Faithbase

Hi friends, Amber Ginter here. So in case you're curious, yes, I am videotaping a lot of these in the same day because here I am, still stuck at parent-teacher conference day. So anyways, if you're wondering, no, I don't wear the same thing every single day. This is this is still one day. So the daily devotional that I want to bring to you today is something that actually at the school I work at, we have a pastor who comes in and he sometimes on a weekly basis, he will give daily devotionals. And sometimes those devotionals just really stand out to me. I think it's really awesome that I get to be a part of a school that allows a pastor to come in and host a Bible study. And so myself and another teacher help facilitate that. And so anyways, I kind of overheard him giving this devotional because it's usually in my room. And so I kind of combined that with something that I wanted to talk to you about. So today's topic that we are going to talk about is counseling. Now, I know that a lot of people are skeptical of counseling, especially as Christians, I think that we are often fed the misconception and the stigma that, okay, I'm a Christian, I love Jesus, I should not go to counseling because Jesus is my counselor. That's enough for me. And I just really want to speak to those people. And I want to speak to those of you that have been told that because I personally believe in my understanding of scripture. And my understanding of Jesus is that that's certainly not true. I believe that you can love Jesus and you can fully go to counseling. Yes, God is still your counselor, but we are human beings and we need human interaction. And so people like therapists and counselors are people that God has given to mankind to earth to be able to help us. And so I want to illustrate that using two Bible passages scripture and in multiple other videos, I can go through more specifics about counseling, but I kind of want to just give a brief overview. The first verse is from Proverbs 1522. We know that the book of Proverbs is just some wise sayings that are given to us for advice in life. And Proverbs 1522 says, plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisors, they succeed. There is such a value in seeing a perspective from other person's point of view. There's also value in learning from those who are both younger and both older than ourselves. A story that I feel really illustrates well the principle of counsel. And obviously in scripture, this is written in a different context and written in a different time period than we are presently living. However, I think the same message will apply. In first Kings chapter 12, there's a really unique story where King Rehoboam is reigning and before him, the King had been very, very harsh and cruel. And so he goes to the older men for advice and for counsel. And they're like, yeah, like it's been really rough. You should lighten the burden and these people will serve you for the rest of your, of your life. And then he goes, okay, well, but I'm going to go to, to, to the younger men, to my friends, to my peers. And unfortunately in this situation, they give him poor advice and they're like, oh yeah, like you're going to make this even harsher for them. And that way they know that you're boss. And so long story short, Rehoboam takes advice of the younger men. And by doing that, the people actually revolt and it causes all of these problems. And so if he would have listened to the counsel of the older men who told him, you know, if you'll be a servant to this people today and serve them and speak good words to them, like when you answer them, you know, they will be faithful to you and serve you. But he didn't. And so what I say with that is that there are a lot of different opinions and obviously each person needs to do what is right between them and God and you and your spirit. But I'm just here to tell you that from someone who has personally gone through counseling and been in counseling for, I want to say five years now, I go to Christian counseling because, because it helps. I think it is beneficial. We work through faith things. We work through anxiety and depression. Those are real people. It doesn't mean that I have less faith because I need to go talk to a live person. I believe that that person is a gift of God, from God, that he's given each of us to be able to work through those problems. And it doesn't mean that I love Jesus any less. It means that I'm seeking the counsel of someone who has experience in knowing how to deal with trauma, how to deal with anxiety, depression, how to deal with faith crises. And it's not that we're solely placing our faith in that counselor because we're not. I mean, in a sense, I trust my counselor. I do. But what we're trusting more so is that God is going to work through that person, just like God's going to work through medication. God's going to work through therapy. God's going to work through his word and prayer and going to church. But when we combine those things, we remind ourselves that we are holistic beings. And so today, when you are seeking counsel, I want to encourage you to think about the counsel that you are receiving, first of all. And second of all, if you're not receiving counsel when you're trying to make decisions in life, counsel is a really good idea. Make sure that it's from people that you trust and also making sure that those people that you are getting trusted counsel for, because they're people you trust, that you actually listen to the concerns and things that they are saying. So anyway, it's just a short little devotional. I hope to speak more on mental health topics as the devotional videos go along. But I hope that makes sense and that you guys have a great day. I love you.