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Finding Faith in Times of Crisis


Does God Exist?

Does God Exist?

If you are asking this question, you might be interested to hear our journey. We have stood on both sides and sat on the fence in between!

Does God Care?

The big picture is YES! But we know that the small picture can feel very different; because we have been there.

Can God help me?

We think so because He helped us. Let us tell you how He helped us when everything seemed hopeless.

Who are we?

Lou Lewis is a counsellor who has had her own private practice for over 30 years. She is also a singer/songwriter who has performed and recorded with bands and as a solo artist.

John McMahon is a doctor of psychology and the the lead therapist in Bottled Up.

What is this website about?

There are certain times in our lives when, such is our need for an answer, that the questioning barriers that we may have put in the way become insignificant and are swept away by the acute circumstances we face. Lou says, I found faith in the middle of a personal crisis and embedded that faith in a season of family crisis.

In her counselling room, Lou has worked with people with many difficult issues, the majority of whom were also wanting to explore spiritual answers.

 The 3 fundamental questions that seemed to be on the table in these explorations were these
1. Is there a God?
2. If there is does He care about me and my situation?
3. And if so, can I access that help for me and my relationships?

The short answer to that is yes, yes and yes but of course that is a simple answer for some very complex circumstances that may have guided you to this website. Beauty For Ashes will explore what it means to understand faith and how it works out in the nitty gritty of difficult circumstances. It is an experiential, rather than theological, approach as most people we work with are seeking solutions not study materials! John and I will also invite some other people to share their stories and strategies along the way.

In this website we try to use plain language. We aim to avoid trite answers and manipulative approaches. We are not pastors or ministers, we are therapists whose passion is to bring accessible and effective answers for the times in our lives when it really matters. The website is a very personal account of powerful interventions in very dark places.

You may ask why we call it Beauty for Ashes. It is God’s manifesto that He can bring good things from bad situations – He can bring hope where there has been despair, healing where there has been pain and comfort and support where there has been isolation and trauma (see Isaiah ch 61 v 1-3).

Maybe a good place to start is to check out who we are and our journey to find God. It was not always an easy one as you can find out here. The Christian faith was the last place either of us wanted to look!

The content of this website is not theory it is our lived experience through some tough times!