Besides the dream of becoming a future author, I have a dream to become a future counselor.

The dream to become a counselor is a dream that God Almighty planted on the inside of me. This dream to become a counselor is really special to me because it is all a part of the great plans that Jehovah has for me to reach the lost.

~”For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.“~Jeremiah 29:11, NIV~

A couple of years ago, I met a friend, who I went on a missions trip to the country of Lebanon with my church. She is a counselor and I was very inspired after meeting her to become a counselor because of her character and the way that she asked deep and meaningful questions.

I prayed about this endeavor for me to become a future counselor, but the Lord led me to wait for a few years before beginning my studies with Liberty University’s online program in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. This would be my third Master of Arts degree, except that it would not be a seminary-related degree.

After three years of waiting, the Lord led me to obtain a Master of Arts degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Liberty University in the Fall 2019. The Lord led me to wait for this long because He knew that I was not ready yet to begin this career to become a Clinical Mental Health Counselor. Now that God has allowed for me to go through many things, I am ready to study to become a counselor.

This Summer 2020 is my third semester that I am in this program to become a Clinical Mental Health Counselor. The Lord has proven His faithfulness over time. A couple of months ago, I went to the Liberty University campus for my intensive class. One of the students shared with me that she believed that I would make a great counselor. Praise the Lord for giving me this confirmation through this person!

I have learned many counseling techniques, ranging from paraphrasing to scaling to challenging skills and reflection of feeling. I have also learned about many counseling theories. Out of all of the counseling theories that I have learned, I like Person-Centered Theory and Cognitive Theory the most because they give me a chance to put myself in the shoes of the future client as I work with him or her to identify the automatic thoughts, modes, and schemas of his or thinking and replace them with more rationale thinking.

I am thankful to God for getting me through this far in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling program at Liberty University. I am set to graduate in the Spring 2022.

~”Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”~Lamentations 3:22-23, NIV~

Praise the Lord for getting me through this far in my future career in Clinical Mental Health Counseling! I cannot wait until that day that I become Sarah A Dickens, LPC!