Tag Archives: counseling

Andrew Murray on Trials

By caryschmidt | March 6, 2010

This quote about trials from Andrew Murray found its way to me through Dr. Mark Rasmussen. Perhaps it will encourage you!
“First, He brought me here. It is by His will I am in this strait place: in that fact I will rest.”
“Next, He will keep me here in His love, and give me grace to [...]

7 Myths of Single Life

By caryschmidt | January 19, 2010

Seven Myths of Single-Life
Myths abound in today’s culture—through urban legends, chain emails, speed-diets, and beyond! Thanks to snopes.com, it’s pretty easy to run an email, a story, or a bizarre event through a quick research test to find out if it’s true or not.
So—do you have a “snopes” for life? Has it occurred to you [...]

Posted in ministry & outreach | Also tagged biblical living, college and career, dating, sunday school | 4 Comments

7 Big Parenting Mistakes

By caryschmidt | November 10, 2009

Here’s a short list of mistakes that all parents can make when it comes to seeing, understanding, and biblically responding to the spiritual growing pains of life. (This is as much to myself as to others.) Stop and think about it—and pray for godly wisdom in responding to the issues of your children’s hearts with [...]

Posted in family, student ministry | Also tagged adolescence, family, parenting, student ministry, teen life | 2 Comments

Struggling Teenagers? Don’t Give Up Early!

By caryschmidt | November 4, 2009

Have you had a student come through your youth group, graduate, and not mature spiritually the way you hoped? It seems no matter how we pray, labor, plan, or serve—there are some that graduate and drift spiritually.
What about trying to help a struggling student, only to feel like you’re spinning your wheels? Gauging by the [...]

Posted in family, student ministry | Also tagged college and career, parenting, student ministry, teen life | Leave a comment

Making God’s Will Less Confusing

By caryschmidt | October 19, 2009

Life is complex. God’s will isn’t. In fact, at any given moment, there’s a powerful question you can ask to determine if you are in or out of His will. It’s simply this:
“Did I follow God to where I am right now?”
The Holy Spirit will instantly resonate the answer in your heart—you will know it [...]

Posted in christian life | Also tagged biblical living, college and career, leadership, parenting, sunday school, teaching | Leave a comment

How to Help a Wounded Person

By Cary Schmidt | October 6, 2009

One of the most difficult circumstances of life and ministry is to try to help someone who has been deeply hurt. These are hard moments. More than anything, you want to take away the hurt, undo the pain, and fix the problem. But it’s just not that easy. Woundedness—regardless of how it occurred—requires time and [...]

Posted in counseling, featured | Also tagged biblical living, college and career, student ministry, teaching | 1 Comment

The Top Questions of Young Christian Singles

By Cary Schmidt | September 10, 2009

Throughout the year, our ministry to College and Career and Singles brings us into counseling, retreats, and venues where young Christian singles are airing really good questions. I have previously shared the details behind our Q&A times (both for teens as well as singles) and also the top 15 questions that teens ask.
Here’s the most [...]

Posted in counseling, student ministry | Also tagged biblical living, college and career, sunday school, teaching | 2 Comments

Defeating the Media Monster—Part 1

By Cary Schmidt | September 4, 2009

Media will eat your family alive, unless you tell it not to!

I have a deep inner aversion to living things that crawl, creep, fly, or slither around and find their way into places they don’t belong. They bother me. They creep me out. I just want them dead as quickly as I can make it [...]

Posted in family, featured, media & tech | Also tagged biblical living, danger, family, satanic, separation, social networking, student ministry, teen life, twitter | 1 Comment

Three Reasons to Get Good Advice

By Cary Schmidt | August 28, 2009

Isn’t it amazing how often people venture into major life-changing decisions without getting any outside, biblical advice. Why do we do this to ourselves?
Sometimes we fear that a counselor will have a private agenda and won’t counsel us honestly. At other times, we presume to know what our counselors will say, and rationalize it away [...]

Posted in christian life, counseling | Also tagged biblical living, college and career, teaching | 2 Comments

The Power of a Question

By caryschmidt | July 9, 2009

Helping Others by Asking the Right Questions

Not long ago I was on our church campus on an off day. As I left the building, headed home, there was an unfamiliar man taking photos of our buildings. Trying to be hospitable and also cautious, I approached him and kindly asked where he was from. He refused [...]

Posted in counseling, student ministry | Also tagged communication, family, leadership, ministry, parenting | 3 Comments

How George Mueller Discerned God’s Will

By Cary Schmidt | June 20, 2009

This past week, my Dad sent me an excerpt from a George Mueller life story that reflected on how Mueller discerned the will of God.
Mueller listed the following steps he believed were necessary in determining God’s will regarding any decision. I thought they might be helpful to others:

“I get my heart into such a state [...]

Posted in christian life | Also tagged biblical living, sunday school | Leave a comment

Beating Post HS Challenges (3)

By Cary Schmidt | June 12, 2009

(This is the third in a series articles about the first big tests that high school graduates face. We’ve been studying them in our senior Sunday school class and I hope these ideas will be helpful to you or those you influence.)

The Challenge of Freedom—this third challenge speaks of the increasing freedoms that always accompany [...]

Posted in student ministry | Also tagged biblical living, college and career, student ministry, sunday school | Leave a comment

Beating Post HS Challenges (2)

By Cary Schmidt | June 10, 2009

(This is the second in a series articles about the first big tests that high school graduates face. We’ve been studying them in our senior Sunday school class and I hope these ideas will be helpful to you or those you influence.)

In the first article of this series we visited the challenge of a job—how [...]

Posted in student ministry | Also tagged biblical living, college and career, student ministry, sunday school, teen life | 2 Comments

Beating Post HS Challenges

By Cary Schmidt | June 6, 2009

(This is the first in a series articles about the first big tests that high school graduates face. We’ve been studying them in our senior Sunday school class and I hope these ideas will be helpful to you or those you influence.)

Have you ever seen a train wreck? There’s not a much more vivid metaphor [...]