Julie Powers, LPCC at Valley Oak Counseling

09/22/2021

The only person we can change is ourselves. When we surrender our lives to Christ, He gives us the strength to change.

Accepting that we are not in control of the other person and that we can only control ourselves is essential for growth.

Without tools, we can't effectively change ourselves. At our intensive workshops, you will be given tools to recover sexual integrity, experience true connection in marriage, prepare for parenting your teen, and heal after betrayal. To learn more about these workshops, visit https://newlife.com/workshops/?source=OLSM

09/07/2021

Rules without connection are limits without love. Remember, boundaries happen within relationships and give room for love to grow.

08/28/2021

Going through something traumatic often leaves us paralyzed in the moment—and unable to ever move into any measure of healing or wholeness. I have heard

05/18/2021

“There’s nothing that harshness does that loving firmness doesn’t do better.”
~Terry Real

Full Respect Living Part One: Healthy Self-Esteem Let’s talk about the relationship between you and you. I have a saying. In adulthood, we tend to hold ourselves the way we were held. We internalize what came at us and now we throw it at ourselves. If you were indulged, you’ll make excuses; if y...

04/30/2021

04/18/2021

God can turn any family’s shame into a future. His grace can mend a broken situation, redeem a broken person, answer forbearing prayers, and turn a loss into a legacy. Don’t give up on yourself or a loved one.

04/17/2021

Couples struggle with understanding what they have the power to change in their marriages. More often than not, they are concerned with changing their spouse’s behavior. Human nature lends itself to trying to change and fix others so that we can be more comfortable.

But you have the power to start identifying ways you are actively or passively contributing to the problem, and you have the power to change.

So, what is is that you’re doing now to take control of the life that you want to live?

04/17/2021

Unforgiveness creates a root of bitterness. Hebrews 12:15 (NLT) puts it this way, "Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you..."

There’s only one way to uproot it…forgive!

Does forgiveness=reconciliation? No. Although forgiveness can happen without the offender saying, “I’m sorry,” reconciliation should never happen until the offender says, “I’m sorry.”

Remember, actions speak louder than words.

Help & Hope:
☎️800-NEW-LIFE
💻NewLife.com
📩customerservice@newlife.com

04/05/2021

One of the most valuable things you can do with your safe people, ranking up there with asking for help, needing, and melting resistance, is simply to invite the truth about yourself. We have so many blind spots and areas where we aren’t aware of our self-destructiveness. 

04/05/2021

What is the best way to ease someone's pain and suffering? In this beautifully animated RSA Short, Dr Brené Brown reminds us that we can only create a genuin...

03/29/2021

02/26/2021

There is help for post-traumatic stress. ART can help!

People who suffer from PTSD have to live their life on overdrive because they've experienced life-threatening or traumatic events, their whole nervous system has gotten locked into protecting them from danger. Here's a look at why ART is such an effective therapy for mental health issues.

https://qoo.ly/3awzeh

02/24/2021

Acceptance does not mean that we like what is happening or that we condone it; it simply means that we stop fighting reality and acknowledge what is.

02/06/2021

This episode got personal fast.

Steve and I have been together for 30 years and 2020 was probably the most difficult season of our marriage. The stress of trying to keep our kids safe while attending to their need for connection, worrying about our parents' wellbeing, trying to make work work — it was completely overwhelming.

Drs. John and Julie Gottman have dedicated their careers to helping people love and take care of each other. Their work is research-based and life-changing.

After decades of study, the Gottmans and their colleagues at The Gottman Institute can predict with 90% accuracy whether a couple will stay together after observing the first 3 minutes of an argument. That's unheard of in the social sciences.

The conversation is a game-changer.
http://bit.ly/3cyTZax

02/02/2021

When you or your partner is in a state of disrepair, you have to stay in the moment and focus on the issue at hand. You can't jump from a micro disappointment to a macro analysis of the entire relationship, especially when one or both of you is upset.