In this article, Sue Nicewander maintains that counseling people with problems can be difficult and discouraging. How can the counselor be encouraging, supportive, honest, and faithful to his or her purpose (helping others seek God in and through their difficulties) when the problems seem never-ending and never changing? Nicewander maintains that God teaches lessons through a counselor’s discouragement. She concludes that there is value in the struggle and God will use our trials to equip us to walk meaningfully alongside counselees.
