Counsel, Endurance for the Journey, Featured

The purposes of a person’s heart are deep waters,
but one who has insight draws them out.
PROVERBS 20:5 (NIV)

Counseling taught me to be a better communicator. By learning how to listen and communicate, I was then able to start to identify and verbalize how I was feeling deep down inside – it has been a lifelong process for me. I began to learn to process with my wife what was going on inside – my feelings and thoughts. That enabled us to become more understanding and supportive of each other.

Not only has learning to communicate my feelings been a huge blessing and further step to my maturity, but the double blessing was that our marriage and love for one another continues to grow.

While it was very hard at first to admit that I needed the help, I am so thankful for the guidance I began to receive from our Christian counselors who are guided by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. The whole initial inner process took months but was so worth the effort and time because I could have never done it on my own.

It is difficult – if not impossible –
to turn on the light of objectivity by ourselves.
We need guidance from the Holy Spirit
and usually the honesty, love and encouragement
of one other person who is willing to help us.
ROBERT MCGEE THE SEARCH FOR SGNIFICANCE

Thank God that the process, while it is difficult and takes work, is not one we face alone. We are God’s children so be assured that He will gently and lovingly guide us each step of the way.

You guide me with your counsel,
leading me to a glorious destiny.
PSALM 73:24 (NLT)

On the journey with you,
Dave Dravecky

Counsel, Endurance for the Journey, Featured

All this comes from the Lord almighty,
wonderful in counsel and magnificent in wisdom.
ISAIAH 28:29(NIV)

I understand how Christians can be skeptical about the emphasis some people put on using a counselor as a substitute for seeking wisdom from God – the God who is called “wonderful in counsel and magnificent in wisdom” – but none of our Christian counselors ever led us away from seeking God’s wisdom. Instead, they shared with us the Godly wisdom from the Word of God while they taught us to examine our lives to make sure we were living the life God would have us live.

The Bible encourages us to seek out wisdom and search for understanding as one would “search for it as for hidden treasure” (Proverbs 2:4). That is what we were doing in seeking Godly counsel without the understanding we gained, we would not have made the changes that helped us come out of depression.

The purposes of a man’s heart are deep waters,
but one who has insight draws them out.
PROVERBS 20:5 (NIV)

On the journey with you,
Jan Dravecky