Becoming Whole: The Courage to Change

An Invitation to Begin

At some point in our lives, most of us come to a moment when we realize: I can’t keep going the way I’ve been going.

It might be grief, anxiety, relational tension, or a quiet ache we can’t quite name. Sometimes it shows up in our bodies before it reaches our thoughts. Sometimes it looks like burnout. Or disconnection. Or the sense that we’ve been surviving—but not really living.

Whatever it looks like, change takes courage. And healing, when we allow ourselves to pursue it, often takes even more.

Over the next six weeks, we’ll be reflecting on that journey—what it means to move toward healing, growth, and greater wholeness.

Here’s a glimpse of what’s ahead:

• Week 1 – What Counseling Is—and What It Isn’t

  A look at what the counseling process involves—and what it doesn’t.

•  Week 2 – When Healing Is the First Step

  Before we build new things, we often need to grieve what’s been lost or acknowledge what’s been buried. Healing isn’t weakness—it’s where restoration begins.

•  Week 3 – Naming Pain, Honoring Process

  There’s power in naming what hurts. Growth isn’t linear, and there’s no set timeline for healing. Your story and your pace matter.

• Week 4 – We Are Not Alone

  A peak at why connection changes everything. Community, presence, and compassion are often what allow change to take root.

•  Week 5 – What Happens When We’re Truly Seen

  When we are known and accepted, we don’t become someone else—we become more of who we were always meant to be.

• Week 6 – Becoming Whole: The Courage to Change

  A closing reflection on transformation as a lifelong journey. Wholeness doesn’t mean perfection—it means honesty, integration, and peace.

As I’ve been reflecting on this series, I’ve found myself returning to one of the most meaningful books I’ve read: Hinds’ Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard.

If you’ve never read it, it’s a beautiful allegory, a lens into the journey we all take through life. The highs, the lows, the meandering paths. The doubts. The questions. The learning to trust even when the way is unclear.

The story follows Much-Afraid, a character who longs to leave behind her fear and follow the Shepherd to the High Places. But the path is difficult. She stumbles. She struggles. She doesn’t always understand the route or the pace. And yet, she is transformed—not by escaping the hard places, but by walking through them.

That’s what this series is about.

Not a promise of ease, but an invitation to grow.

Not a quick fix, but a deeper wholeness—formed in honesty, rooted in hope.

Join Us Next Wednesday

We’ll be back with the first full post in the series: “What Counseling Is—and What It Isn’t,” written by Dr. Ann Gantt, our Counseling Supervisor here at New Hope.

Whether you’re considering counseling yourself or simply curious about what the process really looks like, her words offer a grounded place to begin.

Until then, may you give yourself permission to pause—and consider where your own journey of becoming might begin.

By Sheila Derr, Executive Director, New Hope Community Life Ministry