weekend renewal

Subtle sunset - ShelliBourque

This week I learned the danger of inviting a friend to sit outside to chat. The hours will pass in a flash and the sun will not be forgiving to your skin. Ouch! It seems good conversation can only be improved with sunscreen. ;)

May you find sweet time this weekend to be renewed by conversations with dear friends. And if you have a few moments to read, here are a few links with meaty thoughts:

The Church’s Response to Abuse

Perhaps you are not a church leader or a person of great influence, but you too can speak out and come alongside a hurting woman or mentor a man who is disrespectful and/or abusive toward his wife.  No one heals from destructive relationship patterns through counseling alone.  People are wounded in relationships and people are healed in relationships.  But it takes real people in real community in real relationships.  If the church does not, will not, or cannot provide this for broken people, then where will they go?

When People You Love Make Choices You Hate

There’s a reason God commands us to love and forgive; if it were optional, I’m convinced we wouldn’t.

How Not to Get Ready for Church on Sunday

I was already worshipping, but it was the wrong god.

That morning, I worshipped the gods of convenience and ease, the gods of efficiency and order and good reputation. God had given me one thing (my children) and I wanted something else (children who make no mistakes).

the span of biblical counseling

Red Barn Close - ShelliBourque

King David wrote the 23rd Psalm with the imagery of a shepherd caring for his sheep, for he was a shepherd-boy before God anointed him king. Jesus told Peter and Andrew he would make them fishers of men, for they were fishermen before leaving their trade to follow Christ. Visual imagery is found throughout scripture, and as long as we understand the image, we gain clearer understanding of the greater truth the image represents.

As a photographer, I cannot help but spot the words that have meaning in both photography and our walk with Christ. As believers, we look at life through the lens of scripture. We understand that we are being made into the image of Christ. And in order to change we must focus on the heart.

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demystifying biblical counseling

Pink Crabapple 2013-1 - ShelliBourque

As you chat with people after church, a friend confides that she and her husband are having verbal battles every day.

A sister calls and shares that she found drugs in her son’s bedroom.

Your daughter comes home from school and cries on your shoulder over hurtful words tossed her way by the mean girls.

Every day brings opportunities to counsel others. Is your counsel biblical?

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weekend renewal

Pink Crabapple 2013-2 - ShelliBourque

It’s been a full week around here. Thank you for your encouragement this week, especially to my face-to-face friends who have given the best kind of love and support. I’m looking forward to giving hugs of gratitude when I see you this weekend.

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the place of possibilities

White Crabapple and Fence 2013-1 - ShelliBourque

Today marks the fourth anniversary of the launch of this blog. Rather than focusing on the growing pains of years past, I’m celebrating the possibilities ahead.

Like a dormant seed bursting forth after a wildfire, a dream that lay dormant for years in my heart cracked open last year after the fiery storm of letting go of another dream. What burst from that seed was my love for biblical counseling. Reflecting on it, I wrote:

This is the place of possibilities. Little delights me more than seeing God’s people grow into the beauty of Christ through sound biblical teaching, discipleship, mentoring, and counseling. Biblical counseling is one of the most personal and focused ways to help another see the words in the pages of scripture come alive, and apply them to her life. Ever since I changed my major from biology to sociology twenty-two years ago, I have had a dream to counsel.

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