🌿 Introduction: Where Faith and Therapy Meet
For many believers, the thought of stepping into therapy can feel like stepping into unfamiliar territory—especially when it comes to therapies like Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). One of its most well-known principles, radical acceptance, may even sound at odds with faith.
But what if it isn’t? What if radical acceptance is actually an invitation to trust God more deeply?
🔹 Holding Two Truths: Grace and Change
DBT teaches clients to hold seemingly opposing truths in tension. For example:
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I am doing the best I can, and
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I need to do better, try harder, or be more motivated.
This mirrors a core tension of Christian living: we are fully accepted by grace, and yet called to grow in holiness. It is in this tension that God often does His deepest work.
🔹 Radical Acceptance: A Mirror of Biblical Surrender
Radical acceptance in DBT isn’t about giving up. It’s about acknowledging reality as it is, so we can respond with wisdom rather than resistance.
This sounds very much like what Jesus modeled in the Garden of Gethsemane:
“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”
—Luke 22:42 (NIV)
Jesus didn’t deny His pain. He acknowledged it—and surrendered to the will of the Father. That is radical acceptance in its purest form.
🔹 “It Is What It Is” — and God Is Still There
DBT often uses the phrase “it is what it is” to reinforce radical acceptance. It’s not fatalistic—it’s freeing.
So is Psalm 46:10, which calls us to this:
“Be still, and know that I am God.”
—Psalm 46:10 (NIV)
Being still does not mean doing nothing. It means recognizing what is real, laying it before God, and remembering that He is sovereign—even over the pain we can’t change.
🔹 When the Brokenhearted Sit in the Chair
DBT acknowledges pain honestly. It gives clients tools for distress tolerance, emotional regulation, and mindfulness. None of these things contradict Scripture. In fact, they echo it.
“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
—Psalm 34:18 (NIV)
In every counseling session where a believer wrestles with trauma, shame, or anxiety—God is near. Therapy is not a detour from discipleship. It can be part of the path.
🔹 A Word from Marsha Linehan
Dr. Marsha Linehan, the creator of DBT, has spoken publicly about her Christian faith and the role it played in her own healing. In a 2011 interview, she shared:
“I decided to be a nun when I was in the hospital, and I made a vow to God that I would get out of hell and help others get out of hell, too.”
—Marsha Linehan, New York Times Interview
Her therapy model was born not from secularism, but from suffering, silence, and spiritual surrender.
🙏 Closing Reflection
Radical acceptance doesn’t mean abandoning hope. It means facing life as it is, not as we wish it to be—and trusting that God will meet us there.
You’re not weak for needing help. You’re not unfaithful for seeking therapy. You are human. And God is not far from the wounded places.
📖 Closing Scripture
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
—2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)
🙌 Final Word
You can embrace healing without abandoning faith.
You can accept reality without giving up hope.
You can sit in a therapist’s chair—and still walk in the presence of God.
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