What have you been storing & carrying?

Your emotions don’t have to be a sinking ship – Christian Counselling helps

"A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of."

Luke 6:45

Notice the stored up and the full of? Our emotions have been “deposited” throughout our lives and from time to time we see their expression in our behaviour, particularly when we are under a lot of stress or something important for us is at stake. But what does Christian Counselling have to do with this?

Email address: robert@seekandbecome.com

Phone number: 07537 141611

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Body, mind... and spirit?

Faith plays an important part in your life therefore you would like it to be an important part of your counselling journey. Your faith influences the way you see yourself, others and the world and it is part of your decision-making process. At the same time, the way you perceive yourself and interact with others impacts your faith journey and Christians are not safeguarded against life’s inner struggles.

Emotions are human. The Bible is written for people, so emotions exist on every page. Analysing emotions in the Biblical text is a complex endeavour and context is very important. No matter how deep your exegesis goes, rest assured that all God’s people experience emotions and all the ups and downs that come with that. The same sadness that overwhelmed David and Job exists today. The anger that Moses and Jonah experienced is still rampant in our society. We fear just as Abraham and Peter did. We also can rejoice as Isaiah did.

So it is no wonder you might be going through similar experiences. But it doesn’t ease the burden you feel – so you want to give counselling a shot. Positively using emotions does sound enticing. You might start to doubt if you can reference Bible characters, stories or principles in the counselling room. And that’s such a shame because you long for a space where you can work through your struggles and challenges without impacting the relations with your faith-based groups and church.

Curious to find out more about bridging the gap?

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Common scenarios

I am experiencing negative emotions – Does that mean I am not faithful enough?

You find yourself experiencing emotions perceived as negative. You know Christians should forgive but you feel a lot of anger. You read you should not be afraid and yet you experience fear when facing difficulties. You want to be better and do things differently but you find yourself feeling or doing the opposite. And what is worse, you don’t understand why.

Emotions such as fear and anger have a protective role and are normal. They become a problem when they take over when rather than experiencing fear, you are paralyzed by fear, when rather than experiencing anger, you become aggressive and cannot control your impulses. They impact your relationships and stop you from living life in its fullness.

What can be done about it?

In our work together we are going to explore where these emotions and thoughts originated from and what was the context, how you got to store them up. Once that is explored, you will start to know yourself better and you’ll be able to make these emotions your allies rather than feeling controlled by them.

I love my church but I struggle with being a part of a larger group

You might appreciate the teaching in your church and the service but you experience negative emotions when engaging with others. Sharing feels difficult and anxiety increases. You become annoyed with yourself because you would like to be more involved and also apprehensive about how they’ll perceive your withdrawal.

Our original group was our family and the way we experienced interactions then will influence how we perceive other groups throughout life. This includes the church we are a part of. The way family members reacted to us expressing emotions and needs shaped our expectations regarding others’ responses and reactions.

What can be done about it?

In our work together you will get the opportunity to explore why being in a group is uncomfortable. You will understand the reason why engaging is difficult and assess whether the perceived danger is based on something real or not and what triggers the anxiety.

I feel I am not good enough for a Christian

You notice your behaviour is not always the one you would like it to be and you experience feelings or thoughts you are not comfortable with, such as anger or envy towards others. There is always room for improvement and we should aim at that, but expecting to be perfect has more to do with unrealistic expectations about oneself rather than with the Christian take on humanity. A very critical view of yourself can be really exhausting and putting yourself down leads nowhere.

What can be done about it?

In our work together we are going to trace down the origin of those unrealistic expectations and why trying to meet them was and is so important, as well as what are the thoughts and emotions associated with not meeting them. The anxiety linked to the idea of not meeting these expectations will be explored and we are going to try and create more realistic expectations, without giving up the desire to grow and improve.