Case Study: She Buried Her Son 10 Years Ago

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Mable comes to you for counseling. Ten years ago she buried her second son. He was shot five times by his wife. The court trial had come and gone. Her now-former daughter-in-law received 300 hours of community service for the murder.

There were many lies told and the wife, more or less, got off free. Her daughter from a previous marriage received the life insurance benefits, a policy the wife took out on her husband a few months before she killed him.

Ten years before this, Mable buried her oldest son. Someone murdered him too. He broke into a home where a man was waiting for him. The “person-in-wait” shot her son in the head. The murderer never went to trial. The local police said that her son was one less criminal that they had to deal with so they were not pursuing the one who committed the crime.

Now you are counseling a 59-year-old lady who is struggling with anger, bitterness, gossip (hers and others), and the sovereignty of God. She has lived through two murders ten years apart. Now it’s ten years after the second death, and she’s in your office, asking for advice. Mable is a Christian, but her Christianity does not govern her thought life. Suffering dominates her thinking and reactions.

Case Study Questions

1. What would you tell Mable?
2. How would you proceed?
3. What would you say to guard her heart?
4. What would be your temptations when counseling this lady?

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Rick Thomas

Rick launched the Life Over Coffee global training network in 2008 to bring hope and help for you and others by creating resources that spark conversations for transformation. His primary responsibilities are resource creation and leadership development, which he does through speaking, writing, podcasting, and educating.

In 1990 he earned a BA in Theology and, in 1991, a BS in Education. In 1993, he received his ordination into Christian ministry, and in 2000 he graduated with an MA in Counseling from The Master’s University. In 2006 he was recognized as a Fellow of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC).