Page 5 - Biblical Counseling II

I taught grade 7 and 8 language arts after earning a degree in English and secondary education at the
university. It became obvious to me fairly quickly in my teaching career that God created me to care about,
help, and nurture middle school students (12–14-year-olds). However, I wasn’t passionate about teaching
them! As a result, I went to graduate school to earn a master’s degree in education with a focus on school
counseling. I’ve spent the past 15 years as a school counselor for students between the ages of 4 and 14.
Public schools [maybe government schools instead] in the United States are not allowed to teach students
about God. While students may receive an academic education that prepares them for life, they do not
develop their spiritual life in school. As a result, I work in a private, Christian school where the focus
surrounding education is to teach students from a Christian worldview. For example, my school’s vision
statement says, “to be a Christ-centered learning community intent on restoring God’s world.” My job as a
counselor in a school is to help students with social, emotional, family, and academic difficulties. This means
my day is filled with many students with different needs.

On a typical day, I could meet with a student whose parent
has cancer. Then I could meet with two students who are
often fighting. I could meet next with siblings whose parents
are getting divorced. Then I could meet with a student who
has a hard time making friends. Next, I could go talk to an
entire grade about a topic, like living out the Fruits of the
Spirit. I could end my day meeting with a teacher or a parent
to talk about how to help a student who is having a difficult
time in school. Each day is different, and there are many
students I counsel! When I have explained my job to students
at IBCZ in the past, many students are surprised that there is a person like me in a school who focuses only
on students’ social and emotional needs! (photo: reachinghighernh.org)

Recently, I earned a second master’s degree in counseling psychology. This degree gave me more in-depth
knowledge about counseling people of different ages, as well as knowledge about different issues that
impact people, like addiction, trauma, and mental illness. During this master’s degree program, I was
required to fulfill 1,000 internship hours. I completed these hours at a counseling center for adults with
severe mental illnesses. Many of the adults I counseled were not able to live on their own or hold a job
because of the severity of their mental illness. I will share more about these adults in later chapters of this
course.

Throughout this course, I will use myself and my life experiences as examples. You will also spend time
reflecting on your life as we learn about Biblical counseling. We will look to answer questions about why we
believe, react, and respond in the ways we do. How have life events impacted us, and how do they now
affect how we relate to others? What do we need to recognize about ourselves (our tendencies, biases,
thought patterns) to provide Biblical counseling to those around us? What do we need to learn about people
so that we can counsel? These are some questions we will explore during this course.

Who Are You?
“For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise You because I am
fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Psalm 139:13-14

Take some time to think about your life. You are going to write answers to the questions below and use them
to create a life map. When were you born? How many people lived in your home? When did you go to
school? Where? What about the church? Did you move to a different community while you were growing
up? Any health issues or deaths in your family? Siblings born? Married? Significant friendships?
Relationships? Adults who influenced you? Any employment? What about times when you made unwise
decisions or got into trouble? When were the most difficult times of your life? What were different

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