Spirituality

Scriptural Intervention Summary Many Christian counselors have difficulty establishing the fine line of appropriateness when it comes to choosing various interventions and when to apply them to their respective clients. Garzon addresses these challenges in his article, "Interventions that Apply Scripture in Psychotherapy" (2005). Using well-cited scriptural basis for his assertions, Garzon addresses a number of challenges faced by Christian therapists. An underlying tone of the article is for…

for some individuals, it appears to be coherency of worldview along with intensity of belief and certainty in this worldview (whatever it may be), which appears to contribute positively to well-being. Thus, not only can strong belief in God provide psychological benefits, but also can strong nonbelief in God (Galen, 2015). Uzdavines’s found that individuals who were more “closed” to the existence of gods (i.e., sure there are not any) reported less struggles than those who were more “open.” Is…

Lament / complaining prayer is to bring our sorrow to God. As Bill says, “the lament prayer serves to articulate the problem that has arisen for the prayer. Characteristic in this articulation are hard and accusing questions (e.g., “Why?”) mediating complaints that something terribly wrong has occurred in the life of the suppliant.” Laments are common in the Old Testament but they are not common in the modern day church of the West. The modern day church forgets the necessity of lament over…

I was born in Saigon, Vietnam in 1970. When I was four years old, my mother and two younger sisters died during the Vietnam War. My older sister and I were then sent to be raised by my grandmother, a devoted Buddhist in her 70s, while my father continued his military service. In obedience to my grandmother, I engaged in Buddhist worship. I grew up not only in poverty but also in ignorance of Christianity. In 1987, I escaped the country with my father and we came to the United States as…

In escaping her current life, Maggie also leaves behind her best friend Nell, a representation of self-confinement comparable to Maggie’s own unintended self-confinement that results from her misplaced compassion by marrying Edward Vardoe. Maggie doesn’t leave Nell entirely behind though, the two women share a strong commonality in their respective self-awareness’. Nell’s act of sending her beloved swamp angel to Maggie is emblematic of the duo’s departure from isolation; at once, Nell…

In the New Testament, Jesus made a very bold statement to us. In Mark 11:23 Jesus said: (Mar 11:23) For truly I say to you that whoever shall say to this mountain, Be moved and be cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that what he said shall occur, he shall have whatever he said. This amazing statement still continues to strain our faith to grasp the fullness of what He meant. In June of 1974, a man named Charles Capps was teaching at a faith seminar in…

Who am I? This simple question, according to philosophers, is the first of three that the majority of individuals seek the answer to (Beebe 2014). The Medicine Wheel is a dynamic structure that has been used in numerous cultures to help people answer this question. The Medicine Wheel contains four equal components that include Spiritual, Physical, Mental and Emotional. By evaluating my life using these four components, I can reflect on past experiences to recognize how much I have matured as an…

Tyler Ingalls is a youth pastor based in New Era, Michigan. Before this, he was my youth pastor intern at my hometown church, Central Wesleyan Church, in Holland, Michigan. He is a huge reason of where my faith is today and my biggest spiritual mentor and leader. He has really pushed my faith and continues to do so on a day-to-day basis. He seeks the Lord with all his heart, so I was really interested in his perspective of “who is Jesus” to this spiritual giant of mine. After asking him this…

It doesn’t take too much careful observation in our everyday lives to see something about death. Just watch the news and it will likely be littered with stories about death or dying. If not the news perhaps simply just watch a movie, very seldom do they not feature death or the fear of dying in them, but why? Why is death so prevalent around us today? What is it that makes us cling to it and compels us to keep asking questions about it, talking about it, and thinking of it constantly? Simply…

The book of Haggai provides a great synopsis of what many of us who are called must do before we can fulfill God’s call. That is we have to heal to build. Many of us are so focused on pursing our dreams and visions that we fail to include God in the plan. The definition of heal; · to make healthy, whole, or sound; restore to health; free from ailment. · to bring to an end or conclusion, as conflicts between people or groups,usually with the strong implication of restoring former amity;…