Test me, Lord, and try me, examine
my heart and my mind.
Psalms 26:2 (NIV)
Photo taken by myself
No caption
I entered the counseling program
with a desire to be able to help others, as I’m sure it is for most counseling
students. We live in a fallen world,
with fallen people who need Jesus and a helping hand. The problem is that
sometimes I’m so focus on helping others it is easy to forget, that I myself
have the same fallen nature and am just as broken as the next person. What I
have understand from the readings is that it is important to know who you are
and what you believe in and also be aware of your faults. Knowing whom you are
and what you believe in is important for one to fully understand personal worldviews
as explained in Chapter one. Also knowing what your faults are is important so
that we can avoid hurting our client, as explained in Chapter three. Although
it is only my third semester in the counseling program, I’ve had many moments where
I have come to realize things about myself. Sometimes they are good, and other
times they are bad. I’m grateful for this processes in which the Lord is
leading me to become more aware of my weaknesses and my strengths.
I understand in the journey of
life, there will be many up and downs. The way we see things, as people, or as
counselors will sometimes change, but one thing that will never change is God’s
word and it what it means to us. I know that at the end of the day I will be
able to see that cross and know that although I’m fallen and make mistakes, his
love and grace will always pick me up.
It is because of that love and grace from our father that we will be
able to share love and grace with our clients.
Erica, thank you firstly for posting honestly about the challenges of learning more about yourself in the process of becoming a counselor. As a first semester student, I can see where there is so much growing to do, and it helps to learn from you as a fellow student who is farther in the program. What you said about forgetting we are fallen is true. Self-righteousness seems to be a lurking temptation especially in the helping professions. The risk that we can be to clients, in such things as countertransference, is evidence of our fallibility and the ease of self-importance as a helper. I pray that as we head out on expeditions as counselors, that we never forget what you said about His love being what equips us to show love and grace to our clients.
ReplyDeleteErica, I really enjoyed reading your post and can relate in so many different ways! I too sometimes want to focus so much on the client that I put myself behind that. Something that I have loved about this program so far is how it not only teaches the counseling skills, but has helped me learn a lot about myself. Which has been beneficial, yet challenging as well. I am in total agreement with this process of the Lord opening up my eyes to my weakness and strengths. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteRachel, thank you for your response. Welcome to your first semester at Liberty! I agree with you about self-righteousness being a temptation. I think it is something that everyone of us will have to deal with and even when we think we are getting better of it we wont ever get completely rid of it. Self-righteousness is part of our fallen nature. However I think that if we continue to trust in the Lord we will be able to grow and like you said he will equip us to love others and be good counselor.
ReplyDeleteShiloh, thank you for your response to my blog post. I agree that this program has been very helpful to me and has made me realize things about myself and things that I need to work with. It’s exciting and scary to think that we still have a lot to learn and a lot more growing to do and I believe with God on our side we will continue to only become better for him and his glory.
Hi Erica,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your post, I enjoyed reading it! I can definitely relate to you when you wrote about the tendency to get caught up in helping others that you almost neglect your own issues and the need to engage in adequate self-care. At times, it feels self-less when we put ourselves on the back burner in order to be there for the client first and foremost but I think that this can actually be selfish as then we are not being the best counselor we could be for that client. It is something that I think will require being intentional throughout the entire duration of our practices. It's incredible to reflect on the grace that we have been offered through Christ and that we can rest in that grace and also extend it to our clients. I think that when Christ is evident in us, it allows us to be the very best helpers. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts!