Church is often described as “a hospital for the hurting" which is a metaphor that describes the church as a place for people to find acceptance and healing. The phrase is based on a passage from the Bible, Luke 5:31-32, where Jesus says, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Riding down the road, struggling with the direction the Lord is taking me. I am looking for a billboard that tells me very clearly, so I don’t miss His plan. After all, He wrote a whole book, 66 chapters, all’s I am asking for is one billboard.

Have you ever been asked this question? Or asked it of yourself? What’s your why for doing what you are doing something?  It is a question to explore the intentions or purpose what is being done.   

Is it self-serving or to serve others in some capacity.  Is it to control how someone looks or feels?  Is it to look for the approval of others?  In recovery groups this question would be framed as “What’s your motive” for doing what you are doing.

For over 20 years in private practice, I have accepted most major insurances so individuals can receive therapy while using their health benefits as therapy can be a costly investment.  It is an investment in yourself, your mental and emotional well-being, but insurance premiums are high and often deductibles are never met, so it makes sense to use insurance. During this time I have learned there are some definite reasons to not use insurance. 

How you think has an impact on your feelings and behaviors. Many times people say they can not control how they think, they think what they think. But the truth of the matter is we can control what and how we think. When we take authority over them we change how we feel and how we act.

We tend to have a lot of anxiety and depression around money. We are anxious and depressed if we do not have enough. We are anxious and depressed if we have too much. Funny, how money can have impact us on both ends of the spectrum.

Have you ever been in a place where you were picked last? Remember in school when sport teams were being picked in gym? Everyone else was picked first and then you? Maybe it was because you were too short, not athletic, or some other reason. Maybe you weren’t even picked it was by default because you were there? How often did you walk away from those experiences with a sense of inadequacy, failure, and self-depreciation for a thing you could not help?

Most of us still use Q-tips—despite all the warnings—why would we do that? I mean if even the manufacture of the product says don’t us it in our ears… I wonder who told us it was a good idea? Who have we been listening to all these years?

We are told not to stick a Q-tip in our ear as it can ultimately affect our listening. But what about “sticking” negative things in our ears? If we are not careful with what is going in our ears, in other words, what/who we are listening to we are in danger of hurting ourselves in the long run. I wondered what does the Creator of the Universe say about it?

When we stand facing the Light of the World we can continue traveling with assurance that we have His light on in us. Assuming it is automatic can be dangerous for us but also to others. They can’t see us when we blend into a dark and dreary environment. There is nothing that helps us to stand out and we can cause an accident both figuratively and metaphorically.