Kitchen Table Counseling

I always get very drained from textbooks.  I truly believed in college that if I was reading about something (other than business) that I really enjoyed I would be able to stay more focused and not end up asleep after 3 pages.  But, now that I'm in seminary, I realized nothing has changed.  For some reason that academic writing that uses big words, long sentences, and philosophical ideas is VERY difficult for me to process. I wish that I could pick up any D.A. Carson book and plow through it like I did Bittersweet by Shauna Niequist but unfortunately I can't.  This was really difficult for me to swallow when I got to seminary.  I had lots of friends at Miami who were wonderful at debating Calvinism and Arminianism, and asked very deep questions about the existence of God, the problem of evil, and evolution, and I desperately wanted that.  It was more prideful than anything- not to know God deeper, but for people to view me as that smart-intellectual type.  Let's just say the Lord did a great work in my heart during my Apologetics class in the summer of '09 and I have come to realize that I was not created to be the next female Alvin Plantinga.  I've realized that I'm not as academic/ insightful as I desperately wanted to be, but that I'm gifted in other areas. 

Anyway, this is leading to my discussion of the recent book that I finished, Kitchen Table Counseling.  I have to admit, most of my counseling books aren't super philosophical, but they're still academic textbooks.  What I love about this book is that it is practical, useful, and tells lots of stories about Muriel and Shelly's experiences meeting with women going through various things in their life.  They break down what it looks like to counsel women, even if you're not a counselor.  We are going to have friends that approach us everyday needing guidance and I want to be prepared to give them Biblical, truth filled advice, which I know is life changing.  The authors give useful advice for how to talk with women going through depression, grief, thoughts of divorce, singleness, and worth.  It's neat how God places books in your life at the right time- my brother, Jon, bought me this book in college and I never picked it up until a couple weeks ago, but it was something I really needed right now in my life.  I have a pretty big book list for Christmas (even though I know I won't get all of them) but Christmas break is when we do a lot of traveling and I have plenty of time to catch up on reading books that I really want to read even though I can't during classes.  I'll keep you updated about the next one :)