Arlene Veenstra has recently retired as a Biblical Counselor at Elisha House (a Pregnancy & Family Support Centre which provides counselling for individuals, couples, and families who are actively seeking God in the redirection of their lives) after 24 years.
Arlene has also gifted our church hours upon hours of service through teaching courses, leading Bible studies, listening, redirecting, encouraging, and counselling.
Arlene and her husband Boot have been married for almost 39 years. They have been blessed with 18 grandchildren...9 boys and 9 girls. Arlene has eleven siblings and is an aunt to many. In Arlene's spare time she enjoys reading, scrapbooking, watching TV, and playing games.
How and when did you get into
counselling?
About
30 years ago Donna Becket from Niagara Life Centre came to speak at our
church. It was after listening to her
that I felt a tug on my heart to get involved.
My children were quite young at that time so I knew it would have to be
in the future as my first responsibility was to my family.
In 1990 I took the volunteer training course
through NLC and began to volunteer in the Welland Centre as leader for the
Mothers’ Friendship Program.
As I worked with the girls I realized that I needed to become more equipped so I went back to
school. I attended Niagara College and graduated
with my Social Service Worker Diploma in
1994.
As I counselled with people I
realized I needed to get more training in how to help people apply the gospel
to their lives in very real and practical ways.
It was then that I began taking courses through CCEF (Christian
Counselling Education Foundation) in Philadelphia. The Lord has used that education to make the
most profound changes in my life and counselling.
What did you do at Elisha House?
I
served at Elisha House almost since its beginning (24 years). In the beginning years of the Centre I did
whatever needed to be done. I did pregnancy tests, pregnancy options
counselling, one on one biblical counselling, taught classes, facilitated
healing groups and even did a lot of fundraising.
However over the years as the Centre grew and
more people came on, I was able to focus on one on one biblical counselling and
facilitating healing groups.
What courses have you taught and what do
you enjoy about teaching the most?
I
have facilitated healing groups – sexual abuse healing, uprooting anger,
emotionally destructive relationships, post abortion and biblical
peacemaking.
I love seeing the Lord at
work in people’s lives as He works healing and transformation in them for His
glory! I love seeing people becoming
walking pictures of the Lord’s redemption.
I have also taught How People Change and Helping People Change. These courses teach how the Lord
brings about transformation in the life of a believer and how the Lord uses His
people in the lives of others for sanctification purposes.
I truly enjoy teaching these courses, seeing lives changed for the glory of the Lord and watching people grow in terms
of living for Kingdom purposes.
Can you estimate how many people you have taught "How People Change" to?
I am going to guess between 200-300 people??
What are the most difficult aspects of
counselling?
I
would say the most difficult aspects of counselling is to hear about suffering
people have endured and lived through.
It is at times difficult to come to grips with the presence of evil and
how so many lives have been affected by it.
Have you ever felt “down” about a case
and not expect a good result?
I
guess that would depend on how you might define “a good result.” If you mean a “happy ever after”
result, sometimes I see that and other times I do not.
I have learned over the years to trust the
outcome to the Lord and in that sense, there is always a “good result” as the
Lord changes me in the process.
As far
as getting “down”… many times I have been very sad for people. Thankfully, the Lord has taught me over the
years how to not carry responsibility that is not mine to carry. As a result, I have been blessed to have not
experienced any really “down” times.
Did you have times when God
revealed Himself in a special way to you?
Many
times the Lord has revealed Himself in terms of transformation taking place in the
lives of very broken people.
Many times
I have prayed for wisdom and experienced immediate response to His promise to
provide wisdom to those who ask.
Other
times while reading His Word, the Lord has revealed to me how that particular
passage would comfort and help a specific client. So I would say yes, the Lord has revealed
Himself in special ways to me.
Were you able to leave the problems
behind when you came home?
Yes
and no. I did not carry people’s issues
with me in that they would preoccupy my thoughts but one is always affected in
some way when you are involved with other people.
I have heard it said that if you are going to
get into the mud puddles of people’s lives you are going to get dirty.
I would say that there have been times that
the “problems came home” when I would have to give beyond the hours at Elisha
House due to crisis etc.
What courses did you take with CCEF?
Almost all of them… I still have three more to complete but at this stage I’m not sure if I will
be doing that as my life is taking a different turn.
Do you see churches moving towards Biblical Counselling?
I
would describe Biblical counseling as, "applying the Word of
God and the gospel of Jesus Christ to the very difficult problems of real
life."
In some sense there has been much
growth in the church in terms of the church now seeing more and more how Scripture
is sufficient and that Scripture does
speak into the difficulties of life. This is not to say that we cannot learn from other means such as psychology
or science in terms of human suffering, but this kind of learning must always be
understood through the lens of Scripture. I think over the years the church is seeing this more and more.
Do you have concerns for the
Reformed churches today?
Not really…the church belongs to the Lord and He promises to care
for her!! I believe that with all my heart!
So when struggles arise within her, I believe that is evidence of the Lord at
work in her and purifying her.
I believe
He will bring her into truth and one day she will be presented to Christ
“without spot or wrinkle”. That does not
mean that we as members can just coast along… we must always be dealing with
our sin, living with kingdom purpose and manifesting God’s glory to the world
around us.
What do you see as a threat
to the family and the Christian way of living?
I really do not believe that the threat to the family or the Christian
way of life necessarily comes from without.
I think the biggest threat to the family is the fact that we are often more
influenced by the world than we are by the Word of God.
Too often we forget to have our eyes focused
on the things of the Lord and we live for the values of this world. That is not to say that there are no outward
threats to the family or the Christian way of life but if our hearts are stayed
on the Lord- our families will stay strong in Him.
What advice would you give
the leaders of the church?
Stay true to the Word of God.
Strive to make the church a safe place for struggling sinners,
where they can be open about their struggles and receive help through the
application of the gospel.
Strive to do all you can to “equip the saints of service” so that
the Lord’s glory will be seen in this world through the church.
What are the top 5
books you would recommend for reading?
These are 5 books (not in any particular of order) that I have
enjoyed reading:
The True Story of the World by Craig G. Bartholomew and Micheal W.
Gogeen
Shame Interrupted by Edward T. Welch
Seeing With New Eyes by David Powlison
Caught Off Guard by William P. Smith
Pursuing Peace by Robert Jones
