What if God could speak directly into the things that have shaped your life? What if you could discover for yourself what Father God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit think about you, your circumstances and the things that have happened to you?
That distinction is important to us, but it doesn’t mean that we think counselling isn’t valuable. Quite the opposite, counselling can be enormously helpful, and there are times when it is exactly the right thing for someone. The important thing is to understand what Sozo is, what counselling is, and where the two can appropriately come together.
If you’re considering a Bethel Sozo, you may have questions. You may be wondering what happens, whether you need to be a Christian, how long a session takes, or whether Sozo is right for you.
One of the concerns we hear surprisingly often from people who come for a Sozo is that they can’t — or think they can’t — hear from God. Sometimes the reason is:
We are all shaped by what happens to us. Some of those experiences are wonderful, some are painful. Some are so ordinary that we hardly notice their effect, and some happen so early in our lives that we may not even remember them.
We all make sense of our lives somehow. Something happens. We experience it. We interpret it. And, somewhere along the way, we may draw a conclusion about ourselves, other people or God.
Shame isolates us. It’s a hidden secret. It doesn’t like coming into the light. It makes us believe that we’re constantly uncovered and that the people around us can somehow see right through us.
Sometimes the event is over, but something of it is still living inside us. It may be a frightening experience, a relationship that wounded us or something that happened to us as a child.
We all make judgements. We observe what happens around us, we notice what people do. We experience how they treat us, and we make sense of it. That’s normal.
Who am I? It sounds like a simple question. But it isn’t. We can spend much of our lives trying to answer it. Am I successful? Am I attractive? Am I clever? Am I good enough?
For some people, the problem is that their boundaries are too weak. They find it difficult to say no. They take responsibility for other people’s feelings. They feel guilty when they disappoint someone. They allow other people to decide what they should do, feel or believe.
Not simply to throw yourself enthusiastically into something; not to live entirely from your emotions; not to allow your rational mind to control everything you think, feel and do, but to become a person whose head and heart can work together. A person who is increasingly able to live from a place of authenticity, honesty and wholeness.