like the ground because it gives us a sense of groundedness and stability. Earthquakes shake this sense of stability – and we feel as if nothing is stable if the ground is not stable. Postmodern Instability Our postmodern culture provides us with little stability. It is a culture that is changing faster than any other culture in history. Technology changes faster than our brains or skills can comprehend. Our computers, phones, and even cars are outdated from the moment we purchase them – as are the skills we learned to use [...]
The Healing Power of Silence: A Christian Counselor’s Thoughts
“Silence is golden,” goes the song. If silence is so golden, why do we fill up our world with so much of the junk of noise? The Noise of Our Modern World We often want to get away from all the noises in our lives. There are the noises of city life, such as traffic, trains, and the sirens of emergency vehicles. If you live close to others, there is the noise of people talking, sometimes arguing, and even partying. We often select our own “noises” in the form of television, stereo, and radio. Some of us have noisy kids or [...]
Marriage as a Reflection of the Heart: A Christian Counselor’s Thoughts
Where Wisdom is Found When we study the Bible, it is hard to ignore the depth of wisdom it provides as it relates to the human heart. From the narrative of Adam and Eve and on through the rest of Scripture, we find countless examples of God being acutely aware of and interested in what takes place in the hearts of those he has created. His fervent desire for our heart to be right before him is simply unquestionable. It is this endeavor to have a right heart before God, and to understand how this influences the quality of our relationship [...]