Kate Motaung, Author at Frisco Christian Counseling

About Kate Motaung

Kate Motaung is the Senior Writer, Editor, and Content Manager for a multi-state company. She is the author of several books including Letters to Grief, 101 Prayers for Comfort in Difficult Times, and A Place to Land: A Story of Longing and Belonging. Kate is also the host of Five Minute Friday, an online writing community that equips and encourages Christian writers, and the owner of Refine Services, a company that offers editing services. She and her South African husband have three young adult children and currently live in West Michigan. Find Kate’s books at katemotaung.com/books.

Could You Benefit From Couples Therapy?

Could You Benefit From Couples Therapy?

Kate Motaung2025-05-20T17:28:41+00:00September 20th, 2023|Couples Counseling, Featured, Marriage Counseling, Premarital Counseling, Relationship Issues|

Every relationship has its points of stress, those areas that tend to generate friction and conflict between the couple. Even the happiest couples that have been together for a long time will have fights. Whether you are happy, or you find yourself at a crossroads in your relationship, couples therapy just might be what you need. Frisco Christian Counseling provides couples therapy that can help you navigate these challenges and strengthen your relationship. What is couples therapy? Couples therapy is a form of psychotherapy directed at couples, whether married or in a long-term relationship. Through a variety of techniques, your therapist will get to know you both. In your sessions together, you’ll unpack whatever is happening in your relationship, and your therapist will provide you with the space you need to explore your thoughts and feelings about where you are in your relationship. Couples therapy is aimed at helping couples develop a deeper appreciation of their relationship, cultivating better communication to reduce conflict, and teaching the couple skills that will help their relationship flourish. These skills may include problem-solving, goal-setting, conflict resolution, nurturing intimacy and trust, and better communication. Some of the issues and concerns that couples therapy will address include the following: Constant conflict. Poor communication. Lack of intimacy in the relationship and growing apart from each other. Grief and loss, including the loss of a child through miscarriage, or an inability to conceive. Mental health concerns for one or both of you, including anxiety, depression, or bipolar disorder. Setting and maintaining healthy boundaries in and around your relationship. Loss of trust due to emotional or sexual infidelity . Financial concerns, including job loss. Amicably handling differences in your faith commitments or political outlook. Goal setting. Divorce . Resentment or anger toward one another. Anger issues. Issues of [...]

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Partners on the Path: Encouragement for Overcoming Loneliness

Partners on the Path: Encouragement for Overcoming Loneliness

Kate Motaung2025-05-20T17:24:59+00:00August 24th, 2023|Coaching, Featured, Individual Counseling, Personal Development, Relationship Issues|

God created humanity to live in fellowship with Him, but also with one another. When we are missing connection and meaning in relationships, our lives may feel incomplete. Loneliness isn’t only about the absence of people in one’s life, but rather the absence of connection. This is why overcoming loneliness is so important. Frisco Christian Counseling offers guidance and support to help restore meaningful connections and combat loneliness. It is possible to have others around us, to be in relationships that appear to thrive on the surface, yet feel woefully alone. It is our awareness of feeling distanced from God, others, and ourselves in what we identify as significant that produces feelings of loneliness. Adding more people isn’t necessarily the remedy, but a shift in perspective can place us on a more fulfilling path. Our fragmented parts have value to Jesus, contrary to how the world esteems us when we are not quite at our best. It is in these cracked places, where the Lord binds Himself to us and we fuse to Him. This is often when we don’t have all the people or support that we want to have (2 Corinthians 12:9). We can experience the oneness of mutual abiding that the Savior prayed about in Gethsemane, right before going to the Cross on our behalf. He was fully aware that we would encounter many moments in our lives when we would feel the sting of loneliness. He was familiar, having gone to His inner circle, pleading for them to pray with Him in the garden and on the cross when He cried out in agony to His Father. Knowing this, Jesus stood in the gap and made up the hedge, in His intercession for us, praying for the Father to keep us and make us one [...]

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How to Build a Robust Family Support System

How to Build a Robust Family Support System

Kate Motaung2025-05-20T17:21:39+00:00August 7th, 2023|Family Counseling, Featured, Relationship Issues|

A healthy family support system is characterized by family members and friends that you and your family enjoy a positive affirming relationship with. These are the people who cheer you in tough times, lend you their strength at the oars when yours is fading, and coach and advise you across tough, challenging milestones. Strong, constant relationships characterize a healthy family support system, and are something from which you derive benefit, and give benefit to the lives of other families. Frisco Christian Counseling can help nurture and strengthen these vital connections. While building this robust family support system will be a constant journey, it may also be a challenge. Some parents have the benefit of being exposed to this type of support system as they grew up and had the benefit of being trained in how it is done simply by growing up surrounded by one. But for others, it is a new thing that will take some doing. While it looks different for every family, a wider network of strong, healthy relationships is extremely valuable. Some families have huge networks of extended family, others may just have friends or coworkers that characterize theirs. Each family support network is unique, suited to that family and proactively designed by the parents to help the family thrive. Ways to build a robust family support system For those starting from scratch or wanting to strengthen the one that they already have, these five steps will give you some guidance, ideas, and perspective as you continue. Love others well. Like the playground rule your parents told you, be the friend you want to have, the same applies – be the support that you are seeking. As Dr. Henry Cloud teaches on boundaries, we teach people how to treat us. As we are looking for [...]

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How to Nurture a Positive Body Image

How to Nurture a Positive Body Image

Kate Motaung2025-05-20T17:10:46+00:00June 9th, 2023|Featured, Individual Counseling, Personal Development|

Of all the people you live with and encounter daily, there isn’t anyone who you need to put up with as much as yourself. You are constantly with yourself, experiencing the various sensations of bodily existence such as the sun on your skin, how laughter wells up within you, or the feeling of a satisfying meal in your belly. A healthy or positive body image is essential for enjoying yourself and appreciating what your body can do. If you're seeking support in nurturing a positive body image, Frisco Christian Counseling may offer valuable guidance in helping you develop a healthier relationship with yourself. What is body image? The term ‘body image’ refers to how you perceive your physical appearance. That relates to your skin, hair, weight, height, facial appearance, and any other physical characteristic of your body. This perception of yourself is influenced by the interaction of several complex factors such as your thoughts about your body, the messages you received about your body while growing up, and how the culture you’re in represents bodies and perceives beauty. When you have a positive body image, you are satisfied with your body and accept as well as appreciate it. On the other hand, a negative body image is when you’re not happy with your body and dislike one or more attributes about yourself. A positive body image may look like seeing yourself as you are most of the time, as well as accepting your body and feeling comfortable in it even when it may depart from broader societal beauty standards. Having a positive body image doesn’t mean you always feel good about yourself or that you’re happy with every part of your body. It does mean that on most days you are happy and feel confident about how you look, [...]

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Seasons Change: Navigating Boundaries and Life Transitions

Seasons Change: Navigating Boundaries and Life Transitions

Kate Motaung2025-05-20T17:02:52+00:00April 29th, 2023|Featured, Individual Counseling, Personal Development, Relationship Issues|

As much as the beginnings of relationships are important, it is essential to recognize the value of endings. Embracing conclusion makes room for our relationships to flex with the Father’s purposes that flourish in new seasons and in burgeoning relationships. When we allow ourselves to process boundaries and transitions and exit one period of our lives, we are better equipped to enter the next. Frisco Christian Counseling can help you navigate these transitions, providing support as you process endings and prepare for the new chapters ahead. Although adapting to newness presents its own challenges, accepting the end imparts the grace needed to trust God, regardless of who or what flows with us from one season to the next. The abiding Presence of the Holy Spirit strengthens and sustains us through turbulence associated with transition and change. Reconfiguring boundaries and traversing transition feels awkward and uncomfortable. We may not know how to shift boundaries as seasons change in our lives, but we cling to the promise of Jesus to be with us always. Relational changes involve creative conversations, first with the Lord in addition to communing with our hearts before we share with others. The Holy Spirit will illuminate our path with the Word of God, giving insight and instruction on what to say and when. He is the brilliance of the Father, the relationship genius who knows every human heart and how to navigate it. We can rely on Him to guide us through uncertain times, so that we honor God, ourselves, and others as our lives and relationships undergo transition. Here, Jesus expertly makes all things new, and causes them, including seasons of transformation, to work together for good and ultimately His glory (Revelation 21:4; Romans 8:28). Metamorphosis affords the grace to embrace imperfection in the secret place [...]

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Humanity’s Common Denominator: Navigating Suffering and Loss

Humanity’s Common Denominator: Navigating Suffering and Loss

Kate Motaung2025-05-20T16:51:35+00:00April 25th, 2023|Featured, Grief Counseling, Individual Counseling|

People everywhere grapple with suffering and loss, whether or not they have a relationship with God. Whether they ponder it as an abstract concept that affects those on the other side of the globe or become intimately acquainted with it in their personal experience, they all experience a measure of soul pain. Frisco Christian Counseling offers a compassionate space to help you navigate that pain, providing support as you seek understanding, healing, and restoration through your own unique journey. The questions surrounding the evils of the world can cause people to turn toward or away from God. Suffering will dangle a question mark over our thoughts, puzzling us about the why, who, how, and the how long. In whatever context we encounter it, suffering can vex and challenge us concerning God’s intention for the earth and humanity. The suffering we observe and encounter in life finds its roots in Genesis 3. The first humans gave in to the enemy’s temptation, undermining the image of God. Adam and Eve bit the serpent’s bait. A momentary decision elicited a world of consequences that they didn’t anticipate. The result was the corruption of all of the human race and its history by sin. The Scriptures reveal that God had a plan to redeem and restore all that had been lost and forfeited in the Garden. It eventually culminated in Jesus, the Son of God who paid the price for the sins of His people – past, present, and future – to bring them back to the Father. That same Savior predestined us, His followers, to do good works, filling us with His Spirit to accomplish them. The Comforter has equipped us to extend the kingdom of God. With the Holy Spirit’s leadership and guidance, we have the privilege to serve God, to [...]

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Story and Song: Reframing the Narrative of Trauma and Shame

Story and Song: Reframing the Narrative of Trauma and Shame

Kate Motaung2025-05-20T16:36:35+00:00April 25th, 2023|Featured, Individual Counseling, Trauma|

The Bible, in all of its sixty-six books, is one cohesive story. When we pan its view, we see that narrative unfold in pieces. Where each of the smaller, individual stories intersect, Scripture’s song releases bits of reflection. In totality, the image impressed within our mind’s eye is the story of Jesus. In Him, we follow the Heart of a Father, Friend, Faithful confidant, and more. Existing eternally, yet presiding over time, He is the one who simultaneously was, is, and is yet to come. In wisdom and creativity, He blends the rough edges of our shame stories into the pages of Scripture’s existing arc. He grafts us in, enhancing its drama and depth with the personal highs and lows imposed by trauma and pain. Frisco Christian Counseling can help you explore this profound narrative, offering support as you navigate your own journey of healing and redemption, aligning your story with the transformative power of His grace. Without the parts of our past and present that we consider despicable and shameful, its view would be incomplete. For, it is in mercy that the Love of the Father, the Glory of the Son, and the Brilliance of His Spirit spins the yarn of a tapestry that is only complete when woven with His, ours, and those that preceded us (Heb. 11:40). Looking through this lens offers us an opportunity to take heaven’s view. The writer of Hebrews describes “a great cloud of witnesses,” who faced some of the same sordid challenges we encounter (Heb. 12:1). Although our Sunday School lessons or children’s Bible narratives may have glossed over the imperfections, adult eyes re-reading the Bible often capture another story in the scroll. Take King David, for example, who emerged from a family where he was scorned by his brothers and [...]

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Proactive Ways to Deal with Stress

Proactive Ways to Deal with Stress

Kate Motaung2025-05-17T08:36:00+00:00January 13th, 2023|Coaching, Featured, Individual Counseling, Personal Development, Professional Development|

You know what it feels like when you do not or cannot manage stress properly. And it is blatantly obvious when others let stress influence them. Not being able to deal with conflict constructively, not listening properly, battling to solve problems, struggling to stay positive – and that is just at home. At work, illness and time off drop your productivity even lower than the reduced performance stress was causing you to achieve. In this article we'll discuss some proactive ways to deal with stress. It is far better to find proactive ways to deal with stress by paying attention to two factors that can make a big difference: how the environment you are in causes stress, and how you manage that stress. Frisco Christian Counseling can help you explore both of these areas, providing you with tools and strategies to better navigate your stressors and cultivate a healthier, more balanced life. Everyone’s environment creates stress points for them; tackling them means you look at coping mechanisms and management techniques aimed at reducing these stress points. The other side of the same coin is to look at strategies that will help put you in a stronger, more agile frame of mind. This is a more comfortable place to be where our heart rates and blood pressure are not elevated and where we feel confident. How to understand stress. Now, before we dive in deeper it is important to define stress: Stress is our experience of being confronted with a stressful situation – also known as stressors. This will look like an unpredictable piece of bad news, a work deadline, or an upcoming bill payment. These stressors are factors that cause us to experience stress. The expectation your spouse has of you to remember your wedding anniversary and celebrate it [...]

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How to Quit Smoking: 6 Steps to Permanent Smoking Cessation

How to Quit Smoking: 6 Steps to Permanent Smoking Cessation

Kate Motaung2025-05-17T08:28:17+00:00January 11th, 2023|Chemical Dependency, Featured, Individual Counseling|

Cigarettes have integrated themselves into many long-term smokers’ daily lives. But almost everyone who smokes eventually wishes they hadn’t and feels highly motivated to act. However, figuring out how to quit smoking frequently falls short of desire in the end. When there is activity, it frequently is ill-planned and fleeting. Even though many people desire change, they struggle to implement and maintain the change. Because of the difficulty of learning how to quit smoking, this can be very frustrating. Frisco Christian Counseling can offer the guidance and support needed to help you stay committed to the process of quitting smoking and create a more sustainable path to healthier habits. What is cigarette cessation? The act of quitting smoking is referred to as smoking cessation. Successfully stopping smoking can be both a common and challenging goal because it can be both addictive and destructive to one’s physical health. Some techniques are supported by science to improve your odds of successfully quitting smoking, even if smoking cessation may be challenging to sustain. 6 Tips to Help You Stop Smoking Thirty-four million American adults, or 13.7% of all adults, currently smoke cigarettes, and sixteen million people in the country suffer from a smoking-related illness. Smoking is the number one avoidable cause of illness and death in the US. Each year, more than 480,000 Americans pass away from smoking-related illnesses like heart disease and lung cancer, and more than 41,000 of these fatalities are attributable to secondhand smoke exposure. The following techniques can help one successfully quit. 1. Set smart goals. The best methods for stopping smoking entail deliberate thought and action. What do you wish to accomplish? Never again, starting right now? smoking down steadily with time? You might be able to discern your intents and coordinate your efforts if you make [...]

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When to Consider Child Therapy

When to Consider Child Therapy

Kate Motaung2025-05-17T08:24:05+00:00December 22nd, 2022|Christian Counseling for Children, Christian Counseling For Teens, Family Counseling, Featured|

It can be difficult to know when to ask your child to go to therapy, but some signs may point to the need for qualified assistance. Learn more about child therapy, how it functions, and when you might want to give it some thought. How does child therapy work and what is it? A particular focus of child therapy is on your child’s healthy development in the emotional, physical, behavioral, and cognitive domains. Counselors for children can assist children with a wide range of problems, including trauma, anxiety, depression, behavioral issues, and social skill deficiencies. To assist children, child counselors employ a range of strategies, including play therapy, art therapy, and talk therapy. Frisco Christian Counseling offers specialized services to support your child’s well-being, helping them navigate challenges and develop essential coping skills. Play therapy, which can be either directive or nondirective, uses play to help children more effectively express their emotions. A specific objective guides the structure of directive play therapy. The therapist actively participates in choosing the playthings and activities. For instance, they offer the child a puppet to start a conversation with them about their current circumstances. The child chooses the toys and materials they want to use in non-directive play therapy. The child guides the play session with little guidance from the therapist, who provides a supportive, nonjudgmental environment. Children who may have trouble expressing their feelings verbally can use art therapy to do so. A variety of artistic techniques, such as painting, sculpture, collage-making, and drawing, may be used by an art therapist. Talk therapy entails discussing feelings and experiences with a therapist. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) are two of the most widely used forms of talk therapy. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy CBT is [...]

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Kate Motaung

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