Counseling News from the Week of July 31, 2026
Explanation: Although I scan the Internet primarily for counseling articles, in the process I run across quotes and interesting facts that I sometimes include in these first two sections. If you’re just interested in the counseling articles, you can skip these first two sections and go directly to the section called Counseling Articles. Today I’d especially draw your attention to the first two articles in Fascinating Facts. Although these aren’t counseling articles, I think they’re very important and interesting for all Christians to know. HV
Interesting Quotes
“When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.”
Maya Angelou
“I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.”
Laura Ingalls Wilder
“Problems are our chance to make things better.”
SETH GODIN
Speak life into others. Encourage their dreams. Point out their strengths, their talents, their potential. Sometimes it only takes one person to remind us that we are capable.
Deja Rae
"One man can make a difference and every man should try."
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
“A self that goes on changing is a self that goes on living.”
Virginia Woolf
"When you're good at something, you'll tell everyone. When you're great at something, they'll tell you."
Walter Payton
Fascinating Facts
Interview with Hugh Ross, Famous Astronomer
Here's an interview with Hugh Ross in which he explains the Big Bang, creation of the universe, how long the 6 days of Creation were, The Flood, the location of the Garden of Eden, how the Neanderthals and Homo Erectus fit into the biblical record, and other things. The video is 40 minutes long, but I believe the first 30 minutes are the most informative.
Click here to read the full article
Why We Don’t Have a King?
A five-minute Praeger video that illustrates how God can use even a storm to create something wonderful: Since many European countries at the time of the founding of the colonies had kings, you might wonder why we did not. The answer may surprise you. The passengers on the Mayflower were planning to start a colony in Virginia under the authority of the King, but a storm caused them to land in Massachusetts. There were no government officials there, nor any nobility, so the colonists were forced to form their own means of governing themselves. They formed the Mayflower Compact, drawing from the Old Testament for inspiration, where God was the ultimate authority, and then gave humans the right to govern themselves, creating a government very different from the governments of Greece, Rome, and Europe. The colonists basically learned to govern themselves for 200 years, and when the British king and Parliament began insisting on oppressive taxes and rules, the 13 colonies eventually revolted. The Mayflower Compact laid the foundation for the Revolution, the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, and which has survived longer than any other world government.
Click here to read the full article
What Happens if You Start Choking When You’re Alone? Here’s How to Give Yourself the Heimlich
This article contains some recommendations on how to avoid needing to give yourself the Heimlich, how to signal someone who is with you to give you the Heimlich, and how to give the Heimlich to yourself if you’re alone.
Click here to read the full article
The mystery of why Sonia Exelby paid a man to kill her
This is perhaps the saddest and most bizarre story I’ve ever read in my lifetime. It is from the British newspaper the Telegraph, so you won’t be able to read it without a subscription. But because her life ended in Florida not far from here, I’m including a summary. Sonia Exelby was born in England. She was adopted by an apparently loving family at age 4 and raised by them. She was apparently musically gifted and learned to play three instruments. Her early adult life seems healthy, and she had a boyfriend. But she became depressed, developed an eating disorder, and became quite withdrawn.
She developed a relationship with Dwayne Hall, a married man 20 years older than her and apparently developed a fantasy of being tortured and killed by him. Her sisters discovered the relationship, and police, for her protection, removed her access to her laptop and cellphone. However, she secretly obtained another laptop and cellphone and recommenced the relationship with Hall and agreed to pay him $4,000.00 for her torture and death. They made plans, flew to Florida, and stayed for two days at a remote cabin in Marion County. Dwayne had her record a statement that she wanted him to kill her. The details of the torture and killing are apparently too horrific to be included in the newspaper article. Her body was recovered by Florida police six days later. So, you can perhaps understand why I consider this one of the saddest and most bizarre stories I’ve ever read.
Click here to read the full article
Counseling Articles
The Amazonian Trap: How Heteropessimism Is Harming Young Women
This article talks about how many young women have come to believe they don’t need marriage or a man in their lives, but by their mid-30s and later, when they realize they might want both, they have found that the available pool of men who are interested in marriage is no longer available.
Click here to read the full article
How Jane Austen Understood the Purpose of Marriage
In another article that supports the ideas of the one above, we read about Jane Austen’s thoughts on the purpose of marriage. Worthwhile words for us today.
Click here to read the full article
This Trait Will Get You 99% Ahead of Smart People
Most people think that success depends on intelligence and perseverance, conscientiousness or self-confidence. But a variety of research studies suggest that humility outperforms any of those factors in terms of producing success as a student, a teacher, a marriage partner or as the leader of organizations. This 21-minute video discusses some of these studies and explains why humility helps in all these ways. Undoubtedly sharing this information with our clients might be rejected by at least some of them, but this concept is biblical and helping our clients see this could probably help them be more effective in their lives and relationships. The video includes the idea that humility can be developed and ways to help a person develop it
Click here to read the full article.
2 Questions That Could Change the Way You Live
Happiness researcher Arthur C. Brooks says there are two questions that people must be able to answer to have a satisfying life. This article shares what those two questions are.
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DOJ updates religious liberty guidance, adds new parental rights protections
In what is certain to be an encouragement to Christian parents about their ability to raise their children in accordance with their own Christian convictions, the Department of Justice updated its statement on religious liberty guidance for families, citing recent Supreme Court decisions.
Quoting from the article, “religious liberty is one of our nation's founding principles and a fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution."… "It is essential that federal agencies fully respect and protect the ability of all Americans to live out their faith in daily life, including in their interactions with the federal government." “This right extends beyond a mere right to teach religion in the confines of one’s home and encompasses the choices parents make for their children outside the home.” The guidance continues. “Government policies that substantially interfere with the religious development of children violate this right. Government may not choose to condition the availability of public benefits, such as public schooling, upon parents’ willingness to surrender their religious freedom.”
Click here to read the full article
DSA Co-Chair Explains That It Will Abolish Borders, Defund the Pentagon, and Destroy the Constitution
Although I don’t normally include political issues in this newsletter, I believe the threat of the Democratic Socialist Party is too dire to ignore. Even though these candidates identify as Democrats, their goal is to abolish the United States government and send up a socialist/communist government in its place. Before you vote for any of these candidates, despite how convincing their rhetoric is, please understand their platform and make an informed decision about how you are going to vote on that basis. And a message to traditional conservatives, who sometimes do not vote in midterm elections. I believe in this midterm it is more important than ever that we vote, or the minority who go to the polls will win the election.
Click here to read the full article
Your Brain Forgets Your Wins. A Brag Folder Can Help
Our first impulse when we hear of helping people establish a “brag folder” is probably to recoil, since we associate it with narcissism. But some of our clients may have the opposite problem, always focusing on what they have done wrong. For them, encouraging them to develop a “brag folder” might help them develop a more balanced concept of themselves. See what you think after reading the article.
Click here to read the full article
The Sacredness of Sex
I don’t think this is a very good title for this article because I don’t think it conveys how good the ideas in it are. In the article Richard Simmons shares three insights about sexuality that can benefit and encourage all Christian couples. I think you will find one or more of these principles helpful in your counseling with couples and individuals.
Click here to read the full article
Fentanyl’s Deadly Successor Emerges
While opioids have become widely accepted as analgesics for surgery and for treating end-stage cancer pain, they have also become deadly because they produce a sublime experience and long-term users become addicted and cannot stop using. Thus New (or Novel) Psychoactive Substances (NPSs) have replaced heroin and morphine as the country’s primary lethal intoxicants.
Click here to read the full article
AI Cannot Replace Therapy: What Artificial Intelligence Can, and Can't Do for Your Mental Health
An interesting article on how people can use AI to improve their mental health, but why it can’t replace therapists.
Click here to read the full article
Should We Make Daylight Saving Time Permanent?
This is from the New York Times, so you can’t read it without a subscription, so I’ll summarize its major points. The U.S. is faced with three imperfect options: make Daylight Savings Time permanent, make Standard Time permanent, or continue the present system of switching twice a year. A disadvantage of making Daylight Savings Time permanent is that it has children going to school while it is still dark. And there were so many complaints that we returned to the present system. The advantages are that it could reduce evening accidents and increase people’s time to exercise and socialize. The advantage of permanent Standard Time is that it seems to better align with human circadian rhythms, bright mornings and dark evenings, and that is why some medical organizations have recommended that Standard Time be made permanent.
We tried switching to permanent Daylight Savings Time back in 1974, when Congress imposed it during the oil crisis, but it was dropped after complaints of children having accidents on the way to school and people complaining of a second “Dark Age.”
The present system of switching times twice a year also has complaints. Which way the country (or Congress decides) is still to be determined.
Click here to read the full article
How Are Detransitioners Faring in Medical Malpractice Cases Across the Country?
A growing number of detransitioners are taking their surgeons to court, saying healthy organs were removed from their bodies when they should have received psychological treatment for their problems. Some litigants have faced statutes of limitation issues, but the Texas Supreme Court nullified the statute in one case. If you are counseling clients who are detransitioning, you may want to tell them that they benefit from legal remedies, and that by filing suits, they may not only benefit themselves but also prevent other young people from receiving the same surgeries. They may also avoid statutes of limitation impediments.
Click here to read the full article
Understanding an Overlooked Side of Bipolar Disorder
In this article a psychiatrist discusses a feature some people with bipolar disorder experience. Between major mood episodes they may experience rapid mood shifts that feel different than major mood episodes, but that can disrupt relationships and activities.
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No, Islam is Not Kind to Christians
These last two articles are not counseling-related, but because the war in the Middle East is having such an effect on our economy, I think they are important enough for every Christian to be accurately informed.
There have been claims in social media that Islam has been kind to Christians. This article from Breakpoint demonstrates that Islam has been unkind to Christians since its very inception. We may have one or more Muslim neighbors who are peaceful, but in general Islam has persecuted Christians. The current political leaders in Iran have verbally declared that they want to destroy the United States (the Big Satan) and Israel (the Little Satan) and everyone who will not convert to Islam. Their official theology texts say that it is permissible to lie to any non-Muslims to gain a military advantage. See also the following article by respected theologian Wayne Grudem, which is excellent and speaks to this issue.
Click here to read the full article
Israel, US and the judgment of God on Iran
This is a thorough summary by highly respected theologian Wayne Grudem, of the history to Israel from Abraham to the present day, and a discussion of the current conflict in the Middle East, that I encourage Christians to read it to be accurately informed of the reasons for this conflict and what God says about the various actors in it.
Click here to read the full article
I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Henry Virkler