A Big, Awkward Sign You’re Doing Church Just Right - Your Nightly Prayer - June 20th
A Big, Awkward Sign You’re Doing Church Just Right
Your Nightly Prayer for Jun 20, 2025
by Peyton Garland
TONIGHT'S SCRIPTURE
"Without guidance, people fall, but with many counselors there is deliverance.” - Proverbs 11:14 (HCSB)
SOMETHING TO PONDER
My husband and I moved six times in less than five years of marriage. Financial burdens coupled with changing jobs will do that to a young couple.
One thing I loathe about moving is finding a new therapist. I don’t do telehealth well; therapy loses the human element when your emotions can’t fill up the same space as the person helping you process those overwhelming feelings and fears.
Once we settled in Tennessee, I found a therapist in Knoxville but quickly discovered she wasn’t my best match. It took another year before I found the therapist I have today. I love her. She would be a coffee shop bosom friend if client confidentiality and professionalism didn’t exist.
I’ve seen her since my post-partum depression days in 2023, and out of all the times I’ve arrived early, I’ve only encountered 1-2 other people—total. Most days, it’s just me in the waiting room. But a few months ago, I checked in at the front desk, walked into the waiting room, and bumped into somebody I know. I’d just talked with her after church a few weeks ago about how her students were doing.
Hmm, a church person, I thought. This feels weird.
Funny, I preach that Christians should be in therapy too, that psychological healing is a gift from God, yet my hypocrisy and I were trying to rationalize why two church people were sitting in a therapist’s office, needing help with deep-rooted issues.
I was seated in a chair with full visual access to the front door, so I was the first to spot someone else checking in and finding her seat.
She goes to my church too! What is going on?!
The more I think about it, the more I understand. Believers were laying down their pride, admitting their struggles, and activating tools and resources to get help.
Perhaps that’s a big, awkward sign that we are doing church just right, showing up in the everyday rhythms as nothing more than fragmented people. If we show up as anything more, we’ve plated ourselves in gold and climbed on a pedestal that isn’t ours. We’ve dared to show up at God’s house screaming that everyone should look at us and our accolades instead.
That’s rarely anyone’s intention, I truly believe. But why else do we attend church but to confess our sins and find spiritual renewal from the only One who can sustain and heal us?
I’ll be the first to admit that pride is my downfall. It’s an idol I pick up, lay down, and pick up again. I consistently fall for its lies and am never satisfied with the results it provides. It’s a spiritually toxic drug and always ends with isolation and shame. There are no winners in pride’s twisted game.
But therapy is quite the win if you want to push back against pride, if you want to climb out of the pit of isolation and shame. Granted, it’s hard work if you’re doing it right. It requires lots of self-awareness, reflection, and mind renewal, but there’s hope, healing, and brighter days on the other side. Therapy wants you to win its game.
Better yet, church is a beautiful space to practice what you learn in therapy. It’s a space for sinners who need a weekly reminder that they failed, but God’s grace says, “Try again! I’ve got you!” It’s a place where God’s presence prods you to leave pride at the door and admit where life is messy. Here, confessing your struggles, much like in therapy, is met with forgiveness from a holy, good God. And kindhearted, loyal followers of this gracious God are there to extend vulnerability, loyalty, and accountability.
Maybe seeing some of your brothers and sisters in Christ in a therapist’s office isn’t a bad thing. Maybe it’s not just happenstance. Maybe it’s a big, awkward, and wonderful sign that you’re doing church—doing this Christian living thing—just right.
YOUR NIGHTLY PRAYER
Lord,
I ask that you grant my heart the humility to be open and honest with my struggles. May I bring them to you in prayer and repentance, and allow me to be vulnerable in sharing these hardships with wise counsel, whether a Christian therapist or godly friends. Place the right people in my life to offer encouragement in difficult seasons, and soften my heart to receive their direction and your Spirit’s conviction. In your holy name, God,
Amen.
THREE THINGS TO MEDITATE UPON
1. In what area(s) do you struggle to be vulnerable with God and/or others? Why?
2. How has your perception of the church shifted your perspective on counseling or therapy?
3. Who can you ask to hold you accountable in caring for your mental and spiritual health?
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Drew Buzz
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