Somehow, I think I missed it. I've spent over four years in school for Christian and professional counseling and I missed it. Don't I feel like a dunce. At the same time, I'm pretty stoked. Somehow I thought, even within an educational context at Lancaster Bible College, that I needed to weed out my Christian beliefs and principles when it came to counseling. As if I was an inferior practitioner if I allowed anything but the merest hint of my spiritual background into the counseling session. Well I was wrong and I'm glad to admit it. For the sake of balance, this also doesn't necessarily mean I'm going to always and only explicitly use scripture and prayer when in session with a client. I'll leave that up to the situation with the client and the leadings of the Holy Spirit.
What it does mean though is a shift in focus. Before I thought I would focus on secular and psychological sources of wisdom and truth, and I'd use the Bible as a back-up (without ever really intentionally planning on using it very much). The quote above has helped with this shift in focus, because now I'm coming to recognize my priorities had been misplaced. I shouldn't focus on secular psychology and psychotherapy because then my vision of what is true would/has become skewered. Rather, I should focus on the real Truth Giver as the standard for what should be emulated as a clinician instead. I can't tell you how much freedom the realization gives to me internally. It somehow clicks together much more smoothly.
This mind adjustment however does not mean I won't utilize psychology and other sources of truth. I firmly believe as an integrationist that all truth is God's truth, and thus there are other sources of benefit given to non-believers as well. Christians do not have a corner on the only source of truth and I think the sooner believers understand this, the quicker we will be to get off of our "high-horse." Anyway, my point is not to pot-shot Christians, but instead to emphasize the lesson I've recently learned and am looking forward to putting in my practice in clinical settings.
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