Back when my husband was a youth pastor we took to the streets with teenagers and did street dramas. The stories we told had crazy and sometimes scary (think Satan) characters. There were props (think coffins), clowns, and even ballet. We always drew a crowd because people love seeing stories acted out (although some parents ushered their children away quickly). As we go through...
Biblical counseling is a hybrid of discipleship and biblical friendship. Its occasion is when life seems painful, confusing, or unmanageable, and we turn to the Spirit and the Word for help. This anchors biblical counseling in the ancient tradition of pastoral care, which has now been dispersed to all God’s people (Ephesians 4:11–13). Biblical counseling is not a trademarked school of thought...
The two women who sat across from me in my counseling office were clearly related—they shared many features and mannerisms. Sadly, I could also see that today they came in with a shared fear. About a year ago, Alice had begun to suspect that something was wrong when her mom, Joann, started to misplace things like her keys. Joann, who was seventy-six years old, lived by herself as a widow. Around...
Darkest Night records the last week of Jesus’s life, from his triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to the sealing of his body in the tomb. It includes the story of the darkest night in history—the night of Jesus’s death and burial. Matthew, Mark, and Luke record that at the moment of Jesus’s death, darkness covered the earth. The day that Jesus died was the darkest day, for God the...
The pressures and demands of life can leave us overwhelmed, discouraged, or burned out. Stress affects all of life, including physical, relational, and spiritual health. But God does not want us to white-knuckle our way through life—he intends for us to thrive as his beloved children, remembering his care and walking in his strength. In I’m Stressed: A Path from Pressure to Peace, counselor Eliza...
