Greater Purpose Counseling, LLC

12/23/2025

Tuesday's Recommendation:

The movie "Temple Grandin Autism Gave Her a Vision. She Gave It A Voice" with Claire Danes.

One of my kids watched this at school and wanted to share it with us. I am glad they did!

Did you know that Dr. Temple Grandin, Ph.D changed how livestock handling facilities are designed in the US, Canada, Europe, Mexico, Australia, and New Zealand? Temple designed the system that handles animals at meat plants to improve animal welfare.

The thing I loved about this movie was the insights and inner world of someone living with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The more we can learn and understand how an induvial brain processes the better we can support them to thrive.

The best part of the movie is when Claire Danes states she is not healed because ASD is not something that needs healed.

I am so thankful for the advancement is mental health and supporting individuals and families with ASD!

12/23/2025

3 days to Christmas.

No one cares how holy you present when you are disrespectful to retail or food workers during the stressful time of Christmas.

There is zero Christ in a Christmas when people are openly rude to people trying to help one find a gift.

I hated working retail or waiting tables during the holiday week because people take their stress out on you.

Then there were kind people because it was the holiday week that were patient or gave a little bigger tip.

Be the reason people enjoy Christmas and not the reason people cringe.

12/20/2025

If you have kids, work with kids, or help with church camps please read this.

We have to take into account the developing child’s brain when doing kids camps, teaching kids about God/Hell, or in kids revivals.

Attachment plays a huge role in how we see God. So many adults I have worked with over the years can trace the issues as an adult to experiences they had as kids with religious activities or teachings.

Can childhood Christian camps cause lasting religious trauma?

I can still smell the musty lodge, taste the sweet tea, and breathe in the pine trees on the sawdust field. I remember fish jumping on Lake Agnes, the rush of discovering your crush felt the same, exchanging AOL IMs, playing capture the flag with “flower bombs,” and kayak races across the lake. So many memories still make me smile.

But I also remember preaching that was far too intense for kids. Fear was called “the Holy Spirit,” and children were pressured to question their salvation or “get right with God” with counselors who were ill-equipped, armed only with out-of-context Bible verses that caused more harm than good.

I remember 45-minute seminars about music—drums and guitars were sinful, even Christian contemporary music wasn’t safe. I’ve played music semi-professionally since 15, and the summer I played on a rock album for a record label, camp leaders tried to guilt me into changing my music choices. That was the start of the end of my time at that camp and my immersion in fundamentalism.

The fear, rigid rules, and manipulation left deep scars. Friends “got saved” every year out of fear, not love. Many who went through it experienced trauma, later left Christianity, and want nothing to do with it now.

If you want to better understand how children process doctrine through their developmental stages, read my most recent article, “When Faith Feels Like Fear: How Childhood Theology Shapes the Nervous System.”

12/19/2025

Friday Funny:

I can smell this picture and I know I have pictures with my hair in the lions main aka State Fair Hair!!

12/16/2025

Tuesday’s Recommendation:
‘The Myth of Good Christian Parenting’ by Marissa Franks Burt and Kelsey Kramer McGinnis

I think this is my favorite read for 2025.

There has been so much toxic teaching published regarding 'Christian Parenting' that many adults are unlearning and reframing what they experienced as children now that they are parents.

Teaching by men who have been found to be abusive, cult leaders, and advocating for abuse of children through misuse of scripture. Many times the people who published material or held conferences had zero education on parenting or child development. Since there was the word 'Christian' on it many parents implemented the teaching to their children in the 80's, 90's, and early 2000's.

This book is validating if you have ever wondered if you experienced religious trauma through parenting.

If you lived in a home that did not match the behaviors people saw at church or in public, this book is for you.

If you are a new parent, youth leader, pastor, parent of older kids, or work with parents this book is for you.

If you are working with people who have experienced religious trauma, please read this book. This book does an excellent job of showing how people can be harmed from the system down with misuse of scripture.

Good Christian parenting creates an environment where children become who God called them to be with love and not fear.

12/15/2025

Thank you so much!!! I love coming into the office to find more donations for the Rwanda Mental Health Missions!!!

12/14/2025

I could not help myself at Meijer!!!

12/14/2025

Make peace with the fact that people will see their own version of you.
You're not always responsible for how they see you.
You are responsible for your own growth.

Many times people fight the ghosts of who they were when they were kids or while they were surviving. It is even worse when they have to fight the ghost of what people thought their 'good home' was when really it was Hell on Earth.

People recall experiences with people and add in the perception of what the reputation was of that time. People often hold onto versions we no longer align with.

We change and we grow. We mature. We change environments that allow healing.

We are responsible for how people see us when the actions are real. We do need to own when we made mistakes or were unkind. We are responsible for our alignment with God and how we heal.

We are responsible for introducing people to the healed version of ourselves. Make peace with all versions of you so you can become who God called you to be.

12/13/2025

Friday Funny:

Therapist: Let's talk about how trauma affects the nervous system.

Client: Nervous system? I'm fine. I learned about that in high school.

Therapist: You said that sometimes you have racing thoughts, brain fog, irritable, feeling overwhelmed, stressed, lack of sleep, get overwhelmed easily, & GI issues. Also, sensitivity to sound & headaches.

Client: Trauma affecting the nervous system is not real. I cannot feel my nervous system. These things are not connected to my nervous system.

Therapist: Hod did having shingles feel?

In all seriousness, there is not enough taught about symptoms people live with connected to having a dysregulated nervous system. You do not forget what it feels like to have shingles, chicken pox, herpes, or an autoimmune disease.

12/10/2025

Safe Sound Protocol (SSP) is so AMAZING!!

I CANNOT WAIT TO USE IT WITH PEOPLE!!

An investment into training is an investment into the healing of patients.