I am the Vine; You are the Branches

Craig Boxwill, Sr

Counseling Intern

3/13/2023

Counseling Internship requires education, people, and listening skills, but the greatest of these is - Desire.

As a pastoral counseling intern, I constantly search the scriptures for spiritual guidance to encourage others to follow. Secular counseling education more than equips me with the proper techniques and guidelines - but the topic of desire is addressed in both positive and negative perspectives in the Bible. It addresses what not to desire in the flesh, but also what spiritual desires to seek in the spirit (Romans 8:15); it discusses eagerly desiring gifts while also describing what deceitful desires to avoid (Ephesians 4:22). However, what is consistent in the scriptures is being a bridge to our God-given passions. I love counseling; my passion is to counsel, get in the emotional boat and help others steer. In 1 Timothy, Paul speaks of desiring a noble task, and he links this desire with sensuality and a need to overcome it because it can have such a stronghold. When gripped by that unhealthy stronghold, finding someone to walk with you is challenging - many of us feel hopeless, scared, and alone.

Passions can bring us into healthy connections, but sometimes not-so-healthy ones. This healthy passion comes from empathizing with others' pain, walking beside them, and leading them over the bridge toward their goals. Within these goals, solutions are found on this recovery road; it offers comfort and understanding in patience to wait for God’s healing. All of us need counseling, someone to guide us, to direct us, to bring us to the bridge where the healing we were searching for exists. As a counselor, I can’t do it for them, but I can walk beside them - 1 Peter alludes to our not desiring in ignorance, so we are matured through education and mentoring instructions. Our goal is to avoid and help others prevent unhealthy human desires instead of the will of God (1 Peter 4:2). Not all interns choose pastoral counseling as a profession. Still, all counselors, without a doubt, see God’s hand move emotional and psychological mountains in the lives of those we counsel. Because we have seen this in others - even in ourselves sometimes, we know this worldly flesh with its pain and hardship will at some point pass away, but 1 John 2:17 reminds us that the Will of God lives on forever. Walk beside the Lord and take on his desire and passion for healing and comforting his people - you, too, can receive the same healing.