Feelings Inform, But They Don’t Govern

Dr. Michael Brashears

When, uh, when a dashboard engine light comes on, or when a child runs a fever of 102 degrees, that, that temperature is 100 percent real physiological data. But, but here is the thing. The fever cannot prescribe its own cure. It tells you something is wrong inside the body, but if you treat subjective emotional states as self validating moral truth, you end up trapped in shifting emotional currents rather than anchored in actual reality.

Steve Miskelley

A 102 degree fever tells you there is heat, but it, it does not hold the doctor's prescription pad.

Dr. Michael Brashears

Right! Exactly, Steve. It informs, but it cannot govern. And that is where the clinical framework of Christian counseling roots itself in Genesis chapter 1, verses 26 to 27, in the concept of the imago Dei. The core principle is that every client carries both the dignity of the Image and the wounds of its distortion.

Jill Miskelley

Oh, that phrase right there. Every client carries both the dignity of the Image and the wounds of its distortion. You know, Michael, when, when we lost Ian, when our whole world shattered, the cultural message was constantly telling us to go inward, to, to invent our own truth, to find meaning inside our feelings. And, er, frankly, it was exhausting. Trying to carry the weight of self invented truth while carrying agonizing grief is an impossible burden.

Steve Miskelley

It is like trying to build a house on shifting sand while a hurricane is blowing through.

Jill Miskelley

It really is, Steve. Knowing that human worth is anchored outside of myself, in an unchanging Creator, gave me permission to just be broken without having to redefine reality on my own. It was a profound relief.

Dr. Michael Brashears

Because your feelings, as intense and valid as they were in that grief, were diagnostic signals of deep love and deep loss, not a compass meant to rewrite objective reality.

Steve Miskelley

So then, Michael, how do we draw the clear line between, say, normal moral struggle or existential questions that belong in pastoral counseling, and an actual medical emergency?

Dr. Michael Brashears

I, I spent years running community mental health systems and crisis stabilization centers, and, um, the distinction is vital. Pastoral care and spiritual direction are designed for guidance in ordinary moral choices, spiritual purpose, relational reconciliation. But when you are dealing with acute psychiatric crises, severe clinical depression, bipolar mania, active psychosis, that is not a moral failure or a simple lack of faith.

Jill Miskelley

You would not treat a compound bone fracture with a spiritual devotion alone.

Dr. Michael Brashears

You, you would not! You would not try to treat a compound bone fracture or type 1 diabetes with pastoral counseling while ignoring medical intervention. The brain is a biological organ. When neurochemistry or neurological systems break down severely, rushing someone to a psychiatric emergency room or a medical crisis unit is not a failure of prayer.

Steve Miskelley

Escalating to medical professionals is actually how you protect that sacred life.

Dr. Michael Brashears

It, it is the ultimate fulfillment of common grace care. By honoring medical expertise, we actively honor the sacred dignity of that person's physical and neurological life as a gift from God.

Jill Miskelley

It takes away the shame. It lets families seek emergency care without feeling like they let God down.

Steve Miskelley

That clarity changes everything for families in crisis. Good stuff, Michael.