When I decided to become
a counselor, I had no idea what my life would be like. I mean, I knew people faced different types
of challenges every day. That was one of
the reasons why I became a counselor. I
thought I could help them. From the time
I was about twelve years-old, people talked to me—about anything. They thought I was much older than I was and
said I was a good listener. I listened to anyone who wanted to talk and
sometimes, I offered advice and surprisingly, people would follow it, thanking
me for helping them to see things, differently.
Somehow, I managed to
maintain that particular trait through high school and right through to
college. Picking a major for me was
fairly easy. I knew I had to become a psychologist. The coursework and the internship was
tedious, but worth it. During my first
year of college, taking general courses, some of my classmates often met for
study sessions either in the library or student center. We would talk for hours or rather they would
talk and I would generally listen. Every
once in a while, someone would discuss a personal challenge they were feeling
and I would offer what advice I could.
Usually, it worked out well. After I completed the general courses, I
didn’t have a great deal of time to meet with classmates unless we were working
on a collaborative assignment.
Most of my work involved
talking to patients during my internship at a local clinic. I met my husband during an internship in a
clinic where he was working. It’s a good
thing I know how to listen—to external voices and to my heart. We were a match made in heaven and looking
back on how our relationship developed, I know God was in the plan. I had dated other men, but found them to be
extremely self-absorbed. Ken—my
husband—was just the opposite. He was
interested in everything and everyone and he was also already in ministry at
his local church (which I thought was a plus since I was in ministry as well). We would spend hours talking about what we
had studied and how it impacted our approaches to various types of people. We were both adept at reading people and
analyzing them before they really had too much to say, which is a good thing . He
was never at a loss for words, but he listened as intently as he talked. He
loved his work and later told me that I had become the catalyst he needed to
start his own clinic. After we married,
he started the clinic and the two of us work together—trying to help people
sort out their lives, clinically and spiritually.
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