Religious and Spiritual Struggles
Learning to Live the Questions
Sometimes life throws us a curve ball and we are left questioning everything we thought we knew about ourselves, the world, relationships, and sometimes even God. A cancer diagnosis. A spouse’s affair. A sudden tragic death. Abuse. Severe mental illness. The list could go on. The scenarios may be different, but the aftermath often is the same. We find ourselves standing in the wake of tragedy scratching our heads and desperately trying to make sense and meaning out of our intense pain and suffering. And we quickly realize that our previous ways of coping and making sense of things just don’t really fit anymore; they don’t hold up in the face of our ever-growing list of questions: What did I do to deserve this cancer diagnosis? How could God let this abuse happen? Who am I if I am not a wife or mother anymore? Is there life and love after a divorce? Why did God let my loved one die? What’s my purpose? How am I supposed to forgive the person who wrecked my life?
I know what it’s like to have your world turned upside down by the events of life. And I know what it’s like to wrestle with the questions and doubts that are born from hurt and pain. As your therapist, I will not pretend to have any answers; those are yours to live into and discover.
Perhaps the German poet, Rilke, says it best:
“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”
Through the process of therapy, I will walk with you. I will listen deeply with you. I will help shoulder your pain and give voice to your deepest spiritual struggles. Together we will learn to love and live the questions and find healing, meaning and purpose.
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