How Being a Mental Health Coach Was Right for Me - Mental Health Coaching #10 - Purity 1352

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo of yellow wildflowers dispersed over a field of green with the hump of one of the Taconic Mountains in the distance comes to us from yours truly as I captured this pleasant scene back on May 13th, 2023 during my first ever visit to the Merck Forest Farmland Center in Rupert, Vermont. Well, it's Wednesday, and I figured that the half hump in the background in today's photo was enough to visually represent our arrival at another hump day. And for me, it is fitting to show the descending side of this hill or mountain because, as far as my mind is concerned, the hump is behind me, because I'm hitting the road tomorrow and going off the grid for the weekend. As I am headed to the Pennsylvania Band of Brothers boot camp at High Point Camp in Geigertown, PA, with the bona fide mullet champ— two-time reigning and defending mullet champ, mind you— Scott Salvador. And I am not taking my laptop. Whoa! Uh, yeah, Scott is leading a Wild at Heart book study at our church on Mondays and to be fully equipped in Eldredge's book and to lead the study with confidence. He found this Wild at Heart theme boot camp and signed up and extended the invitation to join him for the event, for the adventure. I just launched my Christian life coaching business and figured that being similarly equipped and experienced with a Wild at Heart weekend could benefit me. And my future clients. So the weekend away will be considered a business expense. Smart. And will be a nice retreat as I recently got a word from the Lord to rest after the madcap schedule of ministry training and life that 2024 has been thus far. The weekend away will be what we call in mental health circles self-care. And speaking of mental health, although I have finished sharing from Matthew Boone's 2023 blog post over the last several days to adequately discuss the topic of mental health coaching, I'm extending the series to today to make it 10 parts and to share the thoughts that I had about why being a mental health coach was right for me. As I shared in Parts 1 and 2 of the series, as I sought out my purpose for God's kingdom, I determined that pastoring and counseling seemed not to not be a part of God's plan for my life, at least not yet. I try to keep— I try to never say never because I want to be open to the possibilities and available for whatever the Lord has— would have me do. And in this season, the call on my life seemed to be to become a Christian life coach. After announcing the opening of M.t. Clark's Christian Life Coaching LLC, an old friend inquired about what I would be offering in terms of services. So as I wrote the following response to explain what I would, what I would be offering to help clients with, the topic of mental health coaching naturally came up because it was only after I became aware of mental health coaching that I decided to jump out of the boat into the uncertain waters of Christian life coaching. I wrote, as for the new business venture, one of the things that has always been on my heart after I would disciple other men through the Freedom in Christ course or at my local church would be that after our disciple relationship came to a conclusion, I felt that they still had issues to deal with, or that they could grow even more, or I would later hear how they failed to maintain their freedom. I also encountered people who needed help and encouragement but who either couldn't or wouldn't get help or encouragement in a group setting. So while I was leading another Freedom in Christ course online this winter, the Lord put on my heart to step out in faith and offer my services as a Christian life coach specializing in recovery, spiritual formation, discipleship, and Christian living in general. I have a degree in Christian counseling and have been further trained in Emmanuel Prayer Techniques, and I felt that, that the education and new skills could be used by the Lord to help people. Everything clicked this winter when one of the pastors at my local church told me about mental health coaching. Turned out that the counseling pastor at our church wasn't a licensed counselor. He just provided biblical counseling but also did some online training to be a certified mental health coach. Essentially coaching people to manage stress or other symptoms of a psychological nature without having a license with the state of New York, which was a stumbling block for me because of my seminary, because my seminary isn't recognized by New York as an accredited institution. So instead of fighting an uphill battle with licensure, going to some secular school to get an accredited degree, I decided to follow my church counseling pastor's example, and so I got additional training in mental health coaching and professional life coaching, certified in both by Light University, to give me the confidence to step out in faith and be a life coach professionally, albeit on a part-time basis, and to answer this call to help people develop into achieve their life goals, to know the freedom, peace, and joy that I enjoy on a regular basis. So although trained and educated to minister and provide counsel, I am not a minister or a counselor. I'm a coach, and coaching is what I do. So what do I offer coaching for? Really, anything that my clients want to accomplish. I have a business degree, a psychology degree, a Biblical Studies degree and a Christian Counseling Master's degree, in addition to the certifications I have in mental health coaching and life coaching. So although I feel I can speak about almost anything, I know I'm not necessarily an expert. As a coach, I don't have to be. I'm not selling knowledge or expertise. As a coach, I'm selling a relationship. I'm there to encourage, advise, listen, watch, and work with my clients to help them accomplish their goals. And to help them realize their dreams, which I hope will lead to peace, joy, and a deep relationship with the Lord. My coaching won't focus on earning something as much as it will be by— be helping my clients to become who they want to be— become. So I will form a relationship with my clients that will be fluid or set in stone depending on what they want, setting concrete goals or just establishing a relationship where I'll where I am a sounding board, advisor, encourager, or consultant for the days of their lives, managing their moods, perceptions, and motivations to increase their quality of life. I don't have get-rich schemes, but I hope to support and advise my clients into a richer life by showing them what they are missing, or if they are living— if they are— or if they are living apart from God. My specialties will be spiritual formation, growing your relationship with God and living skillfully according to his word. Recovery, I've overcome basically everything and could show others the way. Mental health, through good self-care practices, insights, and reframing life according to God's truth, aka cognitive behavioral Behavioral Therapy, and Freedom: Steps to Freedom in Christ, and Healing: A Manual Prayer Ministry. So, so yeah, and the best thing is, is about my coaching is that you get it all, you get it all, you get all those skill sets in one person. A person who is dedicated and committed to the development and growth of his clients for the long term or short duration. For as long or as short a duration as the clients ask for, in a progressive fashion. Instead of doing everything at once, I recommend accomplishing one thing at a time to gauge progress and to enact what I call ascension, the concept of taking more and more ground from your life and claiming victory over it as a campaign of answering the upward call of Christ. And this is my upward call of Christ, to help others. That is why being a mental health coach as part of my practice as a Christian life coach was the right decision for me. I believe in human flourishing that can happen when we live in harmony with God. I don't need to be the headman of a church or to hold a license with the state to help people to do that. Being a coach allows me to offer support and help according to my most deeply held beliefs. And that's how being a mental health coach is right for me. Today's Bible verses come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on death and eternal life. And today's verses are from Revelation 3:4-5. The word of God says, yet you have There are still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. Today's verses is the third of five passages of scripture that fall under the 29th point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on death and eternal life. The 29th point is Jesus gives wonderful promises to all who overcome, who conquer, who fight against sin, and in their love for Christ persevere. Today's verses make, makes a case for personal purity and holiness and assures us that if we have faith in Jesus, we are safe. If we conquer or, or overcome, we will be dressed in white, and the Lord will never blot out our names out of the Book of Life. In other words, if we are real Christians pursuing holiness and living according to our faith, we will persevere in our faith and never need to fear losing our salvation. So You know, honestly, you can't lose your salvation. Either have it or you don't, and if you don't, you never were a believer, right? So follow Jesus and rejoice that when you are real, He will be faithful to save us. And that's, you know, these— if you want to be convicted about personal holiness, just read Revelation's opening verses here, how the Lord talks about those who overcome, you know, those who don't, you know, waver in their faith, that endure and persevere. You know, these passages about the churches in Revelation show that, that, you know, I have good things to say about you and bad things to say about you, but the ones that will endure, those will be the ones that are saved. And he'll confess our names before the Father and before his angels. That's good news. Anyway, we move along to the last section. As always, we invite you to go to mtforchrist.com or .org, where we always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist our brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. And today we continue sharing from According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament by Stephen F. Alford. And then Alford's devotional, he prompts us to read a chapter of scripture. Today's chapter is Acts 23. From Acts 23, he shares a portion of Acts 23:16, which says, Paul's sister's son heard of their ambush. And Stephen Alford writes, here is an example of how God preserves his own. The story is not only interesting but also instructive from this point of view. Here is a lad of no importance, most probably as far as the human side goes, but nevertheless just as useful to God as the lad with the 5 loaves and fishes. With this instrument, God made a way of escape for his servant when his position was otherwise hopeless. If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31. Our God is able. He is a God with whom nothing is impossible. And Alfred prays us out by saying, give me the faith of of God, O Lord. Amen. Amen. And so, yeah, um, Paul's sister's son heard of their ambush, warned Paul, and he made his— he made his escape. And, uh, he was used to protect Paul. And, you know, and luckily Paul escaped and went on to write all the epistles that he wrote from that point forward, you know, that instruct us about, you know, how to live as a Christian. Paul's epistles are wonderful because they tell us about who we are in Christ and how to live. So we rejoice that even someone simple, you know, doing a simple act can really be, you know, used by the Lord. And they're just in the right place at the right time and They're faithful to, to, you know, do God's will. And that's what I try to do by sharing this message of freedom and hope in Christ. And now by stepping out in faith to be a Christian life coach, to walk beside people who want to, you know, follow the Lord with the way they live their lives and to accomplish the things they want to accomplish. You know, through faith and a relationship that's built on trust, you know, and on the Word of God. Because that's where I counsel or coach from. I don't tell you about theories. I tell you about what God says and doing what's right according to His Word. And when we do that, we live in harmony with God, and He blesses us with peace and all the other fruit of the Spirit. So that's what we're doing. So yeah, this, um, I am going away tomorrow morning, so we'll have a blog post tomorrow, a podcast tomorrow, and after that we're heading to Pennsylvania. And I might bring my phone along, so it's possible I'd get a podcast out or a blog post out, but I think I'm just gonna go off-grid and I'll be off until until Monday, so there's no Bible study with the Sankati this weekend or next weekend, as this month is going to be— ends with 2 weekends away. I'm going away with my brother and my friend Scott Salvador this weekend for this Band of Brothers thing in Pennsylvania, which is— I don't know, I gotta bring a sleeping bag, so we'll see. I think it's cabins. And next weekend I'm backpacking into the wilds of Vermont, the Mark Forest Farm Center cabins, Nemurod Cammer, where we spent last year. Me and my wife, we're going to backpack, just the two of us. No electricity. So, so It should be interesting, should be good. But yeah, I wanted to say that basically because there'll be an interruption in the 24/7 chain over the next few days and next week. So, well, we're not there yet though. Today we have to go, go to work, so we should pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Thank you for all that you do. We And thank you for our freedom in Christ. Thank you for leading us in the way we should go. Lord, we pray for anyone who's listening today, that you come alongside them and their prayer requests, their walk of faith, and help them, Lord. Bless them. And while you're at it, Lord, you can bless us by showing us the way. Open our eyes to the things you want us to see and lead me in the way you want me to go. It's all I want to do is represent you in your kingdom and show other people the way, uh, to life everlasting and a life filled with peace and joy. And definitely need your help with that. So Lord, help us today. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.