Posted on November 5, 2025

This week marks the one-year anniversary of the opening of Hope Counseling and the first professional counseling session that I have ever provided! In that time, I’ve been blessed to speak to 54 additional wonderful individuals and couples faced with all manner of difficulties in their lives and marriages who were willing and looking to receive help. Many times, I’ve not been the first mental health provider that they’ve seen in their life, but almost always, I am the first person that approaches their need from a biblical perspective and with an acknowledgement that God is our ultimate healer and provider. Hope Counseling is founded on the principle that it is Christ that heals and provides the answers and guidance, not me. Psychiatrists are often convinced that their pills are sufficient for any hurt or crisis. Too often, even licensed clinical therapists (LPC, LMFT, LCSW) believe secular psychology alone provides complete understanding sufficient to heal fully and direct healthy living. In 2 Peter 1:3 God’s word offers the Christian, “By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.” I’m not saying that there is no place for medicine and doctors or that psychology can’t help us understand how God designed us and why destructive behavior patterns and certain thinking occur, of course, I only argue that it is God that is Sovereign over all things. Paul was afflicted and tormented and Jesus reminded him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” in 2 Corinthians 12:8.

Also, in this past year, I’ve been meaning to write about the integrationist nature of Hope Counseling which rests on the Christian worldview and biblical perspective as well as Scripturally-sound, evidence based treatments (EBTs) compared to the very different strictly nouthetic counseling of Jay Adam’s followers and the fully secular clinical counseling approach governed by the APA, Board of Behavioral Sciences (in CA), and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental disorders (currently DSM-5-TR). Today is not that day.

This post is to celebrate and praise God for what He has done and how He has allowed me to be a firsthand witness to, and encourage anyone that has fallen into the belief there is ever a time when Jesus is not loving those that are in Him (Romans 8:37-39). Through a better understanding of God’s word and by God simply providing someone to walk alongside those in need as His word encourages, I have seen husbands come back home, Fathers commit to their children, children recognize their true identity and nature, reliance on drugs and other idols be replaced by a trust in Jesus, marriages be reconciled and strengthened, anxiety fall away to hope, people become confident and able, hurt people see God’s love as greater and more precious than anyone else’s for the first time, and (my favorite) I’ve been able to help couples start their life together in a way that will honor God’s design for marriage and glorify Him throughout their lives as their marriage is prepared to be an ongoing testimony of the gospel and how Jesus loves His bride, the church, as others observe them live that example out (Ephesians 5:25-33). I have also been blessed with the support and help from my local church and elders that provide a place for me to answer the call to serve and my loving wife for all her prayers and support. For every client that I am face to face with, my wife is at home faithfully praying for them without knowing who they even are or what their needs are.

Unfortunately, there are times when it is difficult for clients to continue to come or come as often as they’d like or need due to their stated financial limitations. If you would like to join me and my church in helping those in need to get the help they are seeking but are unable to fully afford alone, please feel free to donate toward either a standard (usually individual) session for $100 or an extended (usually marriage or premarital) hour and a half session for $140. If you have prayerfully considered helping and have decided to donate, you can send any donations using Zelle at [email protected] or Venmo @HopeCounselingofTracy.

Please note that, at this point, Hope Counseling is as much a personal passion project as a for-profit business but is not set up as a non-profit under 501(c)(3) and no portion of your donation can be used for tax purposes. Donations should not be construed as a venture investment of any kind.

~ May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.