Called to Counsel 2025

When God started to stir my heart to pursue Biblical counseling a few years back, I never in my wildest dreams imagined He'd uproot me and send me far away from my family and my dearest friends to unite that calling with my husband's call to move closer to his friends and family. I started a job where I used Biblical counseling methods daily, and we landed in a church that had a growing, thriving Biblical counseling ministry with several trained and certified Biblical counselors. A group of them go to Forth Worth, Texas (of all places) every spring to attend the Called to Counsel conference. I joined them my first year here and immediately started my training for certification after the conference. I had to livestream the conference the following year because I already had plans to travel to Texas for David's graduation two weeks later, but I was determined to make it this year. I started a new job in the fall and had to work through a pretty big schedule conflict to make it work, but I'm so glad I did. I consider it a real gift from God to be able to travel to Texas with my new church family and also be able to squeeze in some quick family time and catch up with my nearest and dearest Texas friends. Leave it to me to fill my time so full that I'm not left with an ounce of energy by the time I get home. 

I got up at 2 am on Thursday morning to catch a 5 am flight to Dallas. I had asked a very close friend if she could keep her day free and if she could pick me up at the airport, spend the morning with me getting brunch or something, and then drop me off at the conference. She went far above and beyond that by surprising me with a visit with another friend, too! We had a wonderful early brunch together at the cutest little coffee place, then we went into Fort Worth and sat outside by the fountains in Sundance Square playing games, drinking coffee, and eating strawberry cake on pink plates with pink forks. :) I felt so blessed to spend the morning with them. Then we headed to check in to my hotel room, where we ended up sitting together having deep, meaningful conversation and praying together. By the time I checked in to the conference at 2:00, my heart was already full! And my new friend, Ann, from Columbus got to meet my Texas friends right before they headed off. 

Such a beautiful place to hang out!

The conference started around 3:00 at Doxology Bible Church with a beautiful time of worship. What a neat feeling to spend the morning with my close friends from my Lifegroup at LakePointe Church in Texas and then spend the rest of the day and evening with my close friends from Terrace Lake Church (my Indiana church) while in Texas. It was also cool to walk through the different booths and snatch a new pen and chapstick from the DBU booth. Okay, so I probably got a few more trinkets from that booth than any of the others. I think I've supported them enough through two sons' tuitions there, though. Such a great school and environment for both of them in their post high school years. 

The first speaker was Paul Tripp, who started us out in Romans 8:1-11, talking about how Christ gives us a new law, new life, and new power. I specifically took a picture of him because I have a student in my class who's been reading a devotional called New Morning Mercies for Teens by him and has brought it to school every day this semester. I told her I was going to a conference and hear him speak, and she asked me to take a picture for her. I then later bought the same devotional, New Morning Mercies (adult version) for myself to have a better connection with her. 

His first session talked about how the gospel has to be the foundation of everything we do in counseling, and it is the only thing that speaks to the deeper need of everyone. It's the only thing different that we have to offer than everything else out there. 

He left us with the quote that what has the attention of your heart will shape your life. 

There were three more main sessions with everyone together over the next two days, leading us through the rest of Romans 8, teaching us about being Adopted Heirs, our Future and Present Glory, and our Unassailable Security. 

Between the main sessions, there were 8 breakout sessions in different areas, depending on the track you chose. I chose the track on Mental Health, Biblically Unpacking Diagnoses. I learned quite a bit about how mental diagnoses are categorized and defined and how we can view them in light of Scripture, diagnoses like PTSD, Borderline Personality Disorder, Narcissism, Dissociative Identity Disorder, OCD, Scrupulosity, and Gender Identity Disorder. I learned a LOT and have a lot to chew on. We talked a lot about the differences between our current culture's worldview and a Biblical worldview and how each one shapes us so differently. It piqued my interest to do further study on my own and read several of the books suggested. 

Here's a few pics of a few of our meals together. :)

A lovely taste of home. Brought back memories of Lifegroup dinners after church in Texas. 

We decided to try the Pazookies at BJ's. Very tasty!

My hotel room

After the conference, our group scattered quite quickly in several directions. Thankfully we got a group picture Saturday morning, though I don't have the picture yet to put here. One couple and another lady headed to the airport for a flight home. One lady left two hours before the rest of us for a flight to Atlanta. Another couple headed out to the Grand Canyon to have time to process all that they learned. And I got to see my son, Juan, for the first time since New Year's. :)

Then I got to see one of my best friends in the world, have coffee with her at our old stomping ground, Rosalind, and attend church with her where we raised our kids. I ran into several old friends that I've done bunches of Bible studies with, too. It felt good to be "home" for a bit. 

After that I went to my parents' house and spent the evening with them, though I turned in rather early from exhaustion. The next day I spent quality time just talking with my mom and then we celebrated Mother's Day and my birthday (a week early for both of them) with dinner out together. 

We both wore purple so we coordinated well for a selfie. :)

Then Juan came to get me, so we got another picture with him. 

The rest of the afternoon I spent with Juan. I had a super fun time with him, just being a student of my son and getting to know his world and his heart. 

First we got a small snack, some empanadas from Pollo Campero, where we both remembered eating at together in Guatemala and then also seeing together in Spain. Sweet memories. :) 

He's always had a curiosity and love for all things Asian (I believe it started with his love for Anime, if you know what that is). So he took me for an Asian dessert where he takes his girlfriend, and we enjoyed a Mango Strawberry shaved ice. It was amazing!

Then he took me to this little Asian drugstore (like a CVS), where they also sell little toys and stuff that he and his girlfriend kind-of collect. They're mystery boxes where you don't know which one of the series of the item you're going to get. I chose a fuzzy flower with a panda in the middle, and I just hoped that I'd get the pink one. And I did! What a great memory of a fun day together with my son. :)

As I said earlier, I had to work through a pretty big schedule conflict with school to even make the commitment to go to this conference, and I'm feeling pretty guilty right now for missing out on the first day of camp right now with my students. I also missed out on their end of year DARE party and a big concert type thing that my class participated in. I hated missing any of it. But this yearly conference is also a gift in so many ways. School will always be busy with something, but I just couldn't miss the opportunity to continue training in something I'm passionate about and also see my family and dearest friends. 

Now I'm unpacking and quickly repacking to head off to Day 2 of 6th grade camp first thing in the morning. 

Update: As soon as I got my laundry done and repacked, I headed to camp Monday evening, after all--about 16 hours after getting home from Texas. Stay tuned to hear about that experience!