• Loving God with all of your heart is experienced in sincere, heart-felt worship — Seeing God for who He truly is, and being honest with myself about who I really am. Contemplating the paradox of justice and mercy.

• Loving God with all of your soul is experienced in honest, transparent fellowship — Allowing another human being to see you for who you really are, with nothing hidden or held back.  Being fully known.

• Loving God with all of your mind is experienced in committed discipleship — Being consistent and faithful to the reading, studying, memorizing, internalizing, and application of the scriptures.

• Loving God with all of your strength is experienced through ministry — Using your inborn gifts and talents to step into your unique place of service within the body of Christ, the church.

• Loving your neighbor as yourself is experienced through being on mission — Sharing with a hurting, broken world how you have encountered the life-changing love of Jesus Christ.

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Most importantly though, we instruct each and every client on the value of becoming a life-long student of the Bible. The Bible provides:

• Instruction for life and relationships, especially when things get difficult (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

• Lumination along the pathway of our life (Psalm 119:105).

• Reflection which shows us what we’re really like and where we need to change (James 1:22-25).

• Nourishment for our soul and spirit that nothing else can offer (Psalm 1:1-3).

• Protection against the attacks of the enemy (Ephesians 6:17).

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The counselors at Life Training intercede for every client on an ongoing basis, in following Paul’s instructions in 1 Timothy 2:1.  Our commitment to pray begins when we receive the initial phone call from the individual.  After hearing the caller’s story, we ask if we might pray for them and their situation prior to ending that conversation.

Our counselors also pray with and for the client at the beginning of every counseling session.  We invite God to do for the client what only He can do.  We call upon Jesus to cleanse the counseling experience of the presence of the enemy.  We invite the Holy Spirit to guide every word that is going to be spoken, read, or heard.

At the conclusion of each session the client is prayed for again — this time asking God to imprint important content from that session onto the client’s heart, and to give them the courage to let go of false beliefs.

Our counselors are also committed to pray regularly for each of their clients until that person is no longer under the care of Life Training Christian Counseling.

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Who God created us to be (temperament) and who we become through learned behavior (personality), can be vastly different, and from that comes great inter- and intra-personal conflict (Psalm 139:13-14).

We have discovered that when an individual’s temperament needs are not met, their life will be primarily lived through their inborn weaknesses.  Yet if the person’s needs are largely getting met in healthy, godly ways, they will be able to experience life and relationships through their God-given temperament strengths, which will bring fulfillment to the individual, improve relationship, and ultimately bring glory to God.

Dr. Dave and Ann Ralston, founders of Life Training Christian Counseling, are the only NCCA Certified Temperament Counselors in the Louisville Metro / Southeast Indiana region.

Historically, there have been only four temperament described in both faith-based and secular counseling practice and literature.  However, in 1981, as a result of Drs. Richard and Phyllis Arno conducting seven years of research with over 5,000 individuals in the Christian counseling setting, a fifth temperament — the Supine — was identified.  The Supine classification is exclusive to the copyrighted APS temperament profile, and can only be taught by an NCCA Certified Temperament Counselor.

Having counseled hundreds upon hundreds of clients utilizing the APS temperament profile as a primary tool, Dr. Dave and Ann Ralston have seen God restore individuals, relationships, marriages, and families in ways that only He can do.

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Guilt causes one to feel bad after they’ve done or said something wrong.  But shame causes a person to believe they are bad.  Shame becomes an internalized belief system that clouds how a person sees everything, including the blessing of life itself.

Luke 4 records Jesus entering the temple in Nazareth and reading from Isaiah 61 as a completed prophecy about His identity.  This was His calling to heal those with broken hearts:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has chosen me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed and announce that the time has come when the Lord will save his people.” (Luke 4:18-19)

Our counseling approach at Life Training allows each client to give voice to their pain and their complaints that may have been bottled up for decades.  Speaking enables individuals who have been trapped in silence to find freedom and connection with both God and another human being (James 5:16).

Because our counselors have themselves discovered freedom from the internalized shame of their past, they are equipped to walk with others on their similar journey.  Restoration from the hurts, wounds, and brokenness of the soul includes three necessary elements:

• Exploring the shame believed by the mind.
• Laying down the shame carried out by the will.
• Allowing yourself to actually feel your own emotions.

By introducing the unconditional love of God into wounds of the soul, the client will begin to experience a deep, unexplainable healing, newness, and freedom in their life.

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