what to expect

your part

….is to show up. You can talk about whatever is taking up space in your mind, heart, and body. You can talk about past experiences that need to be attended to or you can talk about current circumstances and how you are reacting to them. As you feel safe, you can share your deepest thoughts, feelings, doubts, and desires and expect to be met with acceptance and empathy from me and Jesus. You don’t need to come prepared, but you might find it helpful, as you learn to pay attention in your daily life (it takes time) to what is happening in your internal world, to jot down things you notice and experience to bring with you into our time.

My pART

…is to listen with love to you as well as listen to the Holy Spirit. My desire is to provide an environment where you feel safe to be honest with me, yourself, and God. I will be listening, with the help of the Holy Spirit, for patterns…ways that the “random” dots connect and for the common threads that go through stories, circumstances and internal responses. I will share what I see as well as offer tools, practices and experiences that allow you to invite Jesus more into your inner world, learning to listen for His voice and invitations for you to cooperate with Him and join Him in the work He wants to do in you and through you. We are also learning how to walk with Jesus—to work with Him, rest with Him, and play with Him. I want to help you get to know God better, the real God. We will pay attention to what God wants to reveal about Himself as well as the distorted images of Him (that we all have) that come to the surface through our inner reactions to our circumstances. I also want to help you get to know yourself better, uncovering the real you that God designed and intended you to be before your young heart was marred by the sin done to you and the sinful patterns you developed to survive and get your needs for safety, love, and belonging met.

GOD’S pART

…involves mystery and things we can’t define, but we can look to Scripture and our own experiences of Him to see ways He has interacted with us and humanity in general. God is the actual director and I am His apprentice. He brings things to the surface for you when He knows it is the right time for you to pay attention to them. He is always wanting to give you more of Himself. He is always at work in and around you. He knows you intimately and knows the best way to get your attention as well as the best ways to draw you, heal you, and transform you. He is the One Who develops the curriculum for your sanctification (spiritual growth and the process of becoming more like Christ). He chooses the lessons and the teaching methods. God never lets us control Him (I’ve tried!) but He does respond to us with great and tender compassion and He wants us to seek Him and find Him. In the times when we look but can’t see Him, feel Him, or hear Him, He is still there. He has promised to never leave us and He is always looking at us with loving attention. When He seems hidden, He is inviting us deeper… like a parent whose child is just learning to walk keeps moving further and further back, with love and delight to see their child develop their ability to walk. He delights in you. He grieves with you and celebrates with you. He never ignores or misreads your heart! He knows the way and He will guide you through! I will have bits of wisdom and tools to offer you, but the real healing and transformation happens when we make space for God! I am in continual awe of the way Jesus meets us and of His healing and transformative power, restoring and redeeming even the darkest places in our stories!