Faith and Doubt
Therapy for Faith Questions and Doubt
Doubt is not a crisis I need to manage or a problem I need to solve for you. Here you can ask "why God?" out loud, be angry, be unsure, and decide for yourself how much faith belongs in the conversation.
When "why God?" will not go quiet
Sometimes doubt arrives slowly, a question you have carried for years without saying it. Sometimes it lands all at once, after a death, a betrayal, a diagnosis or a prayer that seemed to go unanswered. You may still be showing up to church and feel like an impostor, or you may have stopped going and feel guilty about the relief. Either way, the question deserves more than a quick verse or a pat answer. It deserves a place where it can be asked honestly and stay open for as long as it needs to.
Seminary trained, so questions do not alarm me
I am a Christian, and I earned my master's in Marriage and Family Therapy at Fuller Theological Seminary. That training means hard questions about God, the Bible or Christianity itself do not frighten me, and I do not need you to land anywhere in particular. I will not argue you into belief or out of it. My job is to help you hear your own questions clearly, notice what sits underneath them, and make room for whatever you find there, including skepticism you have never said out loud.
You decide where faith sits
Faith is never assumed or introduced without your say-so. On the consultation call, and in any week after, you decide how present it should be. You might want it at the center, with Biblical counseling as part of our sessions. You might want to hold it lightly, question it openly, or leave it outside the room for now while we work on everything else. Each of those is welcome, and you can change your answer as you go without explaining yourself.
- Central, with Biblical counseling on request
- Held lightly, raised when it matters to you
- Questioned openly, skepticism included
- Left outside the room while we focus elsewhere
Anger at God, and grief that shakes belief
Anger at God can feel dangerous to say out loud, especially if you learned that faithful people do not feel it. In here it is allowed. We can sit with it rather than rushing to resolve it, and get curious about what it is protecting. Sometimes anger at God is sitting on top of grief: a loss that broke the picture of how life was supposed to go. If that is part of your story, grief therapy can hold the loss and the faith questions together.
When the questions are really about people
Faith questions are not always about God. Sometimes they are about the people who represented God to you, and whether you are supposed to forgive them, reconcile with them, or keep sitting beside them on Sunday. Forgiveness and reconciliation are real questions with real consequences for your relationships, and they deserve careful thought rather than a deadline. If a church or a leader hurt you, healing from church hurt speaks to that more directly.
Sometimes the doubt is not about theology at all. It is exhaustion from a faith that felt like one more performance, where even God's approval seemed to depend on getting everything right. That is close to the performance-based self-worth I work with in perfectionism therapy, and Present over Perfect can apply to your spiritual life as much as to your work or your body.
Counseling here, coaching anywhere
What this page describes is licensed therapy, available to anyone located in Texas, in person at my Southwest Austin office on Fridays and some select other times and days as schedules allow, or by telehealth anywhere in the state. If your faith questions sit alongside trauma, anxiety or grief, therapy is the right container, and Christian counseling explains how faith is integrated there. Separately, Christian coaching and mentoring is non-clinical and future-focused. It is available in all 50 states and globally, and it is not therapy.
Common Questions
Do I need to believe in God to work with you?
No. Faith is part of therapy here only when you want it, and it is never assumed or introduced without your say-so. You can question it, hold it lightly or leave it outside the room.
Will you try to answer my doubts for me?
No. I will not argue you into belief or out of it. We make room for your questions and what sits underneath them, at a pace that belongs to you.
What if I want my faith at the center of the work?
Then it can be. I am seminary trained, and Biblical counseling is available on request alongside licensed therapy. You decide how much of it we use and can change that at any point.
Is this therapy or Christian coaching?
This page describes therapy, which is licensed clinical care for people located in Texas. Christian coaching and mentoring is a separate, non-clinical service available in all 50 states and globally.
The consultation is free and there is no obligation on either side.
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