Author:James (Steve) Clay, MABC, LPC
One of the greatest blessings a counselor can receive is when a client "gets it"--that is, the truths of God's word are penetrating the heart and bringing about transformation. It is in these moments that it is clear that the Spirit is working on the heart, bringing about a new awareness of personal sin and of God's grace, translating into a more intense war for faith against the destruction of sin and for a fuller delight in God. Below is a blog that a counselee was encouraged to write, arising from her own journaling about the struggles of her own heart. These words are indicative of the sweet glories of Christ taking root in her soul. Though she has a future ahead that likely involves a degree of suffering previously unplanned, she is learning that she is deeply loved by her Savior. Enjoy and be encouraged by her simple, yet profound, words. Pray for her as she continues to struggle.
"Have you ever received a specific assignment from God?
Well, I heard God call me to start this blog last weekend. So… here I am. I haven’t ever blogged about anything before, so you’ll have to hang with me here in the beginning.
Let me give you some background on me. I’ll be turning 30 in a month. I am been happily married to my husband for 5 years, and we have the two most beautiful kids in the whole wide world. Our son is 2 and our daughter is almost 1. November 11, 2014 is a day I will never forget. (I will probably blog more about the specifics of that day sometime soon.) That was the morning I was watching our son playing on his new swingset when the phone rang. It was my neurologist telling me that the results of my brain MRI indicated that I have Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
As you can imagine, the next few weeks and months were filled with appointments, tests, and more appointments. Unfortunately for me, this time was also filled with numerous panic attacks, a trip to the ER, tremendous anxiety, and lots of fear. I spent a few weeks trying to manage it on my own then I turned to my neurologist and my counselor for help.
Through the biblically based counseling I receive, I have been able to run straight into the arms of God during this pivotal time in my life. God has revealed many of my sins to me during the last few months. The most obvious sin I was confronted with at the beginning of my MS journey was my constant desire for control. But…. more on that later!
As I was driving home from counseling a few weeks ago, I began to think about my yard. There are so many weeds in my yard. We live on a corner lot, so that means our yard is slightly bigger than most of the other lots. That just means more weeds in our case! We didn’t have to plant those weeds though, they just showed up and then they multiplied because we didn’t take control of them.
To me, this is the perfect picture of the human soul. We are born sinners. We don’t have to be taught how to sin , we have to be taught how to do good.
Just like with weeds, it can often be difficult to rid yourself of sin. My yard needs to be mowed, watered, fertilized. Sometimes I have to get on my hands and knees to get the most stubborn weeds out. But if I don’t pull the root, the weed will just grow back. And it’s not enough to do all of this once and think you’re done. It has to be done over and over and over.
This reminds me how important it is to be in God’s word daily. To be involved in a good Bible believing church, to be connected to a small group for community, to pray, to examine your own heart to identify what weeds are growing in your yard, and to trust that God has the power to pluck sin from the root if you just submit yourself to him … over and over and over.
Are we taking better care of our yards than we are our souls?"