Why do I need therapy if I have God?

A great question… attempted to be answered in this podcast episode.

A quick hit answer: you have a series of hurts you’ve encountered over your lifetime. (None of that is your fault, by the way). Those hurts have burrowed down in your heart.

(Told you it was a quick answer!)

If you or someone you know wonders, What’s the point of therapy if I read my Bible and talk to God everyday?, then this episode is for you/them. A couple stories, a couple good illustrations, a great case made for why therapy is for everyone.

Does your faith feel tired?

I can relate. And it's got me wondering... what's true about having tired faith?

Well, I know this:

What’s true is that faith is like anything else: you’ll find a lot of messages on how to do it quote-unquote “right”. And I’m pretty sure there’s not a cut-and-dry answer to that. Listen in for some thoughts and encouragement on the daily struggle of tired faith.

As kids, we didn’t really have a good concept of time. Our expectations were that five minutes equals 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Done! What changes as we get older is that our sense of time changes; we know that instead of just counting to five we actually have to count to 60 five separate times. What does not change is the fact that we hold our own expectations of what should happen and when exactly it should happen.

Just because we don’t see the mess, doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

Listen in to hear thoughts on the value of living our mess out loud: what it can do for our brains, our bodies, and our relationship with the creator of the universe and the curator of our hearts.

Sometimes it feels like life is catching fire and you’re powerless to stop it. All around you something is going wrong, one way or another, and you’re just trying to get from sunrise to sunset without setting off any landmines. And when that kind of season is upon us, I think we tend to tip-toe and just make do. We tire of showing up, we tire of trying again and again. We feel wrecked right along with whatever has come undone.

What if we saw the value of salvaging what’s left, rearranging, and finding the delicious inside the disaster?

Maybe curiosity killed a cat, but it doesn’t always have to. Let’s find out what’s true, right, noble, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy about curiosity in our daily grind.

We hide behind our books and our Kindles and our screens and our kids and our pets and our writing, but introverts matter and want to win the space sometimes, too. In a world that finds extroverts more attractive, we just want to know that we're enough, that we have value.

I just know that I have to start dreaming again. I can’t wait for all the things that are out of my control to get better or to change enough so that I feel free. I just can’t do that to myself. I have to plan vacations for next year. I have to think about first grade for my daughter. I have to decide that I want to learn to ski next winter. Even if none of it happens, I have to dream. I have to be optimistic and hope that they do happen.

I just know that I have to start dreaming again. I can’t wait for all the things that are out of my control to get better or to change enough so that I feel free. I just can’t do that to myself. I have to plan vacations for next year. I have to think about first grade for my daughter. I have to decide that I want to learn to ski next winter. Even if none of it happens, I have to dream. I have to be optimistic and hope that they do happen.