Do you ever feel like your life isn’t going the way you had hoped? Do you feel like you’re swimming upstream making little headway? Well, the truth is, life in this world is always opposed. Guaranteed.
Another truth is that you’re not meant to simply tolerate things as you white-knuckle the steering wheel of your life. You don’t have to settle for anxiety and depression as your closest companions. It’s not normal to muddle through the universe with meager hope until the day you die.
Instead, you’re invited to follow the path of growth that will lead you to peace, joy, and loving presence even in the darkest storms of life. But it’s not the eight-lane freeway.
Designer Therapy for Life is a blogsite committed to guiding you along the path of psychological, spiritual, and relational growth that will make life not just survivable but amazingly livable. Please know that this blog is designed for you if you:
- Can’t shake emptiness, addictions, melancholy or the nagging voice of a prosecuting attorney
- Question God’s presence in your life to the point of deconstructing your faith
- Find it difficult or even impossible to get close to others—both God and people
- Live with a deep sense of shame that leads you to hide in a dark dungeon alone
- Believe that self-sufficiency is safer than needing others
- Wonder where you were when the blueprint to life and love was handed out
- Feel less than others and have to try twice as hard to feel half as good as them
- Think that your anxiety, depression and aloneness might be trying to tell you something…
- Wonder why your walk with God seems so unfulfilling and hollow
I’m here writing this blog to you because my journey in life has not been easy. When I was arguably at the peak of my life attending seminary—yes, ironically, I was there to serve the God I loved–I experienced sudden, paralyzing anxiety that T-boned my life. It robbed me of everything good for many years and left me with nothing except the God who seemed so far away and so untrustworthy.
Since that devastating collapse, I’ve spent decades exploring the ways that the human heart darkly protects itself against both perceived threats and love, and how God seeks to penetrate that protection.
This blog is populated with everything I learned from seminary, a doctoral degree in clinical psychology, 35 years of spelunking in the human psyche and the invaluable insights that hundreds of clients, friends and mentors have taught me along the way—not so much from their heads as their hearts. This blogsite is designed to lead you away from self-imposed aloneness toward the Presence of God and others.
I’m here because in the darkness I discovered that life has a purpose. Behind and in it all is a Designer God who is the lighthouse in the storm. If you choose to take the road less travelled, you will discover that there is a defined path in this world. The lost will find their way and the emotionally broken will be restored. After all, life was never intended to be lived alone.
Come with me, your servant-guide, and explore the labyrinths of the human heart and the character of the God who designed it all. Surely, He came to walk with us in the valleys, not to leave us on our own.
[*My ideal intent is to publish a new blog post every Monday!]
[**Disclaimer: The intent of DTFL is not to conduct any type of professional psychological therapy through the website or blog or email. If you are experiencing suicidal ideation, contact a suicide hotline, go to a local hospital or call a trusted family member or friend for your personal safety!]