Licensed Professional Counselor
Providing individualized counseling for adults and their families
"Whenever you find tears in your eyes, especially unexpected tears, it is well to pay the closest attention. They are not telling you something about the secret of who you are, but more often than not, God is speaking to you through them of the mystery of where you have come from and is summoning you to where, if your soul is to be saved, you should go next."
-Frederick Buechner
As creatures made in the image of God, we were designed to be whole-hearted people who need relationship (Genesis 2:18 affirms "It is not good for man to be alone"), who grow in relationship and who develop through relationship. In affirming we are created for relationship, I believe all are created with a longing to be known; to be seen, heard and loved. Being known involves sharing our stories.
The fall brought on an onslaught of relational problems. In our brokenness, we strive after our own solutions; blinding ourselves to the depths of our fallenness, numbing ourselves to the pain and filling ourselves with addictions and distraction to avoid the pain we have experienced. Our striving causes further damage and so we seek to make up for the damage done by doing "good" (a pattern fueled by arrogance), by being "tough" (a pattern fueled by fear), and through avoiding relationships and intimacy (hope is lost).
However, there is great freedom in understanding the depth of our brokenness, for it is only through this awareness that we are able to identify our great need for grace. Once we become aware of our great need for grace, we are well along on the journey toward healing...for grace is not only that which we strive toward, but the very means of getting to where it is we are going.