Many times people have beliefs about themselves in certain situations that are not accurate. They might believe “I am not good enough” when they gather in a group of friends or relatives, which then causes them to have social difficulties.  They might believe “I am dumb” when they are in a classroom situation and this belief then affects their learning.

For several years I have been working with children who have a history of abuse and neglect, and these children have lots of these negative beliefs because of what happened to them.  For adults, these thoughts are commonly called in Cognitive-Behavioral circles “Irrational Beliefs”.  In EMDR terms they are called “Negative Cognitions”.   For kids, Ana Gomez coined the term “Mixed Up Thoughts”.

Everyone has Mixed Up Thoughts that cause us problems in our life.  When I began learning from the three amazing women at the Attachment and Trauma Center of Nebraska, I learned that after identifying the mixed up thoughts, you then need to look for the truth.

If the mixed up thought when you are with a group of people in a social situation is “I am not good enough”, what is the actual truth that you need to work on believing?  Could it be “I have a great sense of humor”?  Something you never thought about before?  A bright side that you need to focus on instead of those feelings of not being good enough?

Something I later learned through my own battle with depression, thanks to a fabulous therapist, is that Satan is the primary author of those mixed up thoughts.  He lies to you to get you to feel messed up inside. To ruin your life.  To make it so you can’t do the good things God meant you to do.

Satan had me believing that I couldn’t do it.  That I could not get up in the morning and face the difficult emotions I had.  Satan had me believing the lies-I had to stay in bed, I couldn’t help anyone as a therapist, I wouldn’t make it through the day without breaking down, nobody wanted me around, my family would be better off without me.  It was only when I stopped believing the lies-out loud and with full force-that my depression no longer controlled me.  Sure, there were days I had trouble with the fight and Satan won, but I got back up and kept fighting until I didn’t have those days anymore.

This concept is where the “Truth” in Truth & Grace comes from.

Regarding Grace, oftentimes when we are caught up in our mixed up thoughts, we do things we are not proud of.  We might get upset with those we are spending time with because our mixed up thought is that “I can’t let others be in control”.  In this case, once we find the truth and realize that we don’t have to have control all the time, we may know that we have some apologizing to do to a friend.

God gave us the ultimate gift of Grace through sending his son, our Lord Jesus Christ to die for our sins.  Sometimes it is tough to come humbly before Him and accept the grace that Christ gave us.  I can help with that process.

That concept is where the “Grace” in Truth & Grace comes from.

So, here at Truth & Grace Counseling, I want to help you find the truth, and then help you feel God’s grace for anything that might have happened while you were believing the lies.  After this, you can feel the true healing that God wants you to experience.