CCC 28-2_LR

INNOVATIVE THOUGHT & PRACTICE

John Trent, Ph.D., and Kari Stageberg, M.B.A. HELPING YOU AND YOUR CLIENTS MOVE from Broken to Blessed

t The heart remembers the words, the pictures, and the moments when we realized we had received or had not received the Blessing. In many ways, the heart is like an online storage drive where we keep all the photos we have taken—a drive we have not had the time to sort through and organize. Day after day, week after week, year after year, pic tures are dropped into that drive. Pictures of birthdays, Christmas mornings, the first Little League game, soccer practice, piano recital, the last day of school party, an exhilarating or embarrassing moment, the overexposed, underexposed, faded, blurred—the stories of our lives.

By the time we reach adulthood, the drive is filled with memories. We take those memories with us every where we go. Pictures of a teacher’s praise… or ridicule. Memories of a classmate’s kindness… or cruelty. Even more important to us, memories of a parent’s smile… or scowl. Of hearing those priceless words, “I love you, I’m so proud of you”… or still longing and waiting to hear them for the first time. These pictures and memories can carry a blessing… or convey a curse. In particular, if we missed the Blessing from our par ents, there is tremendous power in those negative pic tures. They can push us down, defeat us, and continue

18 Christian Counseling Connection