Latest / Mission SONlight CHATT / This video features ...Mission SONlight Chatt Season 4 Ep. 34 Elise Healzer - Marriage and Family Therapist

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This video features ...Mission SONlight Chatt Season 4 Ep. 34 Elise Healzer - Marriage and Family Therapist · Mission SONlight CHATT

• 0:09
  Welcome to Mission Sunlight Chat from the Media
• 0:11
  Missionaries of Network 7. We are delighted to
• 0:13
  have you joining us again. This is another episode
• 0:16
  from the General Conference session here in St.
• 0:18
  Louis, Missouri, where as you look around the
• 0:21
  exhibit hall, we have ministries and businesses,
• 0:23
  exhibitors from all over the world sharing their
• 0:26
  faith, sharing how God is working in their lives
• 0:28
  and the opportunities that they have to share
• 0:31
  Jesus in the region where they work. One of those
• 0:35
  ministries is actually a one -woman shop. My
• 0:39
  friend Elise Hilzer is a family therapist, marriage
• 0:43
  and family. Currently, you're about to wrap up
• 0:46
  your doctorate in something even a little bit
• 0:49
  bigger. Tell us what that is. My doctorate will
• 0:51
  be in organizational development and change.
• 0:53
  Okay. I understand organizational development.
• 0:56
  My master's is in church leadership and management,
• 1:00
  so there's a connection there. organizational
• 1:04
  things. Maybe I'll be hiring you one day. Maybe.
• 1:10
  Although Jordan, our producer over there, was
• 1:13
  teasing a little bit earlier. That's why he brought
• 1:14
  you on the program to straighten me out a little
• 1:17
  bit. So marriage and family therapy. I want to
• 1:21
  talk to you about that and learn a little bit
• 1:23
  more about what that is and how that helps and
• 1:26
  how you've turned that into a bit of a ministry.
• 1:28
  But first, at least before we talk about anything
• 1:30
  else, would you... Open us with a word of prayer.
• 1:34
  Sure. Heavenly Father, thank you for bringing
• 1:38
  me here today to share some of my experiences,
• 1:43
  but more importantly, share you and how you really
• 1:48
  have given us many of the tools and supports
• 1:51
  that we need. And we are called to bear one another's
• 1:56
  burdens and to share you with the world. Sometimes
• 2:00
  that looks like helping people who are hurting.
• 2:03
  And so we pray that you will give us the words
• 2:06
  and the wisdom to know how to do that in kind
• 2:11
  and loving ways for your will. Amen. Amen. Thank
• 2:14
  you for that. You haven't always been a therapist.
• 2:18
  You grew up somewhere, had a life, had a young
• 2:20
  family or a family in your youth. Tell us a little
• 2:24
  bit about your growing up years and how you connected
• 2:27
  with Jesus. Sure. I was born and raised in rural
• 2:31
  Iowa. Iowa? Iowa, yeah, just a little north of
• 2:35
  here. And fortunate enough to be raised in an
• 2:39
  Adventist home. My dad comes from a long line
• 2:43
  of generations of Adventists, and so it's very
• 2:46
  rooted in our family and in our culture and was
• 2:52
  a big part of our lives growing up. I'm the youngest
• 2:55
  of three. So I spent a lot of time picking on
• 3:01
  other people because, you know, I was the youngest.
• 3:05
  You were picked on? Yes. Older brother, sisters?
• 3:09
  Older brother and an older sister. Okay, wow.
• 3:12
  See, I had two older sisters I know about that
• 3:13
  picking on, and I love them. They're really good
• 3:15
  to me today. Yes, yes. So I spent most of my
• 3:19
  life in rural Iowa, traveled a lot, spent some
• 3:23
  time other places, but I still live in Iowa now.
• 3:26
  Okay. When you grew up, you grew up with a Christian
• 3:33
  family, and that was your parents' religion.
• 3:36
  When did you make it yours? When did you make
• 3:38
  Jesus yours? You know, I think I thought about
• 3:41
  this question a lot over my life because it really
• 3:44
  was always kind of part of my DNA. Okay. But
• 3:47
  I think as we go through stages in our life,
• 3:49
  we recommit ourselves as life happens, right?
• 3:54
  Because we still have to choose it. It still
• 3:56
  has to be our faith and our experience. And so
• 4:00
  I remember very clearly probably being about
• 4:03
  10 the first time that that was really my own
• 4:08
  kind of personal connection, and I really felt
• 4:11
  that God was talking to me. And then as I continued
• 4:15
  to grow and develop, it was a constant decision,
• 4:18
  especially as a teenager and in college, that
• 4:21
  that was the life that I was going to live and
• 4:24
  choose for myself. And maintain that relationship
• 4:26
  with God. Amen. So you kind of had to get from
• 4:36
  their faith to your faith. And in what way did
• 4:46
  that change your daily life? Did it affect where
• 4:49
  you were going to go with your life? Who you
• 4:51
  were going to be? Oh, absolutely. Who you were
• 4:53
  going to hang with? Absolutely. Yeah, and I think
• 4:56
  it was one of those things, especially in rural
• 4:58
  Iowa, there's not a lot of Adventists hanging
• 5:00
  around. You don't really fit in a lot of spaces.
• 5:03
  And so I had to be very intentional about connecting
• 5:06
  with others. There's a whole lot of corn in Iowa.
• 5:10
  I know I've been there. Corn and pigs. Oh, okay.
• 5:13
  Yes, and we are the number one egg producer in
• 5:16
  the country. Really? Yes. Okay, so they must
• 5:18
  have a few chickens there, too. A few, yes. So,
• 5:21
  yeah, it's a very rural community. And so, you
• 5:23
  know, very Lutheran, very Catholic, very Methodist.
• 5:27
  Adventists are weird. Okay. And that was definitely
• 5:29
  an experience I had growing up. So it wasn't
• 5:31
  always easy to... live out my faith in that way.
• 5:36
  So in Iowa, there are a lot of people who do
• 5:38
  have faith at their roots. Absolutely. Your faith
• 5:41
  was just a little sideways. Yeah, you know, yeah,
• 5:44
  you can't do anything Friday nights, you're not
• 5:46
  going places on Saturday, you know. Do you suppose
• 5:49
  how you felt, how you were feeling growing up
• 5:52
  in this different Christian denomination impacted
• 5:58
  what made you decide to help people feel better?
• 6:03
  Absolutely. When I decided to go to graduate
• 6:05
  school, I had been out of undergrad for probably
• 6:08
  about five years, working in non -profit, social
• 6:13
  services, and I really wanted to do something
• 6:16
  more. And I felt like I could have a bigger impact,
• 6:21
  so I did go back for my master's degree and felt
• 6:24
  like I could have more of a personal impact,
• 6:27
  but also really connect with people where they
• 6:30
  were at in that way. So, yeah, the, you know,
• 6:33
  mental health issues, especially in the U .S.,
• 6:35
  rural Midwest Iowa, you know, there's a lot of
• 6:40
  stigma around it. Farmer suicide is very high.
• 6:44
  In general, suicide among males is very high.
• 6:48
  And, you know, those are all things that I've
• 6:51
  encountered and have seen growing up there. What
• 6:54
  are the contributing factors to that? I think
• 6:57
  it's the stigma, a lot of it. it's not okay to
• 7:03
  not be okay. Right? So you have to kind of put
• 7:06
  forward this strong front or be this strong person
• 7:09
  even when things aren't going well. So the stigma
• 7:12
  of farmers are strong and can do anything? Have
• 7:16
  you met any? I have. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I
• 7:23
  visited Iowa a few years ago on a project that
• 7:26
  Jordan and I were working on for a... spying
• 7:31
  ministry, spying medical ministry. And so specifically
• 7:37
  met a few farmers there in Iowa. They are strong
• 7:40
  people. They have strong families. A lot of pressure
• 7:43
  there then. Yeah. And I don't want to over stereotype,
• 7:46
  right? Like I was not all farmers, but the kind
• 7:49
  of culture, the, you know, pervasive kind of
• 7:53
  mindset. I don't mind the stereotype. I am grateful
• 7:56
  for those farmers from middle America. eat because
• 8:00
  they work. So it's a perfectly honorable and
• 8:04
  good occupation for sure. But you're right. There
• 8:07
  are other occupations and people doing other
• 8:09
  things. Yeah. Yeah. So that's kind of your story
• 8:13
  to date. You are working on additional graduate
• 8:18
  degree. I am. And the PhD. What do you, do you
• 8:22
  see that just adding to your practice or do you
• 8:25
  have a specific direction you want to take that?
• 8:28
  Yeah. years ago I decided well I should go back
• 8:34
  a little bit further I've been married for 19
• 8:37
  years in 2020 my husband who's a veteran of the
• 8:43
  United States Marine Corps had some tests done
• 8:47
  and some things wasn't doing very well and ended
• 8:49
  up being diagnosed with dementia and it was one
• 8:54
  of those experiences where I had spent a lot
• 8:58
  of time working with people in really tragic
• 9:00
  situations and grief and loss, and the experience
• 9:05
  that we were going through with, you know, loss
• 9:08
  of an income, loss of independence, loss of hopes
• 9:11
  and dreams, you know, the world that we had imagined
• 9:14
  and things to come kind of came crashing down.
• 9:17
  And specifically for me, it was... I didn't know
• 9:24
  what to do with all that. I couldn't pretend
• 9:26
  that I was okay. I couldn't pretend that everything
• 9:28
  was fine, but I had to have hope. And so what
• 9:31
  I ended up doing was really diving into the scriptures
• 9:34
  because a lot of the resources around these types
• 9:38
  of things are not Christian -based, and they
• 9:40
  do not have scriptural roots. And so I just wanted
• 9:44
  to see what the Bible said, and that kind of
• 9:46
  just dove me into a very deep study of lament.
• 9:52
  And lamentations and following the scriptures
• 9:54
  in that way. And the Bible really does give us
• 9:58
  a prescription for how to mourn and how to manage
• 10:01
  really terrible things. But we have to utilize
• 10:06
  it. We have to engage in it. And so I spent some
• 10:09
  time there and really studying about that and
• 10:12
  probably a couple of years. And then I kind of
• 10:15
  asked God, like, you know, am I still here? Like,
• 10:17
  what else do I need to be doing with this? And
• 10:19
  he was like, you're going to go teach people
• 10:20
  about it. And so not necessarily the answer that
• 10:24
  I was looking for, but I have in the last couple
• 10:29
  years kind of created a ministry around speaking
• 10:33
  and teaching and kind of normalizing and destigmatizing
• 10:37
  mental health issues, crisis, grief, and loss
• 10:40
  in the church because, you know, we're not always
• 10:44
  great about dealing with that. We tend to spiritual
• 10:46
  bypass a little bit, a lot. it creates some really
• 10:52
  challenging dynamics within the church, and I
• 10:54
  think we need to do better about that. I want
• 10:58
  to talk more about that ministry element of what
• 11:00
  you're doing, but we're going to take a quick
• 11:02
  break and come back to that. I want to thank
• 11:04
  those that are listening and watching today.
• 11:06
  We are blessed to have you along, and you're
• 11:09
  welcome to connect with us at missionsunlight
• 11:11
  .org. Find more about the Network 7 family of
• 11:14
  ministries, and also... Text us, 1 -423 -855
• 11:18
  -4877, or email hello at missionsunlight .org.
• 11:21
  We love hearing from you, whether you have program
• 11:23
  ideas, you have a prayer request, whatever we
• 11:25
  can do to connect with you. It encourages us,
• 11:28
  and we're talking about mental health. That helps
• 11:30
  our mental health at Mission Sunlight, so feel
• 11:33
  free to connect with us in whatever way you choose
• 11:35
  to. We will be back in a moment with more Mission
• 11:38
  Sunlight Chat. Being a media missionary can mean
• 11:49
  many different things. It means the love of a
• 11:52
  home at the heart of the planet. The intrepid
• 11:55
  spirit of a village and the vibe of a great metropolis.
• 11:59
  It means camera one and camera two. It means
• 12:04
  transforming a school, orphanage, or hospital.
• 12:07
  It means fire, rain, ice, and snow. It means
• 12:12
  gifts by the dollar and by the check. It means
• 12:15
  donations that roll and donations that fly. It's
• 12:21
  a movement on a trail or down a motorway. It
• 12:25
  means family. All of us together. And individually.
• 12:31
  It's who you are or who you are becoming. And
• 12:35
  to her, it's a simple gesture that means hope.
• 12:39
  Whatever it means to you, being a media missionary.
• 12:43
  means more than you might think. Welcome back
• 12:54
  to Mission Sunlight Chat, where we are in the
• 12:56
  General Conference Session Exhibit Hall, having
• 12:59
  a great time visiting with many ministries and
• 13:01
  friends of ministry all around the world. And
• 13:05
  interestingly enough, sitting here with Elise.
• 13:09
  Elise, I've forgotten your last name. Hellzer.
• 13:12
  Hellzer. Yep. I knew it began with hell and I
• 13:14
  didn't want to just say hell. I know. At least
• 13:16
  hellzer. Your life is not hell. It is a blessing.
• 13:20
  You know, you talked about your husband a moment
• 13:22
  ago. Yeah. How is the dementia now? So. He's
• 13:28
  kind of a complex case due to his age. The doctor's...
• 13:32
  Fairly young. Yeah, he's 44. The neurologists
• 13:35
  have kind of told us that he's progressing more
• 13:37
  like a person in their 50s. So not necessarily
• 13:41
  rapid progression, but there is progression.
• 13:43
  And it has been incredibly challenging, you know,
• 13:47
  especially for my children. And, you know, just
• 13:51
  kind of solo parenting, solo lifing. Well, also
• 13:56
  caregiving. So there's a grief process, a loss
• 13:59
  process that goes with that. Absolutely. As you
• 14:01
  know, in my personal life, I've experienced some
• 14:03
  pretty significant grief, and I have found therapy
• 14:08
  to be very helpful. And if you had asked me a
• 14:10
  month before my late wife passed away, which
• 14:14
  initiated this grief process, I would have told
• 14:17
  you, well, therapy may be for some people. It's
• 14:19
  not for me. I don't really think it's that effective,
• 14:22
  but I know it has been helpful for some people.
• 14:25
  At best, I was on the fence about therapy. Now
• 14:28
  that I've developed it, I even said to my therapist,
• 14:31
  you know, I could talk to anybody. Why in the
• 14:32
  world am I paying to talk to you? He said, well,
• 14:35
  because I can kind of give you some direction.
• 14:37
  And I have learned to appreciate the direction
• 14:40
  he's helped point me in. So I do think it's valuable.
• 14:46
  And now as a member of a blended family with
• 14:49
  my new wife, We occasionally go to see him just
• 14:52
  so we can do checkpoints on how we're doing in
• 14:56
  our marriage. Because believe me, there is nothing
• 14:57
  simple about blending even the best marriage.
• 15:01
  You are two different people who have gotten
• 15:03
  set in certain ways of doing things. You communicate
• 15:06
  certain ways. And you have to constantly be reminded
• 15:10
  and reminding yourself, oh, this isn't the same
• 15:12
  person. That's a simplified version of how I
• 15:17
  value therapy. Thank you for what you're doing.
• 15:20
  You know, typically our guests on our program
• 15:23
  come to us by stopping by and saying, hey, could
• 15:26
  I be on your podcast? Or someone else says, they
• 15:29
  need to be on your podcast. Can you fit them
• 15:31
  in? In this case, you're a friend of our ministry,
• 15:35
  Roundabout Way. Jordan, who is often at my right
• 15:39
  hand when we are producing. programs in our studio
• 15:42
  at home. Jordan, go ahead and put yourself up
• 15:45
  there. There you are hiding behind the television.
• 15:47
  Jordan and you have been friends for a long time.
• 15:52
  I'm not saying that for your benefit, but for
• 15:54
  Jordan's. We're not that old. I mean, technically
• 15:57
  half our lives. I'm going with more than. Jordan,
• 16:01
  tell us how you guys connected. So we met through
• 16:03
  a mission trip. In the early 2000s, Elise used
• 16:08
  to be a sign language translator. And we were
• 16:13
  teaching a young girl who was believed to be
• 16:17
  dumb on her island in Honduras because she couldn't
• 16:20
  speak and she couldn't hear. And so our group
• 16:24
  brought Elise in to teach her sign language to
• 16:26
  communicate with her family and the rest of the
• 16:28
  people on the island. So that's how we met. All
• 16:31
  right, Elise, can you corroborate that story?
• 16:33
  What's your side? All true. Okay. Yes. The funny
• 16:38
  thing, I think the miracle in that is how I was
• 16:41
  found for that trip. My dad was doing a speaking
• 16:44
  engagement at the Arizona, somewhere in Arizona
• 16:47
  for pastors. I don't remember. I was young. I
• 16:50
  was 17, 18. Okay. And my mom, for whatever reason,
• 16:54
  could not go with him. And back then, you could
• 16:56
  just switch out people and seats on a plane.
• 17:00
  Substituted. Yeah, I flew with my dad to Arizona,
• 17:02
  and he had me do a special music for them in
• 17:06
  sign language, and Jordan's dad just happened
• 17:10
  to be there and approached us about potentially
• 17:14
  going on the trip. So you just never know what
• 17:17
  might come. The sign language side of your work,
• 17:23
  are you continuing to do that? I'm not as fluent
• 17:26
  as I used to be. So it's ASL? Yes. Yeah. Okay.
• 17:29
  Just not as fluent as I used to be, but I did
• 17:32
  take four years of it. It was my foreign language
• 17:34
  in college, and I did interpret for quite some
• 17:38
  time. I'm going to pause this for just a minute.
• 17:40
  They've got an announcement going overhead. I
• 17:42
  don't know how much it's interfering and interrupting
• 17:43
  with our podcast, but we're going to kind of
• 17:45
  let them finish that up, and then we'll continue.
• 17:50
  The audio is a little bit strong, but we're thankful.
• 17:53
  It means ministry and business, kingdom business
• 17:57
  is happening right now. So we're glad that we're
• 18:00
  in a noisy place for once. Normally we try to
• 18:03
  make sure it's all quiet in the studio, but here
• 18:04
  in this public setting for the podcast, we're
• 18:07
  delighted to have a little background noise with
• 18:09
  people and whatever swirling around us. You know,
• 18:12
  one of the things about therapy is learning how
• 18:13
  to cope, you know, being flexible. I wanted to
• 18:17
  come back to the ASL because, I mentioned one
• 18:21
  of my bonus daughters. I mentioned bonus kids.
• 18:24
  One of my bonus daughters is a ASL translator.
• 18:29
  She works for a company here in the U .S. that
• 18:34
  answers the phone for the hearing impaired. And
• 18:40
  then I guess the phone rings for her. She hits
• 18:44
  a light that flashes in the person's home. And
• 18:47
  then sign, they have a monitor there by their
• 18:49
  phone, signs it to them, and then that person
• 18:51
  can sign back to her with their camera, and it
• 18:53
  comes back to her, and then she's able to tell.
• 18:56
  She has had some very interesting, personal,
• 18:58
  intimate conversations with that ASL translation,
• 19:02
  and it all has to be, they have different rules,
• 19:06
  but it's kind of like a HIPAA agreement. They
• 19:08
  have to be very careful. And, you know, as a
• 19:12
  Christian, it's a little bit difficult for her
• 19:13
  because she says sometimes the language, particularly
• 19:16
  if someone's arguing with someone else on the
• 19:18
  phone, can get pretty rough. But she has to communicate
• 19:21
  word for word. And it's hard to imagine that
• 19:22
  there's sign language for swearing, but there
• 19:24
  is. There sure is. Yeah. So I've heard a little
• 19:28
  bit about that discipline. Kind of interesting.
• 19:34
  Yeah. So do you run into needing to do any of
• 19:37
  that in your therapy? I have on occasion had
• 19:40
  clients who needed it. I, you know, would advertise
• 19:42
  that as something I did for conversation. My
• 19:46
  therapy practice is much smaller now just because
• 19:51
  of being in school and then also my caregiving
• 19:54
  demands. But yes, I do still practice therapy
• 19:57
  and have a private practice. Okay. Let's talk
• 20:01
  a little bit about that ministry side you were
• 20:02
  talking about. Tell me again. Yeah, so kind of
• 20:06
  when God kind of said, you're not just going
• 20:09
  to keep studying lament, but you're going to
• 20:10
  teach about it. I thought, well, how am I going
• 20:12
  to do that? And it just kind of happened that
• 20:17
  people would ask me about things or they're looking
• 20:21
  for mental health resources. And so I started
• 20:23
  a website to kind of... post some of my offerings
• 20:27
  and things that I could do and, you know, where
• 20:29
  I could travel and whatever. So I do have a website
• 20:32
  called seasonsofheart .com. Seasonsofheart .com.
• 20:38
  That's H -E -A -R -T? Yes. Okay. Yeah. And we
• 20:42
  can put that in the bio as well so people can
• 20:43
  find that? You could. Yeah? Yes. Glad to. Yes.
• 20:47
  So, you know, I've done some camp meeting breakouts.
• 20:50
  You know, I'm scheduled for a women's retreat
• 20:52
  this fall. I've done sermons and outreach events
• 20:57
  for churches, things like that. What about online?
• 20:59
  Are people able to connect with you through Seasons
• 21:02
  of Heart? Can they do a Zoom conference with
• 21:04
  you? Can you do therapy that way or training
• 21:05
  that way? I can do coaching and one -on -one
• 21:08
  consults that way as well. Isn't communication
• 21:11
  just so wonderful the way we almost can touch
• 21:15
  each other through the screen and just pass on
• 21:17
  information and share? Yeah. Do you find people
• 21:21
  connecting with you that way? I do. Through online
• 21:24
  teaching? Yeah. And, you know, COVID brought
• 21:28
  a lot of things to the world, right? A lot of
• 21:31
  not great things. Nobody had heard of Zoom before.
• 21:34
  Correct. We all thought it was Skype and FaceTime.
• 21:38
  For me personally, it has enabled me to be able
• 21:41
  to stay at home and work. Okay. And, you know,
• 21:44
  that was necessary. And I ended up kind of giving
• 21:47
  up my offices. I'm just working from home telehealth
• 21:50
  because it's what worked for my family. It saves
• 21:52
  a bit of money, doesn't it? It does, and it also
• 21:55
  made it so that people could contact me from
• 21:59
  anywhere, right? Okay. So they didn't have to
• 22:02
  drive to me. Yeah. What would you say is your,
• 22:07
  well, I don't know if you can say a favorite,
• 22:09
  but what is it that makes you tick the most that
• 22:12
  really you enjoy about the work that you do?
• 22:16
  I've just forever been honored that people share
• 22:19
  their stories with me. They don't have to, and
• 22:22
  it's a very difficult thing to do. And it's probably
• 22:24
  when I began to kind of specialize in grief and
• 22:28
  loss, and this was prior to 2020. This was probably,
• 22:30
  you know, eight years ago or so I started to
• 22:33
  really study in grief and loss. I did that because
• 22:37
  I had clients coming to me that were being mishandled,
• 22:41
  if I don't know any other way to say it, by other
• 22:43
  therapists. And so I just started to get as many
• 22:46
  trainings and learn as much as I could about
• 22:49
  grief and loss so I could support people. And
• 22:53
  it's probably some of the most sacred work I've
• 22:56
  ever done, being able to be with people in some
• 23:01
  of the darkest times of their lives. Amen. If
• 23:05
  I can share just a little personal anecdote a
• 23:07
  bit, not really a story, but just a little testimony.
• 23:10
  As a pastor, my bachelor's in theology, I served
• 23:12
  as a pastor for about a decade. people sharing
• 23:15
  their stories, I'm still having an opportunity
• 23:18
  to do some pastoral ministry through this, Mission
• 23:20
  Sunlight Chat. Hearing people's stories, and
• 23:23
  then also Jordan and I travel all over the world
• 23:25
  with the main Mission Sunlight production, hearing
• 23:28
  people tell the story, mostly connected to the
• 23:31
  specific ministry that is being promoted in the
• 23:34
  offering for the Mission Sunlight story, fundraising
• 23:38
  for the projects. But still, hearing people's
• 23:42
  stories. So for me, people will tell me, you
• 23:47
  listen to me. And that was therapeutic. You listen
• 23:49
  to what I do. And thank you for letting me share
• 23:51
  my story. But sometimes, most oftentimes, hearing
• 23:55
  their story is also therapeutic for me. I have
• 23:58
  learned so much from my clients over the years,
• 24:01
  you know, that I would not have learned any other
• 24:04
  way. Just as much as I'm supporting them, they're
• 24:06
  teaching me things too. Yeah. It is. is a two
• 24:10
  -way street when it's a conversation. Yes. Not
• 24:13
  a domination, but a conversation. Yes. And it's
• 24:15
  a collaborative relationship. And I think about
• 24:17
  that too in our Christian walk. It is a collaborative
• 24:20
  relationship with Christ. We have to choose it.
• 24:23
  We have free will. And he's not a God of punishment
• 24:27
  or force. And so we continually choose to go
• 24:31
  down that road together. Okay, so you shared
• 24:34
  your favorite thing. What is the thing that challenges
• 24:36
  you the most? Sometimes they're the same thing.
• 24:40
  I mean, probably. I mean, we live in a world
• 24:45
  that is devolving. You know, the world is devolving.
• 24:47
  Our relationships are devolving. Our bodies are
• 24:50
  devolving. And there are some things that there's
• 24:54
  no easy answers to on this side of heaven. And
• 24:58
  we may not know what the purpose of some of this
• 25:00
  pain and suffering was ever here on earth. And
• 25:03
  that's very hard. We may not know, but I've come
• 25:07
  to the conclusion. We may not care. Right. We
• 25:11
  may just be so thrilled to fall into his arms.
• 25:14
  Yeah. There's this phrase in one of my favorite
• 25:18
  authors that she writes, we'll say to ourselves,
• 25:22
  heaven is cheap enough. The stuff we did here,
• 25:27
  we went through here, is nothing compared to
• 25:32
  what our Savior has done for us. Yeah. And heaven
• 25:34
  is cheap enough. Yeah. I'm looking forward to
• 25:37
  that day. Yeah. We'll have a closing word from
• 25:39
  you, Elise, in just a moment. Thank you so much
• 25:41
  for being a part of our program and sharing about
• 25:44
  your journey and what you're doing to bring others
• 25:48
  close to Christ. I want that website one more
• 25:50
  time. Oh, seasonsofheart .com. Seasonsofheart
• 25:54
  .com. We'll put that in the bio. We'll be back
• 25:56
  in a moment with more Mission Sunlight chat.
• 25:57
  Thank you for joining us. Remember, you can always
• 25:59
  connect with us, missionsunlight .org. Click
• 26:01
  the share button. Let others know that you're
• 26:03
  watching. We're blessed by that. We're thankful
• 26:05
  for that. So please click that share button as
• 26:08
  we take this break. We'll be back in a moment
• 26:10
  with more Mission Sunlight Chat. is reconnecting
• 26:30
  ourselves with the Creator. We must learn to
• 26:36
  abide in Jesus now. We move ahead with our mission
• 26:40
  objectives, recognizing that we are serving together
• 26:43
  the Most High God. Welcome back to Mission Sunlight
• 26:59
  Chat here in the exhibit hall. It has gotten
• 27:01
  at least a little bit noisier in the exhibit
• 27:03
  hall as we've been talking. Yeah, it's happening
• 27:05
  here. But thank the Lord for that. That means
• 27:07
  lots more folks are connecting from one ministry
• 27:10
  to another, from one exhibit to another, from
• 27:12
  a business to a ministry and vice versa. it means
• 27:15
  that more people are sharing how Jesus is working
• 27:18
  around the world. And for this particular exhibit
• 27:22
  hall, it is the Seventh -day Adventist Church's
• 27:24
  World Business Meeting. So it means how Jesus
• 27:27
  is working within the context of the Seventh
• 27:29
  -day Adventist Church. I believe he works in
• 27:32
  many faiths and many places. And sometimes he
• 27:37
  works in the most secular of places with secular
• 27:39
  people. And those people sometimes don't, well,
• 27:44
  they don't. even know that they're being used
• 27:45
  by God. It's kind of funny. Sometime later they
• 27:48
  say, I didn't even know God was using me, but
• 27:51
  he did. And that's what brought me close to him.
• 27:53
  Yeah. We serve an awesome God, very unique God,
• 27:57
  all kinds of ways he can use and work with people.
• 28:00
  Yeah. And one of the things you do as a Christian
• 28:04
  therapist is at times when the window is open
• 28:10
  to share your faith. That's not always possible,
• 28:13
  right? Correct. Yeah. So in the clinical setting,
• 28:17
  you weren't able to, but now if somebody says,
• 28:20
  hey, I'm a Christian, what are you? Yeah. So
• 28:23
  you're able to share that. Yeah. How do you do
• 28:26
  that and still be mindful of the principles of
• 28:30
  your practice? You know, something that's really
• 28:32
  interesting over the years I've noticed, sometimes
• 28:35
  people would come in with really chronic acute.
• 28:39
  symptoms and concerns and as we go through the
• 28:42
  treatment process and trying to get them support
• 28:45
  and things that they need, I have noticed that
• 28:48
  when people get themselves plugged into a faith
• 28:50
  community, any faith community, their need for
• 28:53
  therapy, their symptoms go down. And so there
• 28:57
  really is power in the connection and being with
• 29:02
  other believers and having a spiritual sense
• 29:06
  of self. So you have some unique training that
• 29:11
  not all therapists have, and so that adds a unique
• 29:15
  aspect to what you do. Yes. What is that? So
• 29:19
  2019, 2020, early, I was trying to get myself
• 29:23
  into an EMDR training. EMDR is a very evidence
• 29:27
  -based, known treatment modality for complex
• 29:30
  trauma, and every training I tried to sign up
• 29:33
  for was full. One, even my colleague was like,
• 29:37
  hey, I just signed up for this training. We should
• 29:38
  do it together. And I went to sign up and she
• 29:40
  had taken the last spot. And I was like, okay,
• 29:43
  God, I'm not going to do EMDR. What am I going
• 29:47
  to do? And so I started to do some research and
• 29:50
  kind of looked at other treatment modalities
• 29:52
  and what was available. And I ended up learning
• 29:54
  about a modality called brain spotting. And it's
• 29:58
  very similar to EMDR, but it's a lot more organic.
• 30:01
  Give us the short story of what EMDR, just for
• 30:03
  context. So EMDR stands for eye movement desensitization
• 30:07
  reprocessing. And it's based on the idea that
• 30:10
  when your eyes move back and forth while thinking
• 30:12
  of a traumatic event, that it becomes less traumatic.
• 30:16
  So it's kind of like helping the body process
• 30:18
  and become less disturbed by things that are
• 30:21
  disturbing. So brain spotting born out of EMDR,
• 30:25
  instead of using eye movements back and forth,
• 30:28
  it's usually fixed eye positions. Okay. So what
• 30:33
  does that mean to a patient? That would mean
• 30:36
  that where you're looking with your eyes is going
• 30:40
  to impact how you feel. So a super fascinating...
• 30:45
  A client I worked with many years ago continued
• 30:48
  to have pain in a part of their body. And so
• 30:53
  we ended up finding a brain spot associated with
• 30:55
  that pain. And we were able to recall a time
• 30:58
  when they were physically harmed there. And it
• 31:02
  was kind of the parent's go -to of when they
• 31:04
  would discipline. That's where they ended up.
• 31:05
  So the body remembers and the body kind of stores
• 31:08
  trauma. And it's a good way to kind of... unpack
• 31:13
  some of that and allow the body to process and
• 31:15
  make it so those things that are triggering or
• 31:17
  that our body is holding on to can let go a little
• 31:20
  bit. So is brain spotting sounds fairly new?
• 31:27
  35 years or so. Oh, okay. But in the therapy
• 31:30
  world, it's kind of new. We like things that
• 31:33
  are tried, true, and tested over time. Okay,
• 31:36
  sure. Just a reminder, we have neighbors next
• 31:39
  door who are... trying out some sound equipment,
• 31:42
  if you hear that in the background. The practice
• 31:46
  of brain spotting, can it be controversial? Is
• 31:48
  it pretty well accepted? I think it can be controversial
• 31:52
  if you must and always want to see the science
• 31:55
  and studies behind everything. But for people
• 31:59
  that have experienced it or tried it... it's
• 32:02
  almost always impactful. And I've even had clients
• 32:05
  come to me that have done years of EMDR who have
• 32:07
  found much more relief in just a few sessions
• 32:10
  of brain spotting just because of the way that
• 32:12
  it's structured and that it kind of allows the
• 32:14
  body to do some of the work. When you say they
• 32:17
  find relief, what is that relief like? Complex
• 32:21
  trauma, right? So you have a lot of triggers
• 32:23
  and things that are impacting you in your day
• 32:26
  -to -day life or flashbacks that you're having
• 32:28
  regularly. And you've been working on it consistently.
• 32:32
  And maybe you're able to do EMDR and it's helpful,
• 32:37
  but you're able to do a few sessions of brain
• 32:39
  spotting and it's almost completely resolved.
• 32:42
  Or like if we're doing a 0 to 10 type of situation
• 32:45
  and it's constantly like a 7 or 8, we're able
• 32:48
  to get it down to like a 2 or a 3. Okay. And
• 32:52
  I don't know if there's something called success
• 32:54
  rate in this, but how effective do you find this
• 32:58
  to be? Almost everyone that I have used it with
• 33:01
  has found it impactful. So there are a few cases
• 33:04
  where people just don't jive with it. They just
• 33:07
  think it's uncomfortable. What I have found with
• 33:10
  those cases is those are people that are pretty
• 33:11
  disassociated physically from their body. So
• 33:15
  that is a skill. So there's an additional kind
• 33:18
  of therapy that they may need. you have to work
• 33:21
  to help them connect the brain and the body back
• 33:22
  together. And I think that's kind of interesting
• 33:24
  because we're kind of taught and socialized to
• 33:28
  ignore our bodies sometimes. And so, I mean,
• 33:32
  that's a consequence of that. Okay. there be
• 33:38
  a way to find out more about that on your website?
• 33:40
  Or if someone wants to do more research to learn
• 33:43
  more about it, how would they go forward? So
• 33:45
  there's a website called brainspotting .com.
• 33:46
  It talks about the theory. It talks about the
• 33:48
  treatment. It has some videos of what it looks
• 33:50
  like. And then you can find, by searching online
• 33:54
  in your area, if you want to see someone in person
• 33:56
  or otherwise, a brain spotting clinician. Okay.
• 34:00
  Yeah. So if they just ask... A professional in
• 34:04
  the field. Or you can go on Psychology Today
• 34:06
  and search, you know, your zip code and put in
• 34:08
  brain spotting. And it should populate providers
• 34:11
  that provide that. Very good. Anything encouraging?
• 34:15
  Just do you want to share at the last moment
• 34:17
  here with our guests? With our guest. With our
• 34:20
  audience. You know, you asked earlier about a
• 34:23
  Bible verse and, like, how do you pick, right?
• 34:25
  Like, there's so many that can be so impactful
• 34:28
  over time. One of the ones that consistently
• 34:32
  seems to come up in my interactions and even
• 34:36
  just day to day is John 10 .10. And a thief comes
• 34:39
  to steal, kill, and destroy. But I have come
• 34:42
  to give you life more abundantly. And so when
• 34:45
  we see those things in life that are destroying
• 34:48
  us in many ways, that's not necessarily what
• 34:53
  God intended for us. It's not what God wanted
• 34:55
  for us. And he has given us the... the ways and
• 35:01
  the teachings to live life more abundantly. Amen.
• 35:06
  Thank you for sharing that. Elise, thank you
• 35:09
  for sharing all of your knowledge and your life
• 35:12
  experience. See, at the beginning she told me,
• 35:14
  I don't know that I have much to share, but yet
• 35:17
  you had a plethora for us. Thank you. Thank you.
• 35:21
  Jordan, why don't you wrap us up in a word of
• 35:23
  prayer? Gladly. And Elise, thank you for accepting
• 35:26
  my invitation to the podcast. I appreciate it.
• 35:29
  Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you that
• 35:32
  you have made us and you've made us to be marvelous
• 35:37
  creations. And yes, we deal with the sinful world
• 35:41
  and this world is falling apart because of the
• 35:46
  sin that we live with. And we know that you have
• 35:48
  a better plan for all of us. I thank you for
• 35:50
  professionals like Elise and others who work
• 35:55
  with us to deal with our grief. the other effects
• 35:59
  of this world on our bodies and our brains. And
• 36:03
  I thank you for the knowledge that you've given
• 36:05
  to them. I pray that our conversation here will
• 36:09
  bless some of our viewers. Maybe they've been
• 36:13
  undecided about therapy or different things,
• 36:15
  but help them to be encouraged that they can
• 36:19
  find help, and they can find help that will point
• 36:23
  them to you. And if they are looking for... for
• 36:28
  that help or they feel like they don't have anything
• 36:30
  to live for, that they'll reach out and they'll
• 36:32
  find somebody that can help them and direct them
• 36:35
  down the path and back to a relationship. I pray
• 36:40
  this in your name. Amen. Amen. Jordan, thank
• 36:42
  you. Elise, again, we appreciate your presence
• 36:45
  on our podcast today. Thank you. Thank you to
• 36:48
  our audience for being a part of the program.
• 36:50
  Don't forget, click the share button. Visit us
• 36:52
  at missionsunlight .org and join us for our next
• 36:55
  program. We are blessed to be here at the General
• 36:58
  Conference Session Exhibit Hall, and I'm sure
• 37:00
  we'll be back next week with more. And I just
• 37:04
  want to say thank you, thank you, thank you for
• 37:06
  your prayers. Know that we are also praying for
• 37:10
  you. That is our program. This is Mission Sunlight
• 37:12
  Chat. This has been a Beeson Brook production
• 37:17
  in association with Network 7 Media Center. Executive
• 37:21
  Producers Christopher and Rebecca Beeson Roddy
• 37:25
  Scarborough Dawn and Nancy Van Ornum Associate
• 37:28
  Producers Jordan and Ashley Wagner Gary and Dina
• 37:32
  Bartle -Wagner Your host today, Christopher Beeson
• 37:35
  Director of Production and Audio Engineer Jordan
• 37:38
  Wagner To suggest guests Topic questions, to
• 37:42
  pray with us or to give, visit missionsunlight
• 37:44
  .org or text us at 423 -855 -4877. You may write
• 37:51
  to us at Network 7 Media Center, Box 25468, Chattanooga,
• 37:58
  Tennessee, 37422. This has been a production
• 38:02
  of Network 7 Media Center.