Assessing My Current Status

When you schedule an initial free consultation with us, it’s time for getting to know each other and sussing out the issues you feel you need help with and our recommendations for ways to move forward.

One tool we like to use in this discovery phase is our fill-in-the-blank summary statement. I share it now in case you’d like to get insights into your own life. In brackets, I’ve included a few of the ways these spaces can be filled in.

Although I’m currently in a stage of [PARALYSIS, POVERTY, INJUSTICE, BITTERNESS, OPPRESSION, PTSD], I look forward to having more flow or justice in the area of my [MARRIAGE, OCCUPATION, STATUS, DESTINY, HOPES & DREAMS]. I blame the spirits of [DEVOURING, WELFARE, JEZEBEL, PYTHON, ABUSE, SELF-HATRED, COMPARISON, ADDICTION] for sabotaging my relationships with my [PARENT, EMPLOYER, COMMUNITY, SYSTEMS]. I sense God primarily through [VISIONS, DREAMS, SONGS, NATURE, NEWS, BOOKS]. He has given me everything I need for life and godliness, including [CREATIVITY, PERSEVERANCE, HOSPITALITY, JOY, INHERITANCE, BIRTHRIGHT, FAVOR, GRACE, FUNDS].

At the initial session, we also like to ask about your place within your family of origin, your spiritual walk, and whatever is bothering you about life. Some of you only know that something is wrong, and you aren’t thriving the way you should. It’s also helpful to point out the treasure — the good stuff — God has packed into your family line and you.

We can help you figure out the right questions, so the Lord can guide you to the right solutions. He and we are so glad to meet with you!

Who Killed My Dad?

By Dorothy Mitchell

My father is not in the best of health right now, but he is getting better. The primary spiritual culprit behind the attacks on his health was found a little while ago.

So it puzzled me that this month in August/Elul I began repeatedly hearing a lyric from the notorious anime Kill la Kill, a show that, in a nutshell, follows a girl on a quest to avenge her father’s murder (and stumbles on a piece of rejected armor): I’ve got to find out who killed my dad; I hear the voice of you in my mind...

As I pondered this all month, I assumed that God was saying I needed to figure out who or what had been plotting against my earthly father, but finally it dawned on me that perhaps I was wrong. He might have been talking about himself. I accepted Jesus and asked God to adopt me into his family a long time ago, so God is also my Father. Jesus knew him as Father and taught us to pray to him as Abba (Daddy) so we could know him as Abba Father.

God wants to be close to us. Sometimes, the enemy of our souls plots against God through us. The easiest way to get to us is not to let any relationship begin in the first place. Sowing doubt and sabotaging trust and relationship in us as early as possible makes sense to the rebellious ones. That’s what would surely hurt him most.

I spent a good deal of my early life acting and feeling loyal but detached from God, as if God were dead, uncaring, unreachable, immovable — the unknowable, ineffable, deist watchmaker god. But who gave me that idea? Who told me he was dead? Who deceived me and killed his image in my mind, and made it so I couldn’t approach him as Father, let alone as Daddy? Sure, the culture put words to the idea, and egged it on, and sure, my own earthly father wasn’t perfect. But it was completely blown out of proportion.

God’s not dead, he’s surely alive! He’s living on the inside, roaring like a lion...!

I also assumed that it was ME who needed to figure this out. But I think I was wrong. I realized that God has his own detectives (I’ve seen him deploy them); I merely needed to give him permission to use them.

Father God, I ask you to find all those culprits, plotters, and schemers who attempted to poison your image and sow discord and distrust into my relationship with you. Release your divine detectives. Track all sabotage back to its source. Account for every blow dealt against me and my earthly father and the fathers before him on earth and between earth and heaven in an attempt to distort relationship between me and my heavenly Father God. I ask you to take the culprits to court and deal with them most harshly. I give you my record of wrongs and ask you to get justice for me. I am sorry for any way in which I agreed with them knowingly or unknowingly. I renounce them completely. You are a good father. You are my good daddy. You are love. I reject all false blueprints or mappings that were superimposed over your image in my heart. Please tear them down and take them away. I want to know you, God, the way Jesus knew you, too.

Guardians Raise Objections!

By Susan Mitchell

We gotta love the prickly Guardian parts of our soul/heart, but they can create strife when their protective objections conflict with our current goal or purpose. This often happens when my husband is chauffeuring me somewhere: I’m totally at ease playing on my iPhone, but my Guardian suddenly emerges to shriek, Watch out! about a “dangerous” shadow movement out of the corner of my eye. Then hubby’s Guardian comes out in response to being startled into, well, nearly wrecking the car. Or, on occasions when I have gone to meet with a group I know and love, some Guardian gets alerted and irritated for who knows what reason and simply won’t calm down. I might even get into an argument with someone if I don’t resolve the trigger, choose a non-reactive path, or remove myself. 

A few Sundays ago I was looking forward to peaceful time with my church. Worship for many of us is one place that is usually safe from triggers, so this is often easy since Guardians are often lulled into a sense of safety by music. The worship team began singing “How Great Is Our God,” a lovely anthem I’d heard many times. The word pictures (“wraps himself in light” and “time is in his hands”) ignited my imaginative awe and sparked actual conversation with the Lord (“my heart will sing”). The Function, Emotion, and True Self parts of my heart were wholly engaged in appreciating the Lord and allowing their joy capacity to expand.

At the moment my Guardian did not seem to be “up,” which is not surprising. They can go dormant for months or years. They do not sequence time, so they can be completely desynchronized from a person’s overall timeline, unaware of past encounters or experiences that occurred between their creation and their seemingly random awakening to take a guard shift.

But on this occasion, when we hit the line “the Lion and the Lamb,” my Guardian woke up to declare the equivalent of, “Danger! Untrue! Words found nowhere in Scripture! Misquote of Isaiah 11:6, 'And the wolf will dwell with the lamb….’”

Guardians can really wreck a party, but my Function considered the artifact of the song and the accusation carefully and came up with a logical narrative counterpoint: “This song is about the reach, span, and range of God: age to age, beginning to end, Lion apex predator to slaughtered Lamb. He is great in encompassing it all, and Jesus stands in these two faces of himself in Revelation 5:5-6. It’s legit.”

Guardian, appreciating the logic, bought it and relaxed, letting the gate swing wide open for the rest of my heart to re-engage in the adoration of our great and glorious God. Whew.

A few takeaways —  

• Music is a good way to keep Guardians at peace. I believe King Saul used David’s harp-playing to keep the scary, loud evil spirits that were attached to his Guardian at bay.

• If a Guardian shows up unexpectedly, take some time to reply kindly with facts and with logic to suggest another way to view things. 

• If they keep intruding (not all Guardians are as compliant as mine was), it’s often helpful to affirm them: “Guardian, you are an important part of me, and I appreciate your help. However, I, Susan, could really use this time to soak and relax from the stresses of the last week. Is it okay if we continue this conversation later?”

• Of course, if this is a Guardian that simply will not be mollified, it might be time to schedule an appointment to do look deeper at the cause, so Jesus can be brought in to resolve and heal the underlying issue: www.estuarycourts.com/book

Out of Religion, Into Relationship: Part 2

By Dorothy Mitchell

Continuing the story of my journey into an experiential relationship with God.

The Turning Point. My existential distress during my college years came to a head in an unexpected way. I can’t even explain why what happened hit me so hard. At the time, I was living in a dorm for women in the center of campus that had an unofficial reputation for being the virgin dorm.

One day, I was studying in my room when a girl raced down the hall pursued by a pack of boys, who cornered her just outside my door while one of the boys pressured the girl for a date. (Ironically, the boy was in the same religion class that pushed me to familiarize myself with the branches of Christianity I had not been exposed to before, which for me were Pentecostal and Charismatic churches.) Alarmed, I propped my door open in an attempt to give the girl an escape. She did not take it, but succumbed to the pressure and gave the boy her number.

I am not usually an impulsive person, but on this occasion I was so angry I was ready to run out and do something rash. However, the girl did not want anyone to retaliate on her behalf. I filed a report, honoring her choice, but inwardly I wrestled with my anger and my impotence, pursuing justice solely on paper. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

I cried out to God that my ways were not working; I had tried everything in my own strength and had failed to change myself one iota. I had no resilience. I could not cope with my moody, whiplash emotions or the pressures I put on myself. I needed God to change my life and my heart so I could live in the way Jesus had promised.

I did not receive any answer at that time, but soon after, my mom was introduced to the process of HeartSync, and I sensed this might be the tool that I needed in order to change. I was also introduced to Silicon Valley Healing Rooms, where I felt the undeniable presence of God for the first time and began to learn how to listen and hear from God by seeking words of knowledge before praying for physical healing. In the years since, other gifts and modes of communication unlocked: tongues, discernment, and dancing. More importantly, my inner stability and foundation in Christ has become more and more firm.

I have continued to seek God, listen for his voice, receive ministry for the shattered and broken pieces of my heart, and renounce the vows of religion and stoicism that captured me. It has been my pleasure to engage with and learn from teachers, evangelists, healers, and prophets from a great many ministries. It is my honor and joy now to help others restore the lines of communication in a living relationship with our Living God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit in their many roles as Father, Friend, Shepherd, Banner, Defender, King, Teacher, and Creator.

There is hope for you, too. Check out our appointment options for connecting you to the Source of Hope here.

Out of Religion, Into Relationship: Part 1

By Dorothy Mitchell

This is the story of my journey to wholehearted healing and connection.

The Setup. I grew up in a very small evangelical church with liberal leanings relative to the rest of the Church of Christ denomination. They embraced women as capable leaders, deacons, teachers, and servants within the church partly out of necessity because of their small population, but also out of general Bible study and local professional attitudes. The church denominational theology was organized around the cessationist premise that the gifts of the Holy Spirit ceased after the time of the first apostles. My congregation neither endorsed nor repudiated that belief directly, and I had no experience or knowledge that would cause me to question that premise or its effects.

Dorothy drinking from the old church fountain

Although the church hesitantly leaned in the direction of the Holy Spirit more and more as the years went on, the endeavor was of the cautious-blind leading the cautious-blind. We didn’t know that agreements in the spirit stick around until they are explicitly refuted or put down. We had very little grid for God’s heavenly kingdom and great fear of passion, mysticism, and the unknown.

Deep in my heart, I knew the spiritual world was real. I knew some people heard God and had a personal relationship with Jesus. Yet I could not seem to grasp it for myself. I grew increasingly disenchanted and frustrated with the evangelical world’s flat take on a seemingly one-sided relationship with a Jesus who could not talk back. Though I agreed in theory that such a relationship was crucial to my Christian walk, I could not make mine come alive, and no one seemed equipped to teach me how to make it bi-directional and real. Prayer felt very close to useless. But Holy Spirit had plans to guide me deeper.

The Commitment. I had always known I wanted to be baptized someday, but I felt I could not make the commitment in good conscience until I felt that I was willing to give my whole life to follow Jesus. One night I had a dream that I knew came from the Holy Spirit. I saw a white and purple flag featuring the dove of the Holy Spirit waving in my dream. In the dream, I was teaching some children about Jesus, who stood behind them. The children confronted me and asked me how I could teach them about him if I had not committed and was not baptized myself?

When I woke up, I knew it was time.

Dorothy's water baptism.

By her father, Keith Mitchell.

Rising as a "new creation."

A fresh start in life.

I felt nothing in particular during the baptism event, but Holy Spirit began to show me things. One time he even downloaded an entire parable to me. While I was applying to college, I would idly ask God where I would be in the future and I would receive faint glimpses in the blink of an eye. Later in the year, I recognized myself in those places he showed me. This brought me reassurance about my purpose and my destiny. I did not want to assume I knew where God wanted to send me. Eventually, I settled on Hope College in Michigan where I could pursue creative writing, art, and Japanese in an environment that encouraged its students to grow in their Christian walk.

Finally, finally, I would be allowed to nourish my passions with people who also wanted to be in school, with people as motivated as myself! I fully expected to flourish, but instead I attained accolades and success without thriving. I was frequently too anxious to enjoy my freedom. I made many acquaintances but struggled to make strong friendships, which came lowest on my priority scale. I felt chronically battered and exhausted. I realized I had absorbed toxic expectations and habits from twelve years of school that I did not know how to unlearn. I continued to do my work and enjoyed my classes, but outside of class I felt something was dreadfully wrong. I did not know how to live as a whole human being.

Have you also experienced such an existential crisis? Stay tuned for the conclusion of this story of hope.