Kate Motaung

When you think about relationships, do those thoughts come with warm and welcoming feelings, or are you left feeling on edge? People don’t experience relationships the same way, and how you interact with others and form relationships is influenced by your earliest interactions with others. Depending on what those interactions were like then, you may have trouble forming healthy relationships with people now. How a person relates to others and forms connections is called an attachment style. An anxious-avoidant [...]

Have you ever had an experience so visceral that to this day it feels like that moment never quite left you? It could be the first time you saw the ocean, the time you fell from a tree, a time when you saw a project come together and felt alive, or perhaps when you experienced a tragic loss. Our bodies and our minds remember the things that happen to us; they leave a mark on us, even if it’s [...]

For some, getting married is a key life goal that marks the passage into full-on adulting. It’s a huge decision because you’re committing to do life with one person, and making extravagant promises before your friends and family about what you will and will not do in your life together. A lot of time and energy, not to mention expense, is spent preparing for the wedding day, but how much time do couples spend preparing for their marriage? Premarital [...]

AnxietyAs one of the most common mental health illnesses, Mental Health America states that more than 8% of American adults (more than 21 million) are affected by major depression and an alarming 15% of youth aged 12-17. The number of people who struggle with some sort of depressive disorder is likely far higher, and it is said that only about a third of people who suffer seek help for depression. Depression and Christianity have in some circles earned a [...]

While it may take two to conceive a baby, it often takes a village to raise a child. This African proverb has long been quoted to advise and encourage parents and people around the value of being interdependent. We all need community and viable support systems to do anything meaningful with God and for societal good. This quote’s inherent wisdom reminds us that our children, one of our prized and precious resources, are of such value that we steward [...]

Friendship is one of many good gifts that God gives us. In the wisdom literature of the Bible, there are several sayings relating to friendship such as, “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24, NIV). We see many examples of friendship throughout the Bible and in history; some of these are great, like David and Jonathan in 1 Samuel of the Old Testament, or [...]

Choosing to share the rest of your life with a person has a profound impact on the rest of your life. When a person gets married, they don’t know exactly what will come their way because life can be unpredictable. Ending a marriage is a big decision, and it can be one of the most painful decisions a person makes in their life. This pain is magnified when divorce and children mix. Dealing With Divorce as an Adult Getting [...]

The holidays, like grief, are a mixed bag of unpredictable events and the emotions that grow from them. Put dealing with grief and important holidays like Christmas together and you have the recipe for a tumultuous and volatile storm of emotions. Throw in the pressure of expectations, family dynamics, financial obligations, dreary weather, and even more and you have a season that can be anything but merry and bright. McKinney Christian Counseling offers compassionate support to help you navigate [...]

As a parent, you likely have spent many hours and nights worrying and planning your kid’s sleep. In the newborn days, those hours are often spent praying for more than two consecutive hours of sleep. In the toddler years, those hours may be spent juggling the mental gymnastics of scheduling naps around various other tasks and activities. While both of those seasons are incredibly difficult and exhausting, navigating scary sleep disturbances with your child can be immensely stressful and [...]

Some people are comfortable with who they are, especially when it comes to their bodies. When you gaze at yourself in the mirror, do you like what you see? As winter draws to a close and the summer months set in, do you feel comfortable as you shed those heavy coats and snow boots for t-shirts, shorts, and pool/beach wear? If there’s a camera around, do you feel comfortable and confident to have your picture taken? Our bodies are [...]

There are some hilarious content creators out there on social media. Humor is deeply subjective, but it can be endlessly fascinating to see TikToks or YouTube clips about babies tasting something like a lemon for the first time. Many find themselves puckering their lips as the first sensations of sourness tantalize their tastebuds, faces screwed up into all manner of expressions. Less hilarious, but no less powerful, is how a person reacts when certain people in their lives are [...]

EMDR therapy (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a structured therapeutic technique developed in the late 1980s by American psychologist and educator, Francine Shapiro, Ph.D. It has since become a gold standard, evidence-based modality for treating the symptoms and emotional distress caused by post-traumatic stress disorder or other disturbing life events. EMDR therapy focuses directly on your traumatic memory and on changing the way it is stored in your brain. It does not require that you talk about it [...]