Coastal Counseling Services

10/01/2025

We have so many hopes and dreams for our loved ones. We want them to have friends, succeed in school and professionally and have a family. But when drugs and alcohol take hold in someone's life, all of our dreams blow up. So, what do we do? The Families Anonymous program shows us how to reclaim hope. We do this by focusing on today, not tomorrow, strengthening our spiritual foundation, clarifying the things that are and are not in our control and work on begin to work on becoming the best version of ourselves. By slowing down our thoughts and staying in the moment, it becomes easier to work through the trauma and find reasons to hold onto hope, even amid the storm. We become stronger. Learn more. Attend a meeting. Find support at FA.

09/30/2025

Jesus said that the pure in heart are blessed, because they will see God (see Matthew 5:8). When we earnestly pursue purity in our own thoughts and hearts, we will acquire a supernatural ability to see others the way Jesus sees them. It won't matter if they move fast and you move slowly – if you guard your heart when you think of them, you'll get a front row seat to see God's divine love work in them, and you'll be nourished as you watch their life story unfold.

09/30/2025

Jesus invites us to live as joyful, secure, expectant people who respond to the nudges of the Holy Spirit within us, who live awakened to the adventure of faith God invites us to, and who believe that as kingdom people, everywhere we place our feet, the spiritual atmosphere changes because Christ in us has led us there.

09/29/2025

When we are blindsided by a family member's abuse of drugs or alcohol, our natural tendency is to ask questions. Like, "Why?" Or, "How did we get here?" Our thinking is that if we can figure out why something happened, we can both fix a horrible situation and ensure that it never happens again. But we learn with a strong recovery program from Families Anonymous that asking, "Why?" seldom helps anything or anyone. We may find out where somebody is buying their drugs, or that they are depressed because they broke up with their spouse or loss their job. But nothing "causes" substance use disorder. Knowing why somebody may be an alcoholic does not change our role in the past, the present or the future. SUD is a disease. If somebody is diagnosed with cancer or diabetes, would it be productive to ask, "Why?" We also may be prolonging our own mental and physical health problems because we are spending so much time obsessing over possibly unanswerable and meaningless questions that we are ignoring our own needs of today. When we are not focused on today, we cannot find peace. Control what we can control. For those who want to ask, "How?" FA can answer that question.

09/26/2025

When you become aware of hurtful or unholy thoughts, bring them to Me.

"Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest." —Hebrews 3:1

09/25/2025

Today’s Blessing

May you be so in tune with the Holy Spirit's movement in your life that you're always in the right place at the right time. May your every step be ordered by the Lord. May you go where He'd have you go, say what He'd have you say, and pray what He'd have you pray. May you be a living, breathing conduit of God's Kingdom activity on the earth today! May you be a vessel that Jesus fills up and pours out on a dry and thirsty land. And may your own soul be replenished in the process. Have a great day today!

Psalm 37:23 NLT ~ The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.

09/24/2025

09/24/2025

I can smooth out all the tangled-up places, including those in your mind and heart. So come to Me just as you are, with all your knotty problems and loose ends.

"And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." —2 Corinthians 3:18

09/23/2025

A Prayer for today:
Dear father in heaven, I need you every hour. Strengthen me according to your word. Fill me up with a glorious anticipation for what you want to do in my life! Make me spiritually savvy enough to walk around the traps set for me by the enemy.May I turn my back on fear and embrace faith instead. When I get knocked down, help me to get back up again. May the destiny you've appointed for me forever in my view. I want to be a woman who rises up out of the ashes and does something beautiful with her life. Do your work in me, Lord. Amen.

09/22/2025

I am the Lord of your future, and I have good things in store for you. I alone know the things I am planning for you—to give you a future and a hope.

“For I know the plans that I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.” —Jeremiah 29:11

09/21/2025

The Bible says that in the last days, the love of many will grow cold. If we are to live as Christ did – and not become one of the many – we will need to forgive the unforgivable. When the messes of life wound us and knock us down, we will need the courage to get back up again. Even though our pain will at times seem more real than God's presence, we must trust him. It's OK if we start out with an unassertive handle on what we possess in Christ, as long as we keep moving, keep on trusting, keep on believing. Eventually, we will come to grips with our divine potential because we will believe in our very core that God is divinely interested and involved with us.