The Divine Design: God’s plan for Restoration in a Community setting
When we began working as licensed counselors in the field of mental health, we encountered some of the most devastating problems of horrific proportions endured by human beings – childhood sexual abuse, human trafficking, and ritualistic abuse.
The main purpose of The Divine Design is not about how to recover from severe childhood abuse and trauma, although it is a byproduct. This is a book about community. Community is the soil in which the landscape for healing is created. While trauma recovery is our passion, it is what God used to help us discover His passion: true fellowship among brethren committed to living life together through the community experience. We didn’t know it at the time but He put us together with His lost sheep, people with backgrounds and problems that couldn’t be helped in the way of traditional counseling. He used our passion to draw us all into His life-saving redemptive plan. This thing we call community is God’s divine design.
After fifteen years of community life together we are convinced that God intended community for all His people in order to save us from ourselves and mold us into His likeness. No other design but the intensity of community life together can accomplish this.
We have used the life of a sunflower to frame our book. A sunflower head is made up of 1,000 to 2,000 individual flowers that are joined at the base. We are connected to Yeshua who uses us to touch many other lives with the Gospel. We must submit ourselves to the main stem and Jesus multiplies the seeds. The sunflower symbolizes our concept of God’s Divine Design in community.
About the Authors
Cheryl Knight
Cheryl coordinates the development of new project ideas in accordance to the needs of the target population. She has a Master’s degree in Messianic Studies and is Manna Congregational leader. Cheryl spends time with the community as a mentor, walking beside each in their healing process. She also presents at seminars and conferences. Cheryl wrote Surviving In Sanity, a book about the importance of spiritual warfare, and has co-authored two other books with Jo Getzinger on survivor topics. Cheryl began working in the field of trauma recovery work in 1990.
Jo Getzinger
With over 15 years in the field of trauma recovery, Jo oversees and provides intensive counseling to the severely wounded. Although she has a Masters Degree in Social Work, she no longer practices as a licensed counselor because of the desire to involve prayer and deliverance ministry techniques in the counseling sessions, recognizing that God is the true healer. She develops and coordinates conferences that C.A.R.E., Inc. sponsors to educate communities about trauma and other severe abuse issues. She responds to clinical questions from therapists, survivors, pastors, etc. She develops, oversees, and is responsible for the clinical aspects of all C.A.R.E. programs. She presents at seminars and conferences.
Find Cheryl Knight and Jo Getzinger
- website: http://www.divinedesignbook.org
- website: http://www.care1.org/default.html
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/care1.org
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Divine_Design2