Three Truths that will Change Your Life if You Choose to Believe Them

Author: Kimberly Vanhooser, LMFT

I’ve been a therapist for more than 10 years and have had the privilege if walking alongside hundreds of clients as they journey through many difficult situations. Because I have primarily made it known that I am a Christian therapist, the majority of my clients identify as part of the Christian faith and express a desire for therapy to come from a faith-led perspective. I’m a pretty good therapist, but God is a lot smarter than I am, so I love to be able to partner with Him in the work that I do.

The following are three statements that I believe are true of every single person, yet I think many people struggle to fully believe them. These are the beliefs that many of my clients have often wrested with in the therapy room. Past experiences and current circumstances have taught them the opposite. But, as believers, we can choose to stand on what God says is true about us, rather than what the world, other people, and our past experiences have indicated. This doesn’t mean that we ignore pain, refuse to grieve, and slap on a happy, positive face. But we can choose to process our pain, understand the impact our experiences have had on our subconscious beliefs, and choose to realign our thinking with God’s standard of truth in a way that allows us to emerge from ashes stronger and more full of life than before.

I encourage you to read these statements and check in with how they make you feel. Do you believe them? Do you believe them in your head but not in your heart? Do you struggle to believe them, but you want to come to a place of believing them? As you reflect and check in, you can even invite God in to give you insight and highlight what you need to know.

Truth #1: God really really really loves you.

If you are a Christian, you probably have heard this so much that it doesn’t even really make an impact anymore. But take a moment and let that sink in. God loves you. He loves you specifically, so much that He died a very painful death just so He could have the chance to hang out with you for all eternity. It wasn’t even guaranteed that He would get to spend that time with you…He leaves that choice up to you. But even so, God still chose to go through with it. Now, that’s love.

Most of us forget to operate out of a deep core belief that we are 100% unconditionally loved by God. Instead, we go through life worrying that God won’t actually take care of us, that He’ll punish us for making mistakes, or that we won’t ever be good enough. We go through life trying to earn the approval of other human beings before we take a moment to ask ourselves if God approves of us. Meanwhile, He already chose you. He wants you. He picked you. He’s waiting on you.

How would you go about life differently if you chose to consciously embrace the truth of God’s limitless love for you every morning? What would you let go of? What would you pursue?

It is very normal to struggle with the belief that God loves you, no matter how long you’ve been a Christian. The therapists at Clarity Christian Counseling can help you uncover and process what is contributing to mental roadblocks so you can learn to embrace the truth of God’s true love for you. This is a foundational belief if you want to thrive and not just live a life of joyless mediocrity.

Truth #2: You are a powerful person.

No matter how weak or stuck you feel in this moment, you are a powerful person. You have the power to change your life and make an impact on those around you. No matter what has been done to you, what traumas or injuries you have experienced, or how limited your circumstances look, you still have power. This does not mean that your trauma was your fault. Quite often, there is nothing someone could have done to prevent trauma or painful experiences. But rather than taking on shame, you can choose to take back your power and apply purpose to your pain.

To an extent, you can do that on your own. But what is so cool for believers, is that we have the ability to choose to partner with an all-powerful God. Even if you are completely weak and worn out, when God is your partner, nothing can stand against you for long. When you know that you have power, you can recognize that you can be equipped to enact change, carry influence in your environment, and make a difference.

Reflect on where you can make small choices every day that contribute to a small amount of good. Small changes can lead to big changes in the long run.

If you’ve experienced loss, trauma, abuse, and painful experiences in your life that have made you feel stuck and powerless, I encourage you to explore them with a licensed professional who can help you heal and reclaim your power and sense of agency.

Truth #3: You can do challenging things.

There are a lot of hard things in life. Some hard things we don’t even need to give attention to trying to overcome if they are purely not good for us. But all too often, people give up on something because it feels challenging. This could be because they don’t believe they are fully capable of overcoming it, don’t think it’s possible to overcome, are afraid to fail, or don’t think it’s worth the effort. But the truth is, you’re human. And humans do a lot of hard and amazing things every single day. Even if you don’t wind up in the Guinness Book of World Records for running the fastest marathon, have you stopped and pondered the miracle of being able to wake up, breathe, stand on two feet, and the myriad of other things that humans do on a daily basis that are kind of incredible if you really think about it?

You might think something is hard, but if a human has done it before it’s humanly possible. Therapy and healing from trauma can feel hard, but people do it all the time. Fighting for your marriage or relationship might feel fruitless, but many a marriage has been saved. Letting go of pride and being open to correction and learning ways to improve can be very painful, but humans do it. And, like we often see in the Guinness Book of World Records, humans go on to do hard things that have never been done before.

Now, remember, you don’t have to do challenging things alone. You have the option to partner with an all poweful and limitless God. With Him, all things are possible (Matthew 19:26). This doesn’t mean just because we pray for something to happen that it will happen as we want and expect. But, how many of us are looking at circumstances with limited human perspectives and forgetting to see things with God’s perspective? He’s not cowering in fear or swimming in hopelessness when He looks at your problems. He has an answer for every need and a solution for every problem. Use what you have access to as a believer and invite Him in to use His power in your situation.

The therapists at Clarity Christian Counseling love helping and equipping Christians to heal, mature, and thrive. If you want encouraging and faith-led counsel, we might be exactly what you need right now. Schedule your free phone consultation here to take the next step. We provide counseling to clients located in Arizona and Colorado, with limited in-person sessions available in South Denver Metro area with Kimberly Vanhooser.

*Disclaimer: Blogs are written by a therapist who loves Jesus and embraces the Bible as the standard of truth. Every reader has the right to choose for themselves what values they embrace and how their beliefs are informed. Every reader is solely responsible for how they choose to use and respond to the information shared in blogs and on this website. Blogs are not considered therapy and not intended to serve as a replacement for therapy, nor do they establish any sort of therapeutic relationship between the writer and the reader. If you are interested in seeking therapy with the author, you may schedule a phone consultation to inquire. The therapists at Clarity Christian Counseling abide by legal and ethical laws upheld by their governing state’s board when integrating faith with therapy.