Today one of my counselee’s (we will call her Mary) looked at me and said, “I have been to hundreds of counselors, therapists and psychiatrists, but it wasn’t until I came to counseling with you that I am experiencing this breakthrough.” Now “hundreds” is certainly an exaggeration BUT she has been in institutions since she was 14 years old and she is about my age. So she has seen a lot of professionals for her mental/emotional issues and their aftermath of addiction.

Please don’t hear what I am NOT saying. I am NOT sharing this to puff up myself on social media and get the world to look at me. Not even close. In fact it is with humble tears streaming down my face that I write this testimony. Tears of awe and wonder.

Of all the professionals Mary has seen, I am thee LEAST qualified to help her. I have zero professional training. I am not certified, licensed or educated by the world’s standards. But what I do have, I share freely and all I have to offer is the person of Jesus.

It is my Jesus that so kindly meets brokenness with tender mercy.
It is my Jesus that knocks on hardened hearts and turns them into piles of wet Kleenex.
It is my Jesus that convicts hearts of gross sin and restores purity to the filthiest soul.
It is my Jesus that crawls into their imagination and appeals to the traumatized child left inside of them. It is in this place He meets their need and speaks peace and truth and healing.

Now I am sobbing. I don’t know why my incredible Jesus would allow me to witness this day after day but I am forever grateful to sit across the office from Him while He is at work in the hearts of his beloveds. It has been the highest thrill of my heart.

Professional counseling has its place and I am not here to knock it. But what strikes me is that the person of Jesus is truly enough! HE is the one who has brought breakthrough to a woman who was desperate. It wasn’t any good idea or revelation that I had shared. It wasn’t behavior modification strategies or those hideous religious systems of earning one’s way to freedom. NO! It was nothing and no one but Jesus!! He is enough for me! He is obviously enough for Mary. He is enough for you.

Friend, neighbor, stranger….please hear me loud and clear. We don’t get to decide what qualifies a person for their destiny. Humanity doesn’t get to choose who God will work through. Have you heard that classic Christian phrase “God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called”?

Well, here is what I pray before I meet with someone for counseling: “God I don’t have a clue what we are gonna get into here but I am just gonna follow your lead. I can’t begin to heal the pain and mess we are walking into but I trust you and will go where you go. HELP!!!!!!”

If you are doubting, fleeing from or ignoring an impossible thing that God wants you to do, take heart. He is asking you to take the plunge, the risk, the leap. He is asking you to join Him on an adventure that will thrill your heart and be wildly dangerous. He is asking you for a simple “yes” and He will do the rest.

SPOILER: You will probably not be “qualified” but apparently that doesn’t really matter to Him!