I have always enjoyed getting to know people. I love hearing people's stories and backgrounds, and getting to hear why they are who they are. I've also always been someone people confide in. Most of the time it just happened, and I didn't really think too much of it. Now I see it as a blessing that people feel comfortable enough to be vulnerable with me. More than a blessing, being someone to confide in, is my calling.
I took an AP psychology class in high school. It was the first AP I had ever taken and it was the first semester for this teacher to teach it. I had it set in my heart I was one day going to be a psychologist. I wanted to help people. We started talking about the science of it all, and only the science. There were models and systems and exact reasons why people thought the way they did. I saw it becoming less about the person and more about the process of fixing them. At this moment, I lost my passion.
Into college I became obsessed with nutrition. I wanted to get all of the knowledge I could to help people be a better version of themselves and to help them live their life to the fullest. Again, I found myself wrapped up in science. (Can you tell it's not my strongest point?) Nutrition does center around science, we can't know how a food affects our bodies without proper studies and tests. I lost my passion again.
I then went to the easy choice for myself, to be a teacher. I am not saying teaching is an easy job, in fact I know it's the opposite, but it was always my fall back plan. I knew I had a love for helping others, I was good at English and liked to write, and I wanted to work with seniors as they begin to think about their life and where they really want to go. So Ms. Kennedy/Mrs. Hemnes it was.
Then something changed. I had been looking into attending SAGU and I saw counseling as a major. Not only counseling, but counseling ministries. Something immediately tugged at my heart. I prayed on it a lot, and I sometimes fought it. How could someone with a past like mine be qualified to counsel others? Doubts. They overwhelmed me. But I felt a yearning in my heart for this, and for the first time something felt right and like it could fit.
I'm now in my second semester of school at SAGU. I plan on taking 30 hours this year total. I am absolutely loving my classes, and instead of what they did in the past (turn me away from the desired profession) I find myself running towards them, excited to hear lectures I can relate to and enjoy. It is the most amazing thing to be in this place.
I think vulnerability is a beautiful thing. Elisabeth Shue said, "I understand now that the vulnerability I've always felt is the greatest strength a person can have. You can't experience life without feeling life. What I've learned is that being vulnerable to somebody you love is not a weakness, it's a strength." As a counselor these people will not know me outside of these sessions. For some it is easier to be vulnerable with a stranger than someone you love, but my hope is that whatever stories I hear they realize they are what can make them strong and beautiful rather than weak and fragile.
I am so excited for how God will use me in other people's lives. I have to think about my own as well, too. If you're reading this and you have a similar heart, I know that it gets heavy often. So many times throughout the day I am depending on God to use me for other people. I come home on fire for God and what He did that day, do my normal Bible study, and sleep. I still give all glory to God, but sometimes I correlate God using me and just resting in God as the same thing when they are not. If there is one thing I could say to someone wanting to help others (in any way) it is that your time with God is the most important counseling session you will have. It needs to happen frequently, or you will be empty. In a job that serves others it is vital to remember you can rest in God.
I strive to always be there for people when they need me but sometimes I find that so hard to believe is possible in someone else, even God! What a thought. That God doesn't have time for me, is bored of me, or He only wants to be included in the parts where I'm sharing the good news. If you catch yourself having those thoughts I'd encourage you to have time of worship, my favorite song for these moments is How Can it Be by Lauren Daigle. Because that's exactly what I am thinking in those moments, how can someone love me THIS much without ceasing? What a beautiful love story and hope to hold onto.
I am so excited about what God will use me for in life. But I am learning to be equally excited and to accept the love that is always readily available and never empties.
"the Lord appeared to him from far away. 'I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.'" Jeremiah 31:3
I took an AP psychology class in high school. It was the first AP I had ever taken and it was the first semester for this teacher to teach it. I had it set in my heart I was one day going to be a psychologist. I wanted to help people. We started talking about the science of it all, and only the science. There were models and systems and exact reasons why people thought the way they did. I saw it becoming less about the person and more about the process of fixing them. At this moment, I lost my passion.
Into college I became obsessed with nutrition. I wanted to get all of the knowledge I could to help people be a better version of themselves and to help them live their life to the fullest. Again, I found myself wrapped up in science. (Can you tell it's not my strongest point?) Nutrition does center around science, we can't know how a food affects our bodies without proper studies and tests. I lost my passion again.
I then went to the easy choice for myself, to be a teacher. I am not saying teaching is an easy job, in fact I know it's the opposite, but it was always my fall back plan. I knew I had a love for helping others, I was good at English and liked to write, and I wanted to work with seniors as they begin to think about their life and where they really want to go. So Ms. Kennedy/Mrs. Hemnes it was.
Then something changed. I had been looking into attending SAGU and I saw counseling as a major. Not only counseling, but counseling ministries. Something immediately tugged at my heart. I prayed on it a lot, and I sometimes fought it. How could someone with a past like mine be qualified to counsel others? Doubts. They overwhelmed me. But I felt a yearning in my heart for this, and for the first time something felt right and like it could fit.
I'm now in my second semester of school at SAGU. I plan on taking 30 hours this year total. I am absolutely loving my classes, and instead of what they did in the past (turn me away from the desired profession) I find myself running towards them, excited to hear lectures I can relate to and enjoy. It is the most amazing thing to be in this place.
I think vulnerability is a beautiful thing. Elisabeth Shue said, "I understand now that the vulnerability I've always felt is the greatest strength a person can have. You can't experience life without feeling life. What I've learned is that being vulnerable to somebody you love is not a weakness, it's a strength." As a counselor these people will not know me outside of these sessions. For some it is easier to be vulnerable with a stranger than someone you love, but my hope is that whatever stories I hear they realize they are what can make them strong and beautiful rather than weak and fragile.
I am so excited for how God will use me in other people's lives. I have to think about my own as well, too. If you're reading this and you have a similar heart, I know that it gets heavy often. So many times throughout the day I am depending on God to use me for other people. I come home on fire for God and what He did that day, do my normal Bible study, and sleep. I still give all glory to God, but sometimes I correlate God using me and just resting in God as the same thing when they are not. If there is one thing I could say to someone wanting to help others (in any way) it is that your time with God is the most important counseling session you will have. It needs to happen frequently, or you will be empty. In a job that serves others it is vital to remember you can rest in God.
I strive to always be there for people when they need me but sometimes I find that so hard to believe is possible in someone else, even God! What a thought. That God doesn't have time for me, is bored of me, or He only wants to be included in the parts where I'm sharing the good news. If you catch yourself having those thoughts I'd encourage you to have time of worship, my favorite song for these moments is How Can it Be by Lauren Daigle. Because that's exactly what I am thinking in those moments, how can someone love me THIS much without ceasing? What a beautiful love story and hope to hold onto.
I am so excited about what God will use me for in life. But I am learning to be equally excited and to accept the love that is always readily available and never empties.
"the Lord appeared to him from far away. 'I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.'" Jeremiah 31:3
