Anger

“I was mute and silent; I held my peace to no avail, and my desires grew worse. My heart became hot within me. As I mused, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue.”
— Ps. 39:2-3

Can you see yourself in the scriptures above? Visualize it. Someone has just done or said something that has resulted in anger boiling inside you. You tried to hold it back, you really tried. But the more you thought about it, the more you desired justice, the angrier you felt. The fire raged within you. Then it happened. You erupted like a volcano with your tongue. Psalm 39 is a vivid example of how Scripture describes the experience of Anger. Scripture is very familiar with Anger and it's vaccine: Humility (Prov. 3:34, James 4:6). 

Anger reveals itself in one of two ways: revealed (blowing up and lashing out) or concealed (withdrawing affection, ignoring, quietly steaming and boiling). Anger is something we do, not something we have. It involves our behavior and emotions, but it also involves our motives and desires. Anger is an action taken against whatever evil/wrong we perceive, whether that moral judgement is accurate or inaccurate. Anger puts you in the seat of judge and jury. Typically, acting out anger results in many negative consequences like friends and family hiding or tip-toeing around you. Anger can also produce things you desire (perceived positive consequences) like peace and quiet (everyone flees the angry person). 

God is, thankfully, not like us: He is “slow to anger” (Ex. 34:6) and “He does not deal with us according to our sins” (Ps. 103:10). Scripture speaks into the dark places of our heart and what the heart produces...even anger. The words of Scripture are honest, constructive, always loving and ultimately always for our good. 

Marriage Counseling

“What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy?”
— Gary Thomas, Sacred Marriage

The television series "Bachelor" and "Bachelorette" are incredibly popular. It is a type of social experiment by ABC Television to see if their foundational principles of erotic love, sexual chemistry and appeal can produce healthy, meaningful, and sustained marriages. With minimal effort the statistics of their experiment can be found on the internet. As of the end of 2015 after 13 years and 30 seasons, the Bachelor(ette) {30 couples} has produced only 5 unbroken relationships. That is a 16% success rate. We are being sold a lie. The kinds of relational principles Bachelor(ette) espouses rarely have the happy ending we hope to see. 

God is the author and creator of Marriage. He designed it with a very specific purpose in mind. As the original designer of marriage, God knows best how we should pursue and live out marriage. 

““. . .when Jesus looked down from the cross, he didn’t think , ‘I am giving myself to you because you are so attractive to me.’ No, he was in agony, and he looked down at us – denying him, abandoning him, and betraying him – and in the greatest act of love in history, he stayed. . . He loved us, not because we were lovely to him, but to make us lovely. That is why I am going to love my spouse.” ”
— Tim Keller, The Meaning of Marriage

Scripture has a great deal to say about Marriage. Marriage Counseling aims to take a hard look at Scripture and what God says produces a healthy marriage. We would love the opportunity to share with you the beautiful aspects of Marriage through the lens of Scripture. 

Anxiety

“There is a strange confidence that lies behind all worry. Worriers don’t listen very well. It takes something more powerful than logic and statistical probabilities to assuage our fear and anxieties. ”
— Ed Welch

It's true, we live in an unpredictable and uncontrollable world. Everything is fragile, even our very lives. God assumes we will have fears and worries. In fact, Scripture overflows with different metaphors and subsets of saying the same phrase, "Do not be afraid, I am with you." It is communicated in so many various ways in hopes that something will grab your heart. Yet, often, those words make little impact on us. However, when the right person says those words, we are comforted. A child is often comforted by those words by a father after a scary dream. A boss is comforted when he hears his reliable and trustworthy employee tell him, "Don't worry. I will complete the project in time." When we trust the person saying those words, it assuages our fears and anxieties. The Scriptures assume we will be afraid and anxious occasionally. The question we must ask ourselves is: Where or to whom will we turn with those fears and anxieties? The Scriptures have the right person. 

Counseling Anxiety and fear will involve listening to those fears to discover what they are saying. Those fears often say, "There is something I trust, want, treasure and love....that is being threatened." 

Pre-Marital Counseling

“What if the purpose of marriage is not our happiness but rather our holiness?”
— Gary Thomas, Sacred Marriage

Most couples spend great amounts of time planning their wedding day but very little time discussing critical topics that will impact their marriage. Scripture has quite a lot to say about marriage. 

We seek to articulate the purpose of marriage from a biblical perspective and to assist engaged couples in understanding the common pitfalls. We will cover topics like: biblical roles of a husband and wife, conflict resolution, finances, sex, and parenting.

Pre-marital counseling, like all counseling, involves an additional time commitment from the individuals seeking counseling ... outside the regular counseling sessions. This time commitment will involve reading articles (possibly a book), reading passages of Scripture, and weekly conversations (possibly long ones) with your fiancee.

As counselors, we will be happy to provide biblically centered pre-marital counseling. However, we do not provide licensed or ordained ministers to officiate your wedding day ceremony.