As a newer counselor this often happens to me in the early sessions: I’m listening to a new counselee tell her story and it’s not long before facts about her suffering mix with self-pity. Alarm! Red flag! Stop the sin!!
I used to wrestle with this internal dialogue: do I need to cut off her sinful self-pity? Do I jump in with some truths from scripture to stop this? Is me listening to this, affirming that this is ok? Do I need to confront every wrong thing said against God and her circumstances in this session?
Another counselee has been through a life-changing hardship. She is concerned that if she starts to go through the steps of lament, won’t that bring up sinful thoughts? Maybe it would be better to skip past this and go straight into putting off sinful thoughts and putting on right thoughts.
Our church, counseling ministry, and I personally have benefited greatly from the biblically solid and excellent teaching on lament we have received through Pastor Mark Vroegop’s book Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy as well as his teaching at our annual conference and pre-conference. In that book Vroegop defines lament as “the honest cry of a
To continue...read the full-length post originally published on this site.
