A Therapist’s Long Road to Letting Go and Letting God

A therapist and psychologist who worked at two universities and a residential institution has spent years integrating secular counseling theories with Christian faith, arriving at a hard-won understanding of what letting go and letting God therapy actually requires. Her professional foundation was built on the work of two towering figures in psychology, but her personal life has been shaped by an engagement that ended, more than fifteen years without dating, and daily Mass.

A hero at SEMO

While pursuing a second master’s degree in Counseling, she met Dr. William Glasser at Southeast Missouri State University, where she worked at the Student Development Center. Glasser was at SEMO to present a program. She shook his hand and chatted with him afterward. She calls him a hero.

Glasser founded Reality Therapy, built on the conviction that the past cannot be changed. His advice was to live in the present and move forward. He believed there is no mental illness, that people choose their behavior—including headaches—and that they can change by choice. She adopted his therapy as a base approach, describing it as a cross between secularism and faith.

Ellis on stage

She heard Dr. Albert Ellis speak in St. Louis, Missouri, sitting directly in front of the stage. Ellis founded Rational Emotive Therapy. He had audience volunteers present issues on stage. When he heard statements using “had” or “must,” he dismissed them. Some volunteers cried. Ellis remained expressionless. She describes him as calm and methodical; he removed his shoes, sat cross-legged, and moved slowly.

Faith and control

Letting go, she says, is tied to faith in God—and faith is difficult despite strong belief. People tend to take control when they feel unstable. She attributes past events to family dysfunction, personal choices, and God’s will. She stopped blaming herself for a college breakup. Past relationships, she believes, did not put God first.

After an engagement to a non-believer ended, she began attending daily Mass and has not dated in over fifteen years. She wants a relationship and marriage with God first, with true love. She believes Jesus is present in the Eucharist. When she lets go and lets God, she experiences peace.

She warns that self-steering vehicles are influenced by the evil one. She identifies as Christian. Her closing words: “GO REBELS.” “JMJ.”