Deus Misereatur

Contemplation and Counseling: An Integrative Model for Practitioners by P. Gregg Blanton My rating: 4 of 5 stars If humans are truly made in the image of God then there is necessarily a pious aspect to their make-up, their troubles, and to their recovery. P. Gregg Blanton, professor of psychology and human services at Montreat College since 1997, founder of the Center for Contemplation and Marriage, and active therapist in private practice, has interestingly drawn in contemplative prayer as part and parcel for helping others gain/regain well-being. This is all laid out in his brand new 232 page paperback, "Contemplation and Counseling: An Integrative Model for Practitioners". This volume is primarily for the sanative specialists, drawing from the mindfulness approaches of Kabat-Zinn and Siegel, as well as the centering prayer pathway of Meninger, Pennington and Keating. But it moves into the author's own direction. In "Contemplation and Counseling" Blanton...

Why Me?: Comfort for the Victimized by David A. Powlison My rating: 5 of 5 stars Forty-four pages of grit and goodness! That's the best way to describe this booklet by David Powlison, executive director of Christian Counseling and Education Foundation and senior editor of the Journal of Biblical Counseling! Powlison writes this manuscript for those who have truly been vandalized and victimized by others. He doesn't lessen their anguish or make light of their angst. What he does do is walk the reader through Psalm 10, showing how to use the Psalm, the ways this Psalm draws us to Christ, and propels us to trust the good God, since faith "finds God in suffering, producing endurance, love, and hope" (23). Christian sufferers (the raped, abused, falsely accused, abandoned, etc.) should read this with open hearts, open journals, and ready pens. You will want to jot down notes as you become familiar with this God-given song. In the first part of the pamphlet Powlison s...

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble (Psalm 46.1). O Lord God, who rules in heaven and on earth, who directs orbits and oceans, governs harvests and hailstorms, who fashions the heart of all people and observes all their deeds (Psalm 33.15), who can set every man against his neighbor (Zechariah 8.10) but can also make wars to cease to the ends of the earth (Psalm 46.9); through your Son, Jesus Christ, you reconciled to yourself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace through the blood of his cross (Colossians 1.20). Attend to our prayers this day as we seek your face and intercede on behalf of your Church and world. For your church all around this globe, and the OKC area, such as Drexel Blvd Church, Eastside Church of Christ, Estes Park Church of Christ, and Grand Blvd Church of Christ, we pray: guide her leaders, heal her divisions, reclaim her waywardness, right her wrongheadedness, and mend her brokenness. And here at Heritage, enri...