Isaiah 9:6 (NKJV)
“6 For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
I love this scripture! It speaks truth that Jesus Christ is the Mighty God who is the Wonderful Counselor who as Prince of Peace will give us peace that will last forever as we live in eternity with Him as our Everlasting Father. When I started my counseling education, I knew that I needed God’s Wisdom and the skill to use His Wisdom to help hurting people.
God blessed me to be raised by a father who was baptized in the Holy Ghost at age 15 in 1925. As a teen and young father, he sat under the teaching of Bishop GT Haywood in Indianapolis, Indiana. My father became a lover of God’s Word. He shared that love with me as my pastor, especially after I received the Holy Ghost at the age of nine.
When I became an adult, God opened doors for my teaching His Word. (Before this, I started teaching at age 14 to small Sunday school children). I was teaching people who had the Acts 2:38 salvation experience. They loved my teaching, but would come up to me after the classes and share their woundedness from their past or current issues. I had compassion, but did not know how to help them with emotional pain and hurting relationship issues.
This need for wisdom put a hunger in my heart to seek counseling education, I went to secular college and took psychology. I received an A grade, but knew I needed to integrate the true counseling theories through God’s Word. The Lord opened a door for me to be part of the first two-year program at the Institute of Christian Counseling. It was sponsored by Capital Christian Center church in Sacramento, California, that had a fully accredited Bible College.
The instructors were state licensed counselors, several being ordained ministers and Holy Spirit filled. Forty students started the two-year program that was taught on a master’s level, receiving valid state college credits as a first year program. Being taught how to help hurting people through the Word of God was a major turn around in my ability of understanding how God’s Word has the answers to help wounded hearts.
Only seven of us graduated two years later in June of 1992. During those two years, I would excitedly share with my husband (ordained minister), parents and close friends the things I was learning to integrate God’s truth with counseling principles. I began teaching what I was learning in the church adult classes at Christian Life Center and the people became excited and started asking if I could counsel them. This happened at the same time we students were told we needed a practicum.
I did one year of practicum of counseling with Pastor Kenneth Haney’s permission for Christian Life Center in Stockton, Ca., before I graduated in June of 1992. From that time till now, I have continued my education for 25 years. Just as in studying the Word, there never is a stopping place in learning and studying godly principles of counseling.
After my graduation from The Institute of Christian Counseling, Pastor Kenneth Haney brought me on staff part time as a Certified Pastoral Counselor for the last ten years he pastored at Christian Life Center. I also taught at Christian Life College six years under Dr. Daniel Segraves, one of six subjects being Principles of Counseling.
I have sat in counseling seminars taught by godly people who have doctorates in counseling. More than one have said, “If you do not have a heart for God and a compassion for helping hurting people, a doctorate in counseling will not make you an effective counselor.” In my 25 years as a Certified Pastoral Counselor having counseled thousands of people, I’ve heard that from the people. Especially people who went to secular counselors at all levels of education without a God base. Without a God-centeredness and without Bible knowledge, counseling can be very shallow.
A secular psychiatrist told me, we medicate people and give them coping skills. When I explained to her the principle of being transformed by renewing the mind with God’s truth that brings emotional healing (Romans 12: 1 & 2), she said, “I’ve never heard of that, I would like to know more.”
As God opened the door for my counseling by phone and Skype nationwide and to people in other countries that speak English, I am daily amazed and thankful for this ministry of reconciliation. Pastors and lay people call me from across America for counseling. I am a conduit of God’s truth helping people in their walk with God to be transformed spiritually, emotionally, and relationally to walk in victory with the Lord. (I counsel by phone/Skype Mondays – Thursdays 2 pm – 10 pm CST. I’m usually scheduled two weeks out from the current day. Read details on ‘about ministry’ page – www.carolclemans.org).
The church needs qualified people with loving and compassionate hearts. We need people who desire to be healing helpers that can be taught simple Bible principles to help others to be transformed by renewing the mind with God’s truth. We need to become efficient as hearers – be swift to hear and slow to speak. That is a learned skill. Any door that God opens for me to share what I have learned and am still learning through 25 years of counseling and continual education, I will walk through to help others grow spiritually, emotionally and relationally. God wants us to be saved and healed so our joy in the Lord radiates through us for His glory!
I have 370 articles on my website: www.carolclemans.org. I have my book: God’s Design for Marriage and soon, Lord willing, God’s Healing for Hurting People. I have short teachings on Carol Clemans YouTube channel.
Salvation removes our sins and God forgives and forgets those sins. Salvation does not erase our life’s experiences, our memories, or our emotions. When people come from all types of abusive experiences and adversities in their past or present, they need godly help in processing their painful emotions. We cannot tell them to just pray and get over it. We must know how to use God’s Word – His truth will make people free from the painful events in their lives. It is replacing toxic thoughts and feelings with God’s truth.
God’s gift to mankind is His gift of love on the cross to pay for our sins. God also wants to heal the broken hearted and set captives free from their distorted toxic thinking. He is the Wonderful Counselor who is The Mighty God. I want to continue to share God’s love and compassion with others through the power of His Spirit and His Word.
When I teach for churches and conferences, people are hungry for God’s Word. In recent teachings, the people do not want the sessions to end. The Word has answers for our brokenness. People will line up to counsel with me because I use the Word that gives them hope for healing.
God has brought thousands of people to me in 25 years for counseling. Many have told me, the God-based counseling saved their lives spiritually, emotionally and sometimes physically. I do not know how to describe the blessed feeling in my soul that comes with seeing people transformed by God’s truth from the inside out. To God be the glory!
I pray to inspire others in ministry to become healing helpers to help the hurting people who are sitting on our church pews. Sexual abuse victims are one in every three women and one in every four men. Porn addiction is pervasive among us and we have very few that are addressing this issue. Marriages are hurting because of generational dysfunction. Young people are allowing sexual activity before marriage that will destroy their future. God has the answers for all sin, emotional healing, relationship issues and addiction recovery. We must become equipped to help the hurting in the body of Christ.
Go to my website: www.carolclemans.org read ‘about ministry’ page that gives my detailed life, education, and ministry. In God-based counseling, we must have an in-depth understanding of God’s Word. My effectiveness in counseling has to do with 50 years of Bible teaching, having the Holy Ghost 62 years and counseling as a Certified Pastoral Counselor for 25 years.
I will always continue to study and learn. The more I know, the more I realize I don’t know. My daily prayer is for God to give me His Wisdom in all that I do for Him. My heartbeat is studying His Word for teaching, counseling, and writing. I give God all the glory and honor!!
© Carol Clemans – www.carolclemans.org – (636) 448-0121 – to schedule speaking or counseling. Ministry ref: Pastor Daniel Batchelor, Dupo, IL.