Sandra Golling, MAC, LMFTA
Life can be difficult. We all face challenges as we seek to grow and thrive in our life and relationships. When people are experiencing conflict, dysfunction, wounds, or find themselves stuck in a particular life transition, therapy helps navigate these challenges. Wounds and losses in life often lead to dysfunctional ways of relating. We all turn to insufficient sources to get our deepest needs met. Self-reliance and self-protective relational patterns often replace trust in God and other centeredness. Spiritual growth is the process of identifying wounds and losses that need to be grieved and lies and agreements that need to be renounced. God offers his love and compassion throughout this process. God is the only source that can meet our deepest needs. When a person is fully known and loved by God, they are free to love others well from a place of fullness.
The goal of Christian counseling is spiritual growth. Spiritual growth is a movement toward taking on the character of Christ. I believe that all growth, whether it is relational, emotional, or psychological, may be seen as spiritual formation. The process of Christian counseling is somewhat like discipleship. I use many forms of discipleship such as talk therapy, psychoeducation, use of Scripture, bibliotherapy, and/or homework assignments. The result of counseling is that clients experience and live in their identity as those who are loved, forgiven, and adopted into the family of God. Those who experience the love and grace of God are free to love God above all else and love others as themselves.