February 14, 2006
Happy Valentines day and welcome to the February 2006 Issue of Your Christian Counseling Connection, the Newsletter of Christian-Counseling-Online.com.
Freely you have received, freely give...
If you are blessed by what you read, please share the blessing by passing YCCC on to someone you love.
In this addition of YCCC you will find...
Great Web Resources -- Free Web Page for Christian Counselors
Win a Book -- Refer your favorite Christian Counselor
Feature Article -- Be a Value Added Valentine
Quotes and Contemplations -- Wisdom for your soul
Book Works Book Review -- "The Search for Significance"
Great Web Resources -- Win A Free Web Page Subscription:
We want to help Christian Counselors spread the message of hope by making available affordable web pages. For this reason Christian Counseling Online has launched a Christian Counseling Services Directory for Christian Counselors who are in agreement with our statement of faith.
This month a FREE 1 year subscription (on our already indexed web site) will be given to the first Christian Counselor in the following areas (Central Florida, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Houston) who contacts me via the counseling web hosting page. This is a $155.40 value.
In addition to the Christian Counseling Services Directory you will find products to enhance your counseling services such as the Professional Counseling Forms Tool Kit .
Dear reader, if you know a Christian Counselor, that would benefit from being listed in our new Christian Services Directory please email me with the counselor's name and email address along with your name and mailing address. I will send the first 3 readers who refer a Christian Counselor a copy of "The Search for Significance".
Congratulations to Sue V. of Palm Bay, Florida who answered all the questions correctly to last month's YCCC Newsletter Quiz. She won a copy of "Ordering Your Private World" by Gordan MacDonald.
Be one of the first 3 to email me with the name and email address of a Christian Counselor you value and win a copy of "Search for Significance" by Robert McGee. Don't forget your name and mailing address.
Also, congratulations to those readers who took up the New Years challenge to "Make God First" this year. I am praying for you!
What is a gift unless it speaks to the heart of your loved one? Valentines day is a day to express, in a special way, the love of your heart towards your loved ones. But how do you give a gift that really says "I love you."
Gary Chapman would urge you to learn the love languages of those you love the most. I wouldn't disagree with that. Love languages are a powerful way to say "I love you", not just on Valentines day, but every day.
Here's a Valentines day idea, commit to reading "The Five Languages of Love" with your spouse and make it a personal resolution to intentionally speak your spouse's love language every day.
Creating an experience of love daily for your loved ones through out the year will add value to your Valentines' day offering. I heard a world renown counselor say recently that great relationships are those where acts of love are demonstrated 100's of times a day to one's loved one. How about that for a personal goal?
God's word tells us to show love this way, "Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing." 1 Peter 3:8-9. For Valentines day how about making a commitment to live compassionately with your loved ones. Decide to do as Peter instructs -- commit to not returning "insult with insult".
Finally, the greatest Valentine you can offer your loved ones is the same Valentines God offers us. The greatest expression of His love is the forgiveness He offers us through Jesus Christ. He says "forgive as I have forgiven you."
Today, if you are feeling angry, hurt, betrayed, ignored or unloved by your loved ones chose to offer the gift of God's forgiveness. Entreat God to give you the grace to share His love and forgiveness freely as He does.
If it's an understanding of God's love that you are lacking (after all, you can't give something you don't have) may I suggest a wonderful sermon by my very own beloved Pastor, Dan Hendley called "Love on Display."
Book Works -- The Search for Significance
Everyone is searching for significance, yes everyone. God has created man for a purpose and that purpose is what gives all men significance. We must have a sense of purpose in our lives! Without it we are lost and hopeless.
The drive to understand our significance will always be a profound motivating force in our lives. Our motives are like the fuel that starts our engine. It's the thing that makes us go, if you will. Our motives are largely responsible for why we do the things we do.
However with the fall of man our whole being became corrupt: Our will, our desires, our emotions and our motives. But Christ has promised to redeem us. Part of God's redemption process is restoring to the elect an understanding of their true significance.
When we understand God's truth about our significance, our emotions, desires, will and motivations all begin to dovetail with God's plan for us. It is then and only then that we will experience the peace of God in all areas of our life. It is only then that we will overcome the sin that so easily entangles us.
Robert McGee's book "The Search for Significance" is an excellent tool to help you overcome the sinful habits and negative emotions that keep you from experiencing the abundant life God promises.
Quotes and Contemplations -- Wisdom for your soul
“We are too quick to resent and feel what we suffer from others, but fail to consider how much others suffer from us. Whoever considers his own defects fully and honestly will find no reason to judge others harshly.” Thomas a’ Kempis, The Imitation of Christ.
In Closing...
Check back often as Christian-Counseling-Online is rapidly growing to give you the best Christian Counseling resources available on the web. If you like what you read please feel free to share it with others. You can easily find the newest pages at Christian Counseling Online by accessing our web site blog.
Until next time, I'm praying for God's richest blessings on your life and relationships,
