The Gift of Counseling

About 15 years ago my supervisor had looked me in the eye and gently told me "You have the gift! Some people go to school their whole life to become counselors, but what you have is in your belly, placed there by God."

While my supervisor's words were warm and inviting, they did little to soothe that sting of rejection that I had been experiencing at that time. There had been far too many counseling jobs and opportunities that had been out of my grasp because I lacked certain letters behind my name. At that time of my career, all I had was an Associates degree and a skill at reaching people. I wanted to know more about this "gift".

I started to pay attention to what I did when I was with a client in a therapy session, and began to analyze why I did what I did. Sometimes I could find some type of clinical justification for probing, providing affirmations, and recommendations, but there was something that could not be explained by a textbook of clinical terms. This was not just the feeling in my gut or an instinct I had about a particular type of treatment. There were other things that helped me learn about my "gift".

I first took notice when I had sat before an elderly, disabled man and knew that he had been a supervisor during his youth. The man's surprised look of 'How did you know that?', was my first clue that there was something greater at work. The more I paid attention to this knowing, other aspects of my gift began to manifest more often. Even in public, after talking to people for a few moments, they would often tell me their deepest, darkest secrets. When a young woman told me that she had been having an affair with her stepfather, after only knowing me for a few weeks, i began to pay attention. People tell me their secrets, and I felt no inclination to judge them. Instead I wanted to help them deal with the burden of their secrets and be free. This is a major part of my gift.

My supervisor said the gift had been placed there by God. Yes, I had begun to recognize the ways that my gift would manifest but it took a while for me to make that connection to God. Eventually, I realized that a gift given to me by God would be even more effective if I made my gift available for God to use. It sounds very simple in theory, but making it available for God involved a discipline that I am still developing.

Proverbs 18:16 begins with "A man's gift will make room for him..." Yes, my gift has provided me great opportunities to reach others and remain gainfully employed. It also allowed me to excel in academics, obtaining those letters that I had once been lacking. That scripture also concludes ".. and brings him before great men." The heart of a counselor allows them to reach individuals to counsel, but the gift is to remember that every individual is a great. I am commissioned to help people unlock that greatness. The gift of counseling is the gift that keeps on giving not just to the counselors but to others, and to this world.