Hebrews 12:15 (ESV)

15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;

You know how there is a process of fear at times for when people are attempting to move forward and you can't move forward because you are overthinking and thinking and thinking.

"One thing will be important and will tie everything to the one thinking?"

Maybe not, but I am just noting anxiety was fluid in me and so rampant when my wife and I were stepping out in a total new form and faith. The form had no feature and faith was a void that was only taking shape as I woke up each day.

I had been working in various forms of mental health for almost 10 years and that had provided many confidential stories that I wish were in a book, but never will be. When I mean never, I mean never. They are not nearly all as dramatic as you might think. It frequently just depended on if there was a gifted story teller after the fact.

How much pain may have been present, and if the vessel that held the pain had found relief or the pain had continued. Sometimes as a counselor I had to find a way to cope with a new data point, or my forgetful mind would not connect if it faded. Most of the time it fades. I suppose that means I am forgetful. In some ways I am and it is a blessing. I don't want to bear burdens or carry pain that is not mine. Thankful for the training and my own willingness to set mental limits to what is appropriate.

However as a side note, I am thinking as I write that there are parts that cope as distractions so I do not bear anything but my own load. So, back to bearing a load. I have been a good provider for my family and my wife had recently started full focus on mommy duties in our home when I heard that my company was choosing directions that would not include my ongoing service. This is not unusual these days in mental health and wellness arena especially when the businesses are all looking for profits and sustaining the whole.

So, there was a foundation of hope that was laid in the beginning days through reaching out to a peer, praying, pondering, and looking for all other avenues other than a privately licensed limited liability corporation. When I began exploring the process of starting a limited liability corporation, the opportunity kept expanding.

I had talked with a friend, Jana Schmitt the year before, but had found employment in another set of circumstances and it had not included continuation of her vision that we support each other. I returned to the idea early in 2018 to find that my same circumstances had not changed from the previous year garnering me more interest in the pursuit of what might become something new. Initially it was exciting and it expanded my mind in so many ways challenging my inner self talk and soul in ways I had not allowed in prior days. 

One night my wife and I were searching through different internet domains after we had met with Jana that day. I had set up a generic company name that was lengthy and Jana mentioned

"That probably won't fit on the door!"

"On the door," I said with new light points racing through my mind to attempt to encompass what she was expressing. She and my wife encouraged

"Yes! On the door!"

"...because it helps for people to feel so much more they are where they need to be."

I had leaned toward the idea of being like Jana's title, in that I desired an earthy unique name that would signify renewal or a state of solid foundation. The dreaminess of it all was overwhelming. Something that was mine, different and expressed me. My friends would know or not know that expressing me is hard at times.

We played with ideas of different Bible passages and ultimately after putting in phrase after phrase in internet searches and title after title we narrowed and came across something that was our liking. The title was also minimal cost and available on the internet and had little comparable so it would stand out or be hard to find.

Each day my brand has continued to increase understanding in me and grow deeper with time in my own soul. It's roots appear to be turning new soil in me. As I desire my soul to be rooted, just as much as the people I meet, its exciting to me that My Rooted Soul Counseling helps others to think about their own hearts.  I find that it is human in so many ways as well in the soil being turned that things are being unearthed. I have been tuning my own garden. Even as we speak the rest of my family is on the porch planting spring flowers to enjoy throughout the warmer months. Their delight is high, and they are learning what it means to work and enjoy earth, and see growth.

So the origins of My Rooted Soul Counseling come from efforts to be nothing more than something that I hope will glorify Almighty God, but mostly I am also a man who is exercising faith, in the hope that the love of God rooted in the right place, will remove bitterness and infection that grows in the heart of man.

The heading above speaks to this. 

15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; Hebrews 12:15

I want so much to be part of lives that are obtaining grace that is sourced from a well that is God himself. I know "roots of bitterness" spring up and cause trouble. Here the writer expresses it defiles those who are the carry the bitter root. Perhaps some have figured out how to release, but by the root "many" become defiled. 

There is a richness to the words that jump forward into my mind and have created a point of truth for me since February 24th when the first client walked through the door. While I hope for many more to enter, I know my intent is to look for things that spring up and cause trouble, and to dig to remove the things that have defiled so no root of bitterness prevents one from obtaining the grace of God.

May God root in me the love He provides so it would win over one's who would know Him more.