When I give training here to houseparents and social workers, I tell them to hope for problems in the lives and behaviors of their clients. To be fair, problems usually exist in the lives of the clients, so they don't usually have to hope for long. In the lives of our clients, dysfunction has long ruled. In their families, in their relationships, in their coping skills, dysfunction is sometimes all they know (a VERY high percentage of trafficking victims come from abusive family situations). But dysfunction leaves a trail of problems, and in those instances are when TEACHING can be done.
No one likes to hear that the way they are doing things is not the way that they should be done. Change is not fun or comfortable. But when the way a person is acting or coping proves to cause more problems instead of easing those problems, then change is sometimes more appealing. And teaching new ways of coping and acting can be more accepted in those instances.
I have a great friend, who, everytime I talk to her asks, "What has God been teaching you lately?" I have to admit, I don't always think about life in those terms. And, when I know I will get the oppurtunity to talk to her, I cheat and sometimes think about the question before our scheduled phone date.
Sometimes God teaches me through his word. But when I become busy with life, and don't take as much time to contemplate his word, He teaches me in other ways. He teaches me through my successes, and my failures. He teaches me through the words of others. He teaches me through my unfair expectations of myself and Him and others around me. He teaches me through the things I can't control. He teaches through the good and the painful.
I'm so happy I know a God who teaches instead of condemning. He's the best example I have on how to work with clients.
