Conversational Counseling

On this bonus episode of Conversational Counseling we are so excited to talk with Elyse Fitzpatrick!  Elyse has spent the last 40 years in the biblical counseling sphere asking two very important questions - what do women need to hear and how can I get it to them? She has paved the way for women in the biblical counseling movement and continues to help teach people how to walk alongside others.  W...

Click HERE to get the FREE Anti-Psalm handout (it'll be sent to your email) Fear of Man, also known as people pleasing, is the common struggle Brenda and Alex take us through this week. We are reminded that we were created to be known and know others deeply - but people pleasing distorts that into an inordinate desire for approval or inordinate fear of disapproval. These desires and fears can lead...

Click here for the Lament Resource mentioned in Episode 7. Bitterness is the complicated, yet common, struggle that Brenda and Alex take us through this week. Bitterness can cause us to feel powerless and will begin to shape how we view the world around us, how we see the past, and how we anticipate the future. If it continues we can begin to lose hope and forget that God is writing the story and...

For the Personal Lament Handout Click Here Depression is a common but complex struggle that all of us will encounter in our own lives or in the lives of people we love.  In this episode Brenda and Alex begin by addressing what depression is and walk through possible causes for it in our lives. Looking at it holistically they address our physical and spiritual lives, the influence of other people,...

For the Seven A’s of Confession Handout click here.   In this episode Alex and Brenda explore guilt. By walking through the difference between subjectively feeling guilty and objectively being guilty we can begin to work through where and how guilt is affecting our walk with the Lord. It’s important not only to recognize the difference between guilt and shame that Brenda and Alex discuss, but also...

Click Here to have the Anger Journal Handout sent to your email In this episode Brenda and Alex begin to unpack Anger. Anger is an all encompassing response - we feel it in our bodily responses, our mental value judgements, and our emotional reactions.  Through exploring the differences between righteous and unrighteous anger in the journaling exercise provided in this episode we can begin to work...

>> Get FREE Anxiety Journal and Biblical Thought Filter handouts << In our second episode on anxiety we bring it to a personal and practical level as Brenda walks through one of her own anxiety journals with Alex.  As they walk step by step through the Anxiety Journal exercise (that is available for free on our website) Brenda and Alex show us how to take a very real moment of anxiety...

>> Get a free handout on visual theology that goes with this episode! << Anxiety is one of the most common struggles that we all face today. And it can be no small thing. We experience anxiety as a whole person so it impacts our thinking, feelings, body and behaviors. In this episode Alex and Brenda discuss how anxiety affects us holistically and how to address these different factors...

>> Get free visuals, handouts and discussion questions for Conversational Counseling! << This season of Conversational Counseling is all about offering wisdom for life's common struggles. In this episode Brenda and Alex begin with introducing the six topics that will be discussed throughout the season that are common to us all. What we'd like to do over this season is to bring clarity...

On this episode of Conversational Counseling we are thrilled to have Marty Solomon, creator and executive producer of  ⁠The BEMA Podcast⁠ join us! We talk about the how Jewish scholarship teaches us about the ministry of Jesus and therefore our ministry to others, the theme in the story of the Bible of God's desire to restore relationship after disruption, the value of a deeper understanding of th...

Let’s be honest, sometimes as we walk with one another, we just miss it. None of us are perfect and sometimes we get on people’s nerves and even outright hurt them. In this episode, we highlight some of the ways we can really just be miserable counselors in everyday ministry. Even though we address some serious misses, hopefully you’ll find yourself laughing through this episode and taking yoursel...

So often when we think about feeling inadequate in ministering to others, it’s because we don’t think we’ll know what to say. We hope by now in this season, that we’ve shown you (ironically, with our words… ha!) how even though we tend to think words should be used first in ministry, so often they really need to be used last. Before we speak, we really have to remain humble enough to recognize tha...

On this episode of Conversational Counseling we are thrilled to have Dr. Curt Thompson share about interpersonal neurobiology and embodying the gospel to one another. We talk about the incredible science of the brain, the Scriptures, how important physical presence is, cultivating community, telling our stories more truly, paying attention to our bodies, suffering, transformation, and more! Dr. Th...

Many of us can think of someone who is just really good at asking questions. It can seem like an unobtainable skill, yet it’s really something we can all grow in! Rather than assigning motives and misunderstanding people, we can truly just ask the next question to get to know them. Not simply fact finding to satisfy our curiosity, but really learning who they are. Learning to ask better questions...

So often, when trouble comes to those we love, we are tempted to be quick to give advice. But the Gospel calls us to listen before we speak. And in our listening, to really seek to know and understand the other person rather than to just try to get information and facts out of them. This episode has a total of 20 tips you can practically use to pause, see and really experience someone’s story with...

If we’re going to care for someone, we have to be present with them. But it’s not just being a body in the room, it’s being truly present. Really being an embodied presence so they feel like they’re in the presence of Christ. Being present with others in this way can be risky and vulnerable. And it definitely requires a lot from us. But when we know that we are beloved by Jesus, we really are empo...

Ministry is to us, before it’s through us. Until we know how to receive it from the Lord, we’re not going to be able to let it flow through us to other people. As we pause and slow down to think about how Jesus moves towards people, what He asks, what He says, we start to learn how to share the same type of ministry care with others. This season of Conversational Counseling is all about equipping...

This season of Conversational Counseling is all about equipping you with frameworks to be able to minister more fully to those around you in your everyday life, the ones right in front of you. Much of the preparation for the best things in life really do not take a linear path. And so much preparation of our hearts comes through seasons of being in a desert place. A place of pain. A place of failu...

Season 2 was all about forgiveness, and we have a special treat for you in this bonus episode... Our dear friend and colleague Sherri Tate shares part of her own story and how the Lord brought her to a place of genuine healing and forgiveness after experiencing compound trauma and abuse. Sherri bravely shares her story of suffering and even her own sin, graciously dispels myths perpetuated by thos...

This season has been all about forgiveness, both what it is, but also what it isn’t. This episode is about restoration. We have to orient vertically to the safety we have in Christ. He's the only one who ultimately is not going to let us down. It's only from that place of safety, that we're going to be able to venture out into the risk of any relationship.  “How to Discern True Repentance When Ser...

This season, we’re talking about forgiveness, both what it is, but also what it isn’t. This episode is about reconciliation. Reconciliation is where we’re clearing away the rubble and beginning to repair the ruins of the relationship and the hearts that are involved. But reconciliation isn’t always possible, no matter how much we desire it. So when is it possible? And how can it look? Even in the...

This whole season, we’re looking at forgiveness… both what it is, but also what it isn’t. Our conversation on this episode is about discerning when to overlook and when to confront. What’s so hard about knowing whether to overlook or to confront, is that we could do either one from a place of fear and sin or from a place of love and obedience. All of us have a bent one way or the other, but being...

In this season, we’re looking at forgiveness, both what it is but also what it isn’t. This episode, we talk through what it looks like to release someone from personal vengeance and bitterness. The reality is, that we can’t rush this process. And if we try to do so, we’ll likely just experience more shame because we still feel the weight of the pain and a measure of bitterness. But if we choose to...

This season we're looking at forgiveness... what it is, but also what it isn't. In this episode we explore the reality that what we remember, what we rehearse and hold onto, impacts our lives and relationships. So much of forgiveness is not just an event, it's a process. And just because you have to walk in forgiveness again in something you already forgave before, doesn't mean you're doing someth...

This season is all about the topic of forgiveness. So often forgiveness is equated with complete repair and restoration of relationships. What we'd like to do, is look at what it means to walk in forgiveness and how it can really impact our relationships. There are a lot of myths around forgiveness. Forgiveness is not forgetting. Forgiveness is not the same as reconciling and trusting. So we're go...