“I went to counseling. It didn’t work!”
As the words left my friend’s mouth, my heart broke because of them. It’s hard enough to muster up the courage to say, “I need help.” so, to seek help, vulnerably sharing your private thoughts and feelings with a complete stranger, and not receive the outcome you hoped for – it’s heartbreaking.
When I started my counseling career, I said, “Lord, I don’t want my clients to feel that way. Why does that happen?” He answered me with a picture. A picture of a gumball machine. Not exactly what I was expecting, but He’s God and I’m not so that’s that.
He said the gumballs represent all the things people are after. Love. Forgiveness. Relationships. Peace. Acceptance. People are desperate for those things so they take their quarter and jam it into the machine, but nothing happens. No gumball. Why? Because the gumball machine takes nickels and they have a quarter. They have more than they need to get what they want, but they need to “make change”. (God has a puny sense of humor, doesn’t He? I’m convinced He is the OG of Dad jokes!)
He said,”Your job, as their Christian counselor, is to help them make the necessary change to get what they are after. You need to give them a nickel in exchange for their quarter. The problem is not everyone is willing to give up their quarter for the nickel you are offering them. So they keep trying to jam their quarter into the machine and wonder why they can’t get the gumball they’re after.”
Just as in any profession, there are bad counselors out there. Christian and non-Christian alike. So, if you find the counselor you are working with is not helping you understand who God is and what changes you need to make to get from where you are to where you need to be, find another counselor!
Don’t allow a less than perfect experience to stop you from finding the hope and healing you need.
When you come into my office, you’ll find the gumball machine picture and a quarter. It will remind me to tell you that if you want a gumball, you’ll need to work on making change. I have a nickel by my chair just waiting for you!
“A fool is in love with his own opinion, but wisdom means being teachable.”
Proverbs 12:15 TPT
