Valerie Chan and son in Singapore. Our approach works all over the world.For some time I have been attracted to helping people grow into mature, caring and loving adults. I don't know why, but there it is. I suppose God placed it in my heart as a fetus or young child. My wife has always said that I have job security because the world, the flesh and the devil are arrayed against us so fiercely that people are being wounded at a faster rate than we can put them together again.
Just think how long it takes us to glue a vase together after we drop it and break it into a million pieces. The pieces must be carefully and gently put together with some Gorilla Glue and let it dry over a period of time. Even then, there are rough places and jagged pieces on the vase that just do not seem to fit exactly.
A human being is more complex and difficult to mend than any vase so it does not shock us if putting people back together takes a long time. The Lord God will give us the peace and patience necessary to hang out with a person that is recovering from childhood trauma or a misspent life of bad habits.
But, make no mistake, there is hope for change and for significant healing. No one will ever be 100% perfect and live above sin but God's word promises and our experiences confirms that the power of prayer, truth and love are daily overcoming the ravages of sin, sickness and Satan.
My recent diagnosis by leading Doctors that an artery was severely clogged shows that God often allows us to receive His healing love. That was evidence of His substantial healing in the physical realm but we have had hundreds of similar experiences with emotional, relational and family dysfunctions.
Some members of the Christian Church have given up on God's ability to heal and forgive. They are, in my view, often so emotionally compassionate that they cannot stand seeing people in pain. As a result they offer non biblical but emotionally satisfying reasons why God does not mind if we violate traditional standards of sexual and ethical behavior. In their haste to lighten the load of people's inner pain they refuse to admit that Guilt is real.
This is like a Doctor acting as though diseases are not real. In my profession we call that approach "DENIAL". Denial of the reality of guilt leaves people in their pain, conviction and trauma. As a Counselor I am so thankful that I know guilt is real because that allows me to also apply the remedy: Confession and Repentance.
If a Doctor denies the reality of a communicable disease he has no remedy for the sickness. But, once he faces reality and understand its cause he can apply the remedy. Before we understood the reality of micro organisms Doctors were helpless to deal with the root of many illnesses. Dr. Ignatz Simmelweiss of AUSTRIA was attacked when he began to sterilize his surgical instruments between surgeries. It was so bad that he had a mental breakdown. However, he and others finally proved the existence of those tiny, invisible organisms and now everybody sterilizes their instruments and gives patients medicines to kill them at the root.
The root of many mental, emotional, relational and family illnesses are invisible to the human eye and to the best microscopes. However, God has revealed those things to us in the Bible and we know how to use His truth, Love and Power to bring relief and healing. Sin, guilt, shame and rebellious spirits are overwhelming if left without a remedy.
As a Christian Counselor and Minister I know and help people face these root problems and remove them forever. Out of the root grows the fruit so when the root is changed the fruit will change. However, trying to change the fruit without healing the root is fruitless.
Gary Sweeten
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