Greetings! My name is Lyndsey Jolley, and I am a Specialized Biblical Counselor and Gospel-Centered Coach. I equip women and leaders in Christ-Centered Life Transformation through two-way connection with Christ and the spiritual life skills necessary for freedom and flourishing. Below is a short version of my story and how Gospel Freedom came into being at Resilience Ministries:
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CHILDHOOD - By God's grace, I had a beautiful early childhood. I came to authentic faith in Christ around the age of 6, and I remember sensing His presence with me. During my teenage years, my dad was in and out of the house as my parents wrestled through some deep marriage difficulties. During this time, I turned from away from the Lord for a time... angry, curious about the world, and rebelling. Thankfully, at 17, I rededicated my life to the Lord at a Christian camp.
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PAIN - When I was 20, my parents divorced. Afterward, in my young adult life, I spent 5 long years in severe spiritual, emotional, and relational pain and defeat, living under strongholds of oppression, fear, depression, and spiritual warfare. This was a result of a multitude of factors... the brokenness in my family, unhealthy spiritual and relational influences, and my own lack of equipping, among other things.
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FREEDOM - Over a period of about 6 months, through His personal and specific direction, God completely delivered me step-by-step from this brokenness into stable, solid, and sustained freedom, peace, and joy that has lasted for decades. During this time, I also completed a Master's in Education and taught high school English.
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TRAINING, RESEARCH & CHURCH PLANTING - After several years of freedom, I started on a second Master's Degree, this time in Counseling, and I set out on a long-term journey of researching strategic, results-based gospel-centered transformation. Additionally, my husband, Bill, and I trained as church planters and then led a church plant, with a steady focus on healthy discipleship and life-giving community in Christ.
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PRIVATE PRACTICE - In 2015, after 10 years of marriage, two babies, and completing a Masters in Professional Counseling, I opened the private Biblical Counseling practice you are reading about now, called Resilience Ministries. I began working with clients who were facing the full range of life's problems -- anxiety, depression, spiritual confusion and disconnect, emotional wounds, trauma, church hurt, difficult marriages, isolation and loneliness, toxic relationships, and the list goes on. It was and is a sacred honor to walk alongside struggling sojourners on the journey of life who were seeking God's presence in their lives. And it was an even greater gift to have the privilege of seeing them find freedom and victory in Christ time after time!
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GOSPEL FREEDOM! - Along this journey, a clear, step-by-step, and Biblical pattern to freedom was emerging. Through my own transformation and growth, my formal training in graduate school, my personal research, working with clients, and discipling others in the church body -- a consistent pattern of biblical Keys to Transformation revealed themselves to be consistent, reliable and effective over and over again. As the Holy Spirit revealed these keys, I wrote them down, collected them, and gathered them into coherent tools to use with clients. And so... the Gospel Freedom curriculum was birthed!
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MULTIPLYING FREEDOM!!! - By God's grace, over the past decade, I have helped hundreds of clients cultivate spiritual, emotional, and relational health through Gospel Freedom truth and tools. It has been an absolute gift from above to see clients find real connection with Christ and then his wisdom bring lasting transformation to their lives.
As I continue on this path forward, I look forward to seeing how He will continue to bring healing and victory to more lives along the way. Who knows, maybe YOU are the next person along that road!
MY PERSONAL WILDERNESS & THE PROMISED LAND
In my early adult years, I went through an extremely difficult and painful wilderness. I spent 5 long years vexed with severe spiritual insecurity, fear, depression, confusion, and oppression.
It was excruciating.
A plethora of combined elements led to this downward spiral...
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I doubted my ability to discern God's voice,
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My parents had recently divorced, and there had been many years of brokenness in my family of origin,
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I did not yet understand my identity in Christ,
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My spiritual community had some unhealthy elements that were disempowering and damaging,
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I had underdeveloped emotional self-awareness,
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I didn't know how to metabolize my emotions with God,
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I was ill-equipped in spiritual warfare,
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I was experience young adult angst and big life questions,
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I had no idea how to receive from God,
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I wasn't sure how to recognize God's nearness and presence,
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My understanding of essential gospel-centered truths was shallow and undeveloped,
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And so much more!
A gray, vague cloud of heaviness and disconnect surrounded me every day. I sought help from mentors, pastors, scripture, prayer, counselors, books, parents, and friends for years. Many of these people loved me very well, and some of these resources brought some comfort some of the time, but I wasn't making traction.
I definitely wasn't free.
Truthfully, I spent countless days and weeks weeping over pain that would not leave. I could have been diagnosed with depression. I remember being perplexed with how I had an unending supply of tears and wondering when I would run out.
BUT around four and a half years into this wilderness, God began to walk me step-by-step with Him out of defeat and oppression and into a land of freedom and victory.
I got to a point where I realized that the only One who could truly help me in the deepest places of my soul was God himself. I started digging into my Bible in a different way -- this time with my eyes on Him alone. I interacted with him honestly and directly. I also began listening for His voice very purposefully, as best as I knew how at the time.
And I began to hear Him. For the first time in a long time.
One day at a time, one decision at a time, one step at a time, I slowly learned HOW to discern His voice and HOW to follow His way and His roadmap.
God Himself led me into true, real and lasting freedom.
For several years, I was afraid I would go back into the darkness. Into the confusion and vexation. But because it was God Himself that led me out; I was standing on a solid Rock that became a lasting, firm foundation.
And now, I have lived consistently in that stable joy and peace for over 18 years! The victory He has taught me to live in is incredible. This is not to say I don't have hard days or seasons, but nothing like before; I am still free.
By His grace, He has given me the profound privilege of helping equip and guide others on this same journey to freedom and joy!
MY PROFESSIONAL JOURNEY, DISCOVERIES & DELIGHT
In my time as a Counselor and Coach, I have worked with hundreds of clients and consistently seen them find freedom and victory in Christ.
By God's grace, over and over, I have seen clients walk out of defeat and into sustained places of clarity, peace, joy, and flourishing -- in the midst of very real and ongoing hurdles, problems and challenges.
In working with clients month after month, year after year -- over time a very consistent and solid pattern of exactly HOW real and sustained life change happens was evidenced.
These gospel-centered patterns of life change began being revealed as far back as my own personal transformation and then continued in my training, research and work with clients.
They have now been developed into a collection of rock-solid, Keys to Transformation that I have watched change people's lives over and over again.
As the years have gone by, with such repeated, positive results across the board, I have become extremely loyal to this content, because IT WORKS.
Many people may know what scripture teaches about fullness of life, but few people know HOW to actualize it in their lives and connect with Jesus, our Healer, through a living, interactive relationship with Him.
This is the niche of my expertise that I want to share with you.
In counseling and coaching sessions, I have the sacred honor of being present as lights turn on in clients' hearts and minds as we talk about HOW to connect with Jesus and HOW the gospel applies to the specifics of their hearts and lives.
And then they get to personally experience the healing salve of going to the secret place and allowing Jesus Himself to minister to them in the deepest places of their souls.
I am now delighted to share this same Gospel Freedom content with you. It is Biblically-Grounded, Gospel-Centered, and Results-Based Training and Equipping for Real-Life Transformation and Connection with Christ.
God is up to something really good!