Like anyone else, our family had struggles, and over the years we had gotten involved in a variety of different seminars, classes, counseling, and therapies. Yet we seemed to be in the same place we started. Not that they were all bad experiences, some were helpful, but they just did not seem to get us the understanding we needed to create lasting change.
As we came into a time of very difficult struggle with our youngest teen, we were desperately searching for options. We were doing multiple kinds of counseling and therapy, at our wits end in a home that could not just seem to get it together. We were only surviving, not really living, and definitely not moving forward. Our life was comprised of the art of dodging or surviving daily chaos. Waiting for the next episode to come. For us, traditional counseling therapies were NOT working. We had found a solution to get our teen on the road to healing, but now I was concerned that I needed to get all of the chaos in check, make a change, or we would be right back where we had started. I was not sure at the time if I was going to survive the journey. I was feeling very broken and just did not know how to get it back together.
We were not an extravagant family, overly social or even worldly, but the trauma of chaos had managed to get a stronghold in our lives. I came across the Three Desires Seminar and counseling program. I was curious and even hopeful, but at that point, if I am being honest, I just needed something to help me make sense of everything we had been going through. Chaos has a knack for making you feel isolated, alone, and can make you question your every decision. Our family needed a sense of peace, I needed peace.
So, broken and very alone, I began the journey working with the Three Desires. I was determined to have an open mind and take in all that I was about to learn. Determined to find peace for my family. That is what the keeper of the house is supposed to do…right? Fix it, make it right, carry the torch.
The way the Desires were explained to me brought about a whole new perspective to hear, work, and live with the fundamental truths that actually guide all of our lives. Amazingly, as I was working with the program, much of the other wonderful things I had learned through other seminars, classes, and counseling therapies took effect as well. You know how it works…you do a great seminar, you go home and try to put this new knowledge into play, and something does not quite work. “I did this and that and I am still stuck here.” The Three Desires actually even shed light on why so many of the other tools weren’t working. But by combining the understanding of the desires, how they are successfully worked and used, all of the tools came into play.
As things were coming together, we found the Three Desires to mirror what our teen was working on, and it took our success as a family to another level. Oddly enough we also encountered several people with similar struggles, some we knew but most complete strangers, and found ourselves being a source of direction and comfort to someone in need. We have found a renewed sense of peace of being able to make sense of people and things that potentially would have been a source of unneeded stress.
We still have those moments, but we are definitely in a different place of understanding. For me, I guess I actually feel like I am control of my life, my choices and even my responses to any given situation. Knowing and viewing what I thought was in control or keeping it all together, was actually just chaos. We cannot control how the world behaves, but we do have a choice for ourselves, and when you can see the how and why behind the worldly ways, you will find yourself responding differently. With no doubt or regret.
If I could offer anyone a helpful hint when considering the Three Desires Seminar, and counseling based on it, I would say to be open, hear, and self-reflect. Much of the time when we seek counseling it is because we feel we are there to find answers for someone we need to help or fix. When we are listening for the 1st time, we are usually thinking about how someone else’s problems or habits fit everything we are listening too. If you try to listen and learn more from the perspective of “wow, I do that” instead of what someone else does. Your new perspective will be hands down more effective for helping someone in need. No, it is not an instant cure-all, but if you are willing…it will bring change.
Thank you, “Olivia,” for sharing your experience with counseling, therapies, and seminars. We’re glad that you found help through learning what really drives us from the heart, and that you understand that Bible-based, Christian counseling truly provides the answers we need.
The Counseling Center at Bay City 