Foundations for Counselling Ministry

Sinds anderhalve week ga ik weer naar school. Mijn opleiding met de University of the Nations is nog lang niet voltooid. Nu gaat 't vooral de kant op van therapie. De laatste twee jaar ben ik zelf in therapie geweest en ga nog steeds om de twee weken naar een werkgroep om te werken aan mijn eigen proces. Een van de grootste ontdekkingen in het begin van deze opleiding is dat ik niet alleen ben. De meeste studenten hebben ook een achtergrond van diverse moeilijkheden waar ze mee om moeten gaan en waar een bepaalde vorm van genezing nodig is. Maar wat juist fantastisch is, is dat God onze gebrokenheid juist gebruikt om anderen te helpen. Mijn probleem met porno verslaving kan juist gebruikt worden om ook anderen uit een sex verslaving te brengen. Voor mijzelf zie ik het ook al veel minder als een probleem. Elke dag kan ik vieren als een overwinning en hoe vaker ik er over deel des te makkelijker het wordt. 

Dus alle eer voor God. Wat Hij op dit moment doet is geweldig! Het was geen makkelijke keuze, maar ik zie duidelijk dat God mij hier naar toe geleid heeft. Er zijn genoeg bevestigingen. En ik voel mij ook helemaal thuis. En het contact met mijn medestudenten is daar boven op een extra zegen. Ik kijk uit naar het einde van de school. Ik weet dat we allemaal veranderen worden met het beste van God. Houd ons in jullie gebed, waar onze eigen proces, financiën en relatie met God en anderen deel van uit maakt.

Gods zegen en genezing voor iedereen - Arnoud

Over: FCM in Amsterdam

Since one and a half week I am back in school. My education with the University of the Nations is not ended yet. Right now it goes in the direction of therapy. The last two years I've been in therapy myself and I am still part of a group that meets every two weeks where I work my own process. One of the first big discoveries at the start of this school is that I am not alone. Most of the students have a background of diverse problems with which they have to deal and also need healing. But it is great that God wants to use our brokeness to be able to help others. My problem with porn addiction can be used to help others to get out of their sex addiction. For myself I see it less as a problem. Each day I can celebrate as a victory and the more I share the easier it becomes.

So all honor is for God. What he does right now is great! It wasn't an easy choice, but I see clearly that God guided me toward this. There are enough confirmations. And I totally feel at home. Plus the contact with my fellow students is an extra blessing on top of that. I am looking forward to the end of this school. I know that we will all be changed for God's best. Keep us in your prayers, which also includes our personal processes, our finances and our relationship with God and others.

Gods blessing and healing for everyone - Arnoud

About: FCM in Amsterdam

Reviving the YWAM Blog

After a long time of silence and many struggles, it is time to revive the YWAM Blog. To make a long story short, since I returned from South Africa to Holland it has been tough. Many things didn't turn out as I expected and I had to deal with a lot of dissappointments. Now I don't want to get into the details of that, maybe later.

The thing is that.. tomorrow I will be back with YWAM. At least for the next three months, possibly longer. I decided to join the FCM (Foundations for Counseling Ministries), which is a school of the University of the Nations (UofN) that focuses on training people for counseling ministries.

So how did I get the idea of joining this school? As many already know I did a couple of schools with the UofN already. I got trained for Evangelism, Worldviews and Biblical Studies. Now the focus is Counseling.  

How did that come about? The last few years I have been in a difficult process myself and have received counseling for quite some problems, of which the main one is an addiction to porn. Slowly I am getting out of the grip of this addiction. One thing that I found tough was to find help, it took me much longer than necessary. This made me realize that there is such a big need for people who are bold enough to speak up and who tackle this issue. People who are willing to offer the help that is so necessary. And I am willing to throw myself into that. This is why I want to get trained and become a voice for the ones who are not heard or seen.

With the reviving of this blog I want to write and share as much as I can to tell you about what I learn, but also to share more about the struggles and other issues that I encounter. And I certainly appreciate any responds, any questions, any suggestions, prayers and even invitations to chat. So let me know. My door is open.