About the Episode
In this episode of the Hope + Help Podcast, host Christine Chappell interviews counselor and author Lauren Whitman about her book, A Painful Past: Healing and Moving Forward. Some of the questions addressed in this interview are:
• Why is it important to spend time reflecting on who God is and how he relates to us when taking the first toward healing and moving forward from a painful past?
• Why can this process be viewed as “a journey of lament?”
• Why is it important for us to take the time to sift through the details of what has happened in our past?
• How do you counsel people who are wrestling with the question, “Where was God when this was
happening?”
• What are some biblical encouragements you’d offer to someone who gets stuck asking, “What if the past repeats itself?”
• At what point should we consider sharing our painful past with someone like a counselor, mentor, or loved one?
About the Guest
Lauren Whitman, MA, is a counselor and faculty member at the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation (CCEF), where she has served for a decade. She also serves as the developmental editor of the Journal of Biblical Counseling and is the author of A Painful Past: Healing and Moving Forward. Her new book A Biblical Counseling Process: Guidance for the Beginning, Middle and End will release this October. Lauren, her husband, and their two children make their home in the Philadelphia area.
About the Book
A PAINFUL PAST: HEALING AND MOVING FORWARD
Do you live with regret? Have others sinned terribly against you? God invites you to pour out your heart to him and to find comfort in his Word. In this 31-day devotional, complete with reflection questions and practical action steps, biblical counselor Lauren Whitman shows how the gospel transforms your understanding of the past, your life in the present, and your hope for the future.
About the Podcast
The Hope + Help Podcast offers interviews with seasoned biblical counseling professionals and ministry leaders on a variety of topics regarding life’s challenging problems. Listeners can expect to receive biblical wisdom as well as practical steps for facing suffering, struggling, and sin with courage and grace. Hosted by author/writer Christine M. Chappell.
Related Resources from IBCD
- Putting Your Past in its Place • Part I • Part II (Steve Viars)
- Helping People with a Difficult Financial Past (Jim Newheiser)
- Complaining: Rewriting the Story God is Writing (Shannon McCoy)
- PTSD: When Your Past is Your Present (Charles Hodges)
