Bill and I (Janean) came to know the Lord as adults and began attending a large church in Hermosa Beach, CA called Hope Chapel. We met when Bill began leading a home fellowship that I attended. Newly separated from our first marriages and both single parents, we became friends and prayed with one another for healing and reconciliation with our spouses. We spent four years together in a small group, attended single parent functions and went to family camps with our children. We lost touch for thirteen years when I moved to Colorado Springs until our adult daughters recognized each other at a mutual friend’s wedding. They re-connected us and, two years later, we were married.
Both of us were celibate for over 20 years and, after completing the difficult job of being single parents, we both had repressed our sexuality. Consequently we faced some sexual difficulties after marriage that we didn’t know how to deal with. We couldn’t find anywhere to turn; every time we brought up our sexual struggles to pastors, friends and even Christian counselors, they avoided the subject and became uncomfortable. Marriage counselors didn’t have an education in sex therapy to help us either.
We searched for a Christian sex therapist in our community and found none. Many specialized in sexual addiction (which is completely different than working with sexual dysfunctions that hinder a couple’s intimacy) but we found no one who could counsel couples in becoming “one”.
OUR PRAYER AND VISION
We decided to receive training in sexuality to help us! LOL! Janean completed a post-graduate certification in Clinical Christian Sex Therapy from the Institute of Sexual Wholeness, and Bill was certified through the American Association of Christian Counselors in Human Sexuality.
God began healing our trauma which positively affected our sexual issues. We’ll never stop learning how to become more intimate with the Lord and each other though! We then chose to help other couples with the help we’d been helped with.
We never thought in a million years that God would take two sexually broken people and ask us to help others. We love helping couples see the importance of making love to their spouse regularly. It’s a sacred act that’s the only time they’re “one flesh” in the Lord spiritually, emotionally, and physically. It brings healing to the marriage and believe it or not it even reflects how the marriage is doing outside the bedroom. For example, as a child, you probably knew whether or not your parents were happy, right?
Our hope is that the church will begin to embrace and encourage this holy union and become more comfortable with reaching out and helping other couples sexually in the Body of Christ. Finally, our prayer is that all people will celebrate the God who created and ordained the beauty of making love in the context of a Christian marriage.
Andrew fischer says
Hi! My name is Andrew, and I’m looking for a sec therapist for myself. My wife and I would like to do zoom therapy. We live in California, and are looking to either work with you, or someone you could recommend. If you are available to talk, please call me at (949) 322-7398 thanks!