There are ways that psychiatric diagnoses are useful at a macro- (medical-societal-cultural) level of care. They improve reliability in diagnosis among different mental health providers, are foundational in psychiatric research, guide insurance reimbursement, and serve as the basis for educational services, all of which are valuable. Just ask any parent of a child with special educational needs...
A friend and I attended Parents Orientation at our kids’ college. It was an exciting time for our kids but, frankly, not for us. “How did we get here?” we both wondered. “I don’t understand,” my friend said through tears. “Why would God command us to pour our lives into our children and then make us let them go?” We both shook our heads in dismay. The empty nest—that time of life when children...
Reading fiction will help me read the Bible? I understand that reading fiction may not be your cup of tea. If you’re skeptical, it’s understandable. There are times when reading fiction may not help your Bible reading. If reading fiction will keep you from reading the Bible—don’t do it.If reading fiction will hinder you from relating to people—don’t do it.If reading fiction will distract you from...
Which do you find more difficult? 1) Marriage conflict that arises because you’ve sinned against your spouse. 2) Marriage conflict that arises because your spouse has sinned against you. My husband, Curtis, and I recently celebrated our nineteenth anniversary, so we’ve had lots of opportunities to confess sin to each other. Most of the time when there’s conflict between the two of us, the source...
“My dad said we can’t put a filtering software on our computers because it would be a crutch. I need to be able to overcome pornography by growing in my trust and obedience to Jesus.” I was stunned. This student had come to me for counseling because of his pornography problem, but his Christian father was undercutting my counsel and robbing his son of valuable tools in the fight against his sin...
