In Their Hearts as In Ours

When I began attending a Lutheran university to get my Master’s degree in Counseling, I was not a Christian. I learned very quickly during the program’s Kick-Off Weekend that, not only was I not a Christian, I actually hated Christians. Nearly everyone in my cohort was captivated by Jesus. He was woven into every conversation, as if each of them had a relationship with Him or something. Bible verses abounded. It was weird and annoying and repellant to me. I considered myself spiritual, not religious. I subscribed to a New Age, buffet-style spirituality, picking and choosing practices and ideas from various religious beliefs to suit my appetite. I claimed to worship and believe in love, whatever that meant. The Jesus I accepted and was familiar with was one of many enlightened spiritual teachers, not the Savior of the world. 

During the Kick-Off, as I considered finding a different, less Christian program, I had a conversation with someone in my cohort who was also a pastor from Kansas. He asked me what it meant to worship and believe in love. I truly had no idea. I left the conversation stumped, yet nevertheless judgmental of the un-enlightened Christians. By the grace of God, I survived that weekend and stayed in the program. 

Nine months later, through a series of events that can only be attributed to an all-powerful, merciful God, I was baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I was, myself, a Christian. I was the most surprised of anyone. As I excitedly shared the news with fellow believers in my classes and cohort, I learned a most unexpected fact. 

The Christians I’d been silently judging and hating since the start of the program had been praying for me.

As I secretly rejected them, they secretly loved me.

As I deemed them un-enlightened, they prayed that I would know God’s Son.

As I looked down on them, they knelt before God on my behalf.

The people I saw as enemies had been friends all along. 

Talk about humbling. I wholeheartedly believe that their prayers are part of the reason I was saved. Without their intercession, I could very well still be in darkness, without God and without hope. Without the true, life-saving, life-giving Jesus.

All of this to say: Pray for your unbelieving clients. Pray for your unbelieving colleagues. Kneel before God on their behalf. If they know you’re a Christian, they may very well be judging and looking down on you as I secretly was with my classmates. If they haven’t yet, they may reject you. They may hate you.

Even more reason to pray. I needed those prayers.

If we are not only therapists and counselors, but Christian therapists and counselors, we are in a place of undeserved privilege. We who were once enemies of God have been saved, sealed, adopted, and made friends of God! Not because of anything we’ve done, but because of what Jesus did and is doing now.

Prayer is one of the most powerful ways we can serve our clients and colleagues. It’s part of our faithful stewardship. It may even be part of God’s plan to save and heal them. The prayers of fellow aspiring therapists were part of God’s plan to save me.

I was not a friend of God’s people. Especially not inside, where God could see. But they prayed for me, and the prayers of the righteous are powerful. 

Now let us do the same. May every client, colleague, and classmate receive the same priceless gift we have received. May they truly know the love of God.

In their hearts as in ours, Jesus. Amen.