Counseling Religion

What do you do when it feels like God isn’t there―when the state of the world, our own suffering, or the struggles of those we know suggest that God is absent? When you’ve experienced soul-crushing silence from heaven, despite your fervent supplications? Looking at Habakkuk, Job, David, and Jesus, as well as reflecting on his own experience of deep suffering, Adam Mabry examines the art of lament―how to cry out to God in desperation from a place of faith and hope. At the end, there are practical suggestions for what you can do to keep faith even in times of darkness and doubt.

You've lost someone you love. Your heart is broken. Now you're facing a holiday or special occasion. What are you going to do? How do you handle this? Best-selling author, hospice chaplain, and grief counselor Gary Roe has given you a grief survival kit designed for the holidays. Speaking from both personal and professional grief experiences, he will empower you to navigate special days and seasons with new confidence.

If you're longing to become more attentive to God - to listen to him, know his voice and experience his love, spiritual direction can point the way. In Seeking God Together, experienced spiritual director Alice Fryling offers a unique introduction specifically for group spiritual direction: a place where individuals can experience what it means to be listened to and loved by others, so that they can learn to listen more attentively to God in their daily lives and be used by God.

Human beings are wired for connection. We long for deep relationships and real intimacy — both of which reflect our fundamental desire to be close to God. But all too often, whether because of our sin or our failures, we imagine that God prefers to keep his distance. In this book, Edward T. Welch shows us the purpose for which we were created: to be brought near to God as a kingdom of priests.

Many people are struggling with mental-health conditions, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and life in our image-conscious culture. But when it comes to helping, it can be tricky to know where to begin. This wise, compassionate, and practical book is written by Steve Midgley, psychiatrist and Executive Director of Biblical Counselling UK, and Helen Thorne, Director of Training and Resources at Biblical Counselling UK. It will help listeners understand and respond with biblical wisdom to people who are struggling with their mental health.

With all the conveniences of the modern world, it seems like people would be happier and more peaceful than ever before. In reality, it is the exact opposite. In fact, many people are struggling to manage depression and anxiety like never before. When chaos hits your life, it is tempting to feel condemnation and shame. But when you see the redeeming fingerprint of God in your life, you can boldly announce that the God—who healed, delivered, and set you free—will do it again!

In Your Words, Your Emotions, Rebecca Davis addresses the gag placed over victims and survivors of abuse through words like “Don’t gossip,” “Don’t bear false witness,” “Don’t be negative,” and more, examining the Scriptures behind them. She also explores harmful messages that have been delivered in the name of God regarding our emotions, especially focusing on fear, anxiety, anger, and empathy, laying out what the Scripture teaches about these emotions. A toxic faith needs to be deconstructed and rebuilt on the solid foundation of the true Lord Jesus Christ.

Anyone who experiences a traumatic event feels confused, lost, out of control, unsure, and unsteady—disoriented. This kind of suffering leaves marks, sometimes on the body, always on the soul, and sometimes both. In I Have PTSD, Curtis Solomon helps both those who have suffered trauma, as well as their loved ones, to understand the physical, emotional, and spiritual effects of trauma, while offering gospel hope and practical ways to make that hope real in their lives.

Many of us believe that in order to please God, we have to be perfect. It’s an easy lie to buy into. In a culture that emphasizes accomplishment and ever-higher goals, we feel driven to do more, achieve more, be more. And we get caught up in the unforgiving treadmill of self-imposed rules, believing that we should, we need to, we must. The result? Anger, frustration, and anxiety that keep us far away from the life of peace that Jesus promised.

This substantive collection from noted scholar Serene Jones explores recent work in the field of trauma studies. Central to its overall theme is an investigation of how individual and collective violence affect one's capacity to remember, to act, and to love; how violence can challenge theological understandings of grace; and even how the traumatic experience of Jesus's death is remembered.

What Do You Do When Church Hurts? Church Hurt can leave you feeling angry, rejected, disappointed, and spiritually wounded. Navigating healing from church hurt is not an easy task. Many end up frustrated, walking away from church, and fractured in their relationship with other Christians. Church hurt can have an adverse effect on a person’s relationship with God as well, because of internalized disappointment that the Lord has somehow allowed His Christian representatives to cause harm. This book is for you if… You have experienced any form of church hurt or betrayal from fellow ...

Let’s face it. The trauma of life can crush our souls. Some pain feels like it won’t ever go away. But no matter how devastating it might feel, our pain is never greater than God’s ability to sustain us. Frank Friedmann confronts the issue of pain honestly, without hollow clichés and pat answers that help no one. He writes so that hurting people can find God in a way they never knew him...so they can get through what they can’t get over.. Are you hurting? Finding God in the Gray was written with you in mind.

Have you ever noticed that conflict is absolutely everywhere? Though we all want harmony in our relationships and our world, peace seems so hard to come by. No matter its form, conflict always finds us. And often, we let it overtake us. In this short, biblical, and practical book, pastor and author Tony Merida shows us that it doesn’t have to be this way. Merida not only paints a stunning picture of Christ our peacemaker he also shows us how to stop wishing for peace and go make it.

Unbound is a Biblical counseling and discipleship tool to help people discover and live out true freedom in Christ. No matter the struggle, from simple to complex, God's word provides the only dependable guidance and help. Twelve Steps not working? Try the Biblical answer that has helped thousands. Struggling to grow in your faith? We hear every day. Every believer needs to do this program.

As a child, Sheila Wise Rowe was bused across town to a majority white school, and she experienced the racist lie that one group is superior to all others. We experience ongoing racial trauma as this lie is perpetuated by the action or inaction of the government, media, viral videos, churches, and within families of origin. In contrast, scripture declares that we are all fearfully and wonderfully made.

Las circunstancias que usted enfrenta hoy probablemente son alimentadas por una de las cuatro fuerzas emocionales que le lleva a actuar de manera indeseable, a veces incluso en contra de su voluntad. Andy Stanley explora cada una de estas fuerzas destructivas y cómo éstas se infiltran en su vida y dañan sus relaciones. Si éstas emociones reinan libremente en usted, tienen el poder de destruir su hogar, su carrera y sus amistades. Enemigos del corazón ofrece una dirección práctica y bíblica que le ayudará a retomar el control para hacerse cargo de esos sentimientos.

In Reflections for the Grieving Soul, widower and author Mike Nappa offers personal reflections, Scripture, heartfelt prayers---and hope---to comfort and guide you as you grieve the loss of a loved one.

Worship leader and recording artist Laura Story’s life took an unexpected turn when her husband, Martin, was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Their lives would never be the same. Yes, with God all things are possible. But the devastating news was that no cure existed to restore Martin’s short-term memory, eyesight, and other complications. The fairy-tale life Laura had dreamed of was no longer possible. And yet in struggling with God about how to live with broken dreams, Laura has found joy and a deeper intimacy with Jesus.

As parents of young children anticipate the teen years, counselor Kristen Hatton helps them lay the groundwork so that having honest conversations, setting reasonable limits, and exploring issues of the heart will prepare them and their children for the next stage. Hatton helps moms and dads make the connection between their current parenting and future outcomes. By evaluating their parenting, they will see where their own fears, desires, and insecurities lie and how to pivot to practices of faith and trust in God.

A provocative, engaging look at the changes in sexual expression and the price women pay for these changes. This audiobook also covers the means God offers to help women claim their sexual promisereal stories, as well as insights from women struggling to make their way through the sexual maze.