"Let your Light Shine among the Darkness" 2 Corinthians 4: 6: While Unraveling Comparisons Between Psychotherapy and Scripture

How can one escape the darkness of suffering, and find hope? Many lose faith afterenduring hardships. I understand how suffering can extinguish hope. Many carryburdens most of us could never endure. This book is offered as a measure of hopefor those who have become defeated along the way.Suffering is a part of life. We all struggle. Some suffer less; others struggle muchmore. Some stay lost in the crevasses of their pain and eventually concede to futility,while others journey through the thicket of what they have become and seek light intheir suffering.With over 45 years of experience as a psychotherapist and a background in Christianfaith, my mission has always been to offer the best of myself to those experiencingdistress. This text shares the intersections and divergencies between Christian teachingsand scriptural insights while integrating psychotherapy treatments and practices. Thesetwo measures are the cornerstone of this text and offers primary foundations for thoseenduring persistent suffering.This text offers a discussion about the "why's" of suffering, even to the extent ofexperiencing God's unconditional love. It also provides detailed descriptions of theTriune God, the Father, Son, and Spirit in light of suffering. In addition, this bookhighlights various psychological conditions that interfere with one's ability to deal withsuffering, as well as corresponding scripture with cognitive, affective, holistic, familial,and behavioral psychotherapies, concerns of addiction and the need for boundaries. Italso recognizes the significance of attachment and its effects, and the nature of traumas,and efforts toward recovery.Unconditional love (Christianity's command), or absolute positive regard (primarilyused in humanistic psychology) is at the heart of defeating suffering. As we shake off ourdefenses and genuinely engage in compassion for ourselves and others, we can enter aspace of self-discovery. With the renewal of our minds, we can alter how we define oursuffering and how we plan to cope with it. Oftentimes, we do not have control over ourcircumstances, but we do have some control over our suffering. Although suffering isa normal process, extensive and defeated suffering oftentimes leads to further anguishand hopelessness. Thus, as we gain new insight through scriptural and psychotherapeuticpractices, there are options to recovery.