Have you noticed how others treat you affects how you feel and believe about yourself? It's because we were always supposed to get our sense of self from outside of ourselves, namely from God. But living in this broken world, separated from God, it is easy to get our sense of identity from other sources, especially other people. Many times, our interactions with others give us a distorted view of ourselves. With God's help, however, we can incarnate the Gospel and help restore how other people see themselves. In the way we approach others, we can offer them a surprising grace that mirrors how God loves us with power to affect their identity.

We see this in the Gospel stories. In Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son, the younger son gets surprising love from his father when he returns. He expects to be rejected, turned away, or at best treated like a servant because of how badly he messed up. Instead, his father runs to him and showers him with honor. Jesus modeled this life-changing love. The woman caught in adultery expected to be stoned but Jesus did not condemn her. He showed compassion and told her "Go and sin no more." Zacchaeus the tax collector was used to being rejected by those whom he had exploited. But when Jesus offered unexpected welcome, acceptance and salvation, Zacchaeus' heart was transformed, so he looked to the needs of others, not just his own.

How Jesus loves are great examples of what we call in counseling, Corrective Relational Experience. Whether we know it or not, we have the power to shape other people’s sense of self through our encounters with them. In this toolkit, we will show you how you can interact with others in ways that can be corrective and transformative for them.