Chapter 2 — A Graduate Program That Felt Like God’s Confirmation

Sometimes when clarity arrives all at once—it carries more weight than we expect.

By the time I completed my Bachelor’s degree, the quiet movement toward counseling felt increasingly clear. My work already reflected what I sensed inwardly: I was being shaped to help others.

At the same time, I was reading Larry Crabb and others who integrated psychology and Christian faith. His writing gave language to something I had been sensing but couldn’t yet articulate—counseling as ministry, not merely profession. When I learned Dr. Crabb taught at Colorado Christian University, the program felt like convergence. Entry required a competitive interview process. Thirty positions. Three hundred applicants.

I applied.

After hours of interviews, I was certain I hadn’t said the “right” things. But then, I was accepted!

The moment felt like confirmation—like standing at the threshold of what God had been preparing all along.

But soon, this clarity met reality. Tuition was $10,000. The program required full-time commitment with no employment. I was newly married, living in Louisiana, without resources to relocate or pay.

What felt like God’s clear direction now felt impossible. That acceptance now carried more than opportunity—it carried the weight of a calling I believed God had given me.

Sometimes the thing that feels like promise also reveals our limits.

Have you ever sensed God’s direction—only to feel overwhelmed by what it required?