To say that I am currently caught in a trap isn't accurate, but my emotions are enflamed at this point. The trap is that I have been leaning on my own understanding for quite a long time. And others have joined their leaning to mine. When my marriage dissolved and our home together was crippled, I figured that I was the problem, I wasn't man enough, I wasn't honest enough, I was deceived, or deceiving myself, I was a general failure as a godly man, and a good husband. The institutional church was no help. But, by God's grace, I connected with a man who was better connected / attached to God than I was, and was familiar with how Jesus helps us get to know Him, with inner healing often being a byproduct. But it was what seemed to be a fragile connection, as he was writing books, and leading seminars, so he didn't have much time for one on one ministry. So I turned to therapy. It helped some. I went to Christian therapists. I also went to workshops. But, eventually, after God put His finger on how I was leaning on my own understanding to try to fix my understanding rather than trust Him, that I realized that I was in a trap of trying harder at what wasn't working. I am not saying that everyone who goes to therapy is doing that. And, as much as I would like to judge some therapists that family members as being educated inept idiots, I realize that is just a fear response, and that God has even that under control. He isn't wringing His hands. Neither is He wringing his hands over the left-brained, feminized institutional church, which frequently genuflects to academia. Is this just what He means that in the last days that our love will grow cold (that we will try to exclude Him from our daily lives, and our relationships). My love is pretty cold, but all that I can do is trust Him.
Praying daily for wisdom, true humility, and insight might be a helpful spiritual practice. That prayer can co-occur with therapy- or without. Just an unsolicited thought. Blessings.
Helpful stuff here, Geoff. I engaged in some of these themes with my own therapist recently. We discussed the limitations of individual therapy, the helpful possibilities and potential harm of 1-1 therapy. What are the boundaries of the self? What can we reasonably expect as outcomes? What does it mean for a collective society to be composed of individualized psychotherapeutic treatments?
One other wonderful thought, therapy with God. Rita Springer shares about asking Holy Spirit to lead therapy in a kind of Family System with Jesus. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oQ76m8C5YU&t=864s
To say that I am currently caught in a trap isn't accurate, but my emotions are enflamed at this point. The trap is that I have been leaning on my own understanding for quite a long time. And others have joined their leaning to mine. When my marriage dissolved and our home together was crippled, I figured that I was the problem, I wasn't man enough, I wasn't honest enough, I was deceived, or deceiving myself, I was a general failure as a godly man, and a good husband. The institutional church was no help. But, by God's grace, I connected with a man who was better connected / attached to God than I was, and was familiar with how Jesus helps us get to know Him, with inner healing often being a byproduct. But it was what seemed to be a fragile connection, as he was writing books, and leading seminars, so he didn't have much time for one on one ministry. So I turned to therapy. It helped some. I went to Christian therapists. I also went to workshops. But, eventually, after God put His finger on how I was leaning on my own understanding to try to fix my understanding rather than trust Him, that I realized that I was in a trap of trying harder at what wasn't working. I am not saying that everyone who goes to therapy is doing that. And, as much as I would like to judge some therapists that family members as being educated inept idiots, I realize that is just a fear response, and that God has even that under control. He isn't wringing His hands. Neither is He wringing his hands over the left-brained, feminized institutional church, which frequently genuflects to academia. Is this just what He means that in the last days that our love will grow cold (that we will try to exclude Him from our daily lives, and our relationships). My love is pretty cold, but all that I can do is trust Him.
Praying daily for wisdom, true humility, and insight might be a helpful spiritual practice. That prayer can co-occur with therapy- or without. Just an unsolicited thought. Blessings.
Helpful stuff here, Geoff. I engaged in some of these themes with my own therapist recently. We discussed the limitations of individual therapy, the helpful possibilities and potential harm of 1-1 therapy. What are the boundaries of the self? What can we reasonably expect as outcomes? What does it mean for a collective society to be composed of individualized psychotherapeutic treatments?
Fascinating!