ABOUT SELAH PATHWAY
Before There Was Selah Pathway,
There Was a Calling.
My story is one of real life, real challenges, and a faithful God. Through seasons of uncertainty, loss, growth, and beginning again, He led me toward purpose—and a calling to walk alongside others.
WHERE THE STORY BEGAN
Before I Understood the Pathway,
God Was Already Writing the Story.
Some of my earliest memories are of wanting to understand God.
I remember being only two or three years old, opening our large Children’s Stories of the Bible and studying the pictures on its pages. I didn’t understand everything I was seeing or hearing, but I remember being hungry to know more. I wanted to understand the stories, Jesus, and who God was.
Looking back now, I recognize something I couldn't have explained then: the love and sense of belonging I experienced throughout my life was the presence of a God who had never stopped loving me.
My childhood was also marked by experiences that were painful and difficult to understand. There was trauma, abuse, disappointment, and circumstances no child should have to carry. For many years, I struggled to understand what belonged to me and what did not.
I learned very early to accommodate others, keep the peace, and take responsibility for things that were never mine to carry.
It would take many years—and a great deal of growth—for me to understand that I could acknowledge what had happened without allowing it to determine who I would become.
THE JOURNEY
Life Didn't Follow a Straight Path.
I became a mother at seventeen and entered adulthood carrying responsibilities I was still learning how to navigate.
The years that followed included young motherhood, marriage and divorce, unhealthy and abusive relationships, financial hardship, caregiving, grief, loss, career changes, education, motherhood again, and more than one season of having to begin again.
For a long time, I believed I simply had to accept life as it came. I didn't fully understand that I had choices—or that I could learn to make thoughtful, healthy decisions for myself.
And acknowledging my own choices did not require me to accept responsibility for the choices of others.
That understanding would become an important part of my own growth—and eventually, an important part of how I learned to walk alongside others.
FINDING HOME
I Knew Something Had to Change.
By the end of 2017, I knew that what I was doing wasn't working. I didn't know exactly what needed to change. I only knew I needed something different.
My first connection with Christ Church in Plainfield came through Pastor Morris Mott, who had previously conducted a beautiful funeral service for someone close to our family.
On the first Sunday of January 2018, my children and I walked through the doors of Christ Church.
I had planned to visit several churches.
I never made it to the second one.
There was a warmth, safety, love, and peace I couldn't ignore.
It wasn't about finding perfect people or a perfect church. What I found was a place where I could see faith being lived—not only spoken about.
It felt like home.
LEARNING WHAT FAITH LOOKED LIKE
Faith became more than something I heard. I began seeing it lived.
What impacted me most wasn't perfection. I found myself surrounded by imperfect people who had a genuine passion for God and for who He is.
I wasn't simply hearing people talk about faith.
I saw accountability, honesty, self-control, service, compassion, obedience, forgiveness, and love modeled in real life—inside and outside the walls of the church.
Hearing God's Word was building my faith, but being able to see people striving to live it was a blessing.
Little by little, God began changing the way I understood Him, myself, and the life I was responsible for stewarding.
I began to understand that trusting God meant letting go of things I thought I needed to carry—things He had never intended for me to carry, even for a second.
I was watching people live it.
SURRENDER
The Moment Everything Began to Change.
By May 2018, something deeper was happening within me.
My children and I had been attending Christ Church since January. I had begun serving in Children's Ministry in April, and my relationship with the Lord was growing—but there was still another step I needed to take.
One day, standing in the foyer of the living room in the home my daughter and I had recently been approved to rent, I completely surrendered my life to the Lord.
On paper, our finances didn't seem as though they should have been enough for that home. But we had been approved. I saw God's provision in it, and there in that ordinary place, something extraordinary happened within me.
I stopped trying to hold everything myself.
I surrendered.
Surrender didn't mean that every problem disappeared or that I suddenly had everything figured out. It meant I was beginning to understand that I didn't have to.
I could trust God with what I couldn't see, release what I was never meant to carry, and take the next step He placed in front of me.
A HUNGER TO KNOW MORE
One Step Kept Leading to Another.
After surrendering my life to the Lord, my desire to know Him only grew stronger.
I continued serving at Christ Church, learning, listening, and surrounding myself with people who were helping me understand what a life of faith could look like in practice.
By September 2018, Pastor Mott invited me to join the media and audio team during our church picnic. I said yes.
At the time, I still didn't know where all of this was leading.
I only knew that each step seemed to lead to another.
DECEMBER 2018
“This One Is Yours.”
Every December, Pastor Mott holds Sunday raffles at Christ Church as a way of showing appreciation, and everyone receives tickets to participate.
One Sunday, he held up a copy of Bible Prayer Study Course by Kenneth E. Hagin.
I remember looking at it and, if I'm being completely honest, I wasn't especially excited about that particular prize. I was enjoying watching everyone else win things and was perfectly content to keep watching.
And then something changed.
I experienced a soft but definite inner knowing:
My number was called.
“This one is yours.”
I walked forward with tears and a joy I couldn't fully explain.
After the service, I told Pastor Mott what I had experienced. He smiled and shared that he understood that kind of spiritual knowing.
I began working through the study, and my relationship with the Lord deepened in a way I hadn't expected.
THE BIBLE I COULDN'T UNDERSTAND
And Then, One Day, It Clicked.
When I was around ten years old, a Sunday school teacher named Don had given me a red Bible.
I had wanted so badly to understand it.
I tried to read it throughout my childhood, but the words never seemed to make sense to me. I kept the Bible anyway.
As I worked through the prayer-study course, I found myself opening that same red Bible again.
And this time, something was different.
The words I had spent years wanting to understand suddenly began making sense.
I was thrilled. I couldn't get enough.
The little girl who had always been hungry to know God was finally beginning to understand what she had been searching for all along.
It clicked.
GUIDANCE THAT MADE ROOM FOR GROWTH
“They Feed the Sheep. They Don’t Beat the Flock.”
As my relationship with the Lord continued to deepen, I also began recognizing how much God was teaching me through the people He had placed around me.
Pastor Mott and Pastor Angela have played an important role in that journey.
Over the years, I have experienced a kind of leadership through them that made room for both truth and growth. They listen without judgment. They ask questions that encourage reflection. They offer guidance when it is needed or requested, while still allowing people the dignity of thinking, learning, and making decisions for themselves.
I have often described it this way:
“They feed the sheep. They don’t beat the flock.”
They nurture. They encourage. They teach. They guide.
Through their example—and through others God placed around me—I began seeing what healthy care could look like.
Guidance without control.
Truth without condemnation.
Accountability without humiliation.
Faith without coercion.
Sometimes God teaches us through His Word.
And sometimes He allows us to see His Word being lived out through people.
I needed both.
A CALLING I COULDN’T YET NAME
I Knew God Was Leading Me Somewhere.
By early 2019, I knew the Lord was calling me toward something, but I didn’t yet know what it was.
I remember talking with Pastor Mott about it and joking that I hoped God wasn’t calling me to pastor. I knew I wanted to help people, especially people walking through difficult seasons of life, but I didn’t yet understand what that calling would look like.
Not long afterward, Pastor Mott shared a link with me for the American Association of Christian Counselors.
I explored it.
I enrolled.
And when I completed my first course, something clicked again.
I fell in love with mental health.
From there, I began to see possibilities I hadn’t fully imagined before.
I could picture helping people not only one-on-one, but through speaking, teaching, and eventually retreats—creating spaces where people could pause, reflect, grow, and move forward.
I still didn’t know exactly what the final form would be.
But I knew I wanted to keep learning.
I was becoming prepared.
PREPARATION BEFORE THE PATH WAS CLEAR
Learning, Growing, and Becoming Equipped.
Once I knew I wanted to keep learning, I began pursuing the education and training that would help me better understand people, relationships, grief, emotional wellness, faith, and the many seasons life can bring.
Through the American Association of Christian Counselors and Light University, I continued building my knowledge through mental health coaching, marriage and family, grief and loss, and biblical counseling education.
At the same time, I continued growing in biblical studies and ministry.
The more I learned, the more I realized that preparation wasn’t about collecting credentials.
It was about becoming better equipped to serve people with wisdom, compassion, discernment, and care.
And while I was learning professionally, God was continuing to work on me personally.
I was still growing in self-reflection, accountability, boundaries, healthy communication, and the difference between reacting and responding.
I wasn’t becoming perfect.
Biblical counseling education, continued professional development, ministry study, and ongoing learning
Biblical Counseling &
Continued Development
Marriage, Family, Grief & Loss
Advanced education in Marriage & Family and Grief & Loss support
Mental Wellness Coaching
Mental Health Coaching education and advanced training through the American Association of Christian Counselors / Light University
Biblical Studies & Ministry
Associate Degree in Biblical Studies& Ministry
Nation 2 Nation Christian University
Prepared to Serve With Excellence
Thoughtful preparation. Continued development. Faithful stewardship.
EDUCATION & CREDENTIALS
My education, training, and ongoing development provide a strong foundation for the care, support, and resources offered through Selah Pathway. I am committed to learning, growing, and continuing to be equipped to serve with wisdom, compassion, and integrity.
The goal has never been simply to collect credentials.
It has been to become better prepared to serve people with wisdom, compassion, responsibility, and care.
Selah Pathway provides non-clinical wellness coaching, biblical support, education, and encouragement. Services are not presented as licensed psychotherapy, diagnosis, or clinical mental-health treatment.
THEN CAME SELAH
A Name That Finally Gave Language to the Journey.
After completing my training and reaching a point where I knew I wanted to move forward in helping others, I still didn’t have a name for what God was building.
I prayed. I researched. I reflected on the kind of space I hoped to create for people—one where they could slow down long enough to listen, reflect, grow, and move forward with greater clarity and peace.
Again and again, one word kept resonating with me:
Selah.
To me, Selah represented a place to pause. To reflect. To consider what the Lord may be saying, where He may be leading, and what might need to be released, renewed, or understood.
But I also knew the story couldn’t end with the pause.
There had to be movement.
There had to be a next step.
That is where Pathway came in.
A pathway doesn’t require us to see the entire journey before we begin. It simply gives us somewhere to place the next faithful step.
I had lived the pathway before I ever named it.
Looking back, I could see the pattern woven through my own life:
Pause. Reflect. Listen. Learn. Grow. Move Forward.
I had surrendered before I knew what came next. I had served before I understood the calling. I had studied before I knew where the preparation would lead.
One step kept leading to another.
And eventually, Selah Pathway had a name.
A place to pause, reflect, and be restored—and a pathway forward with purpose.
HOW I WALK ALONGSIDE OTHERS
Your Journey Is Yours. I’m Honored to Walk Beside You.
When someone chooses to share part of their story with me, I don’t take that lightly.
I believe each person deserves to be met with warmth, attentiveness, dignity, and care.
My role is not to make decisions for you or tell you what you should do.
It is to help you slow down, ask meaningful questions, consider perspectives you may not have considered, identify what matters most, and develop intentional next steps that belong to you.
I listen without judgment.
I ask questions that encourage reflection.
I help people recognize patterns, clarify what they are carrying, and separate what is theirs to own from what was never theirs to carry in the first place.
I believe accountability and compassion can exist together.
Growth does not require shame.
And change does not have to begin with having everything figured out.
I will never tell you what to do.
This is your journey.
My role is to walk alongside you as you think, reflect, grow, make decisions, and move forward in ways that are thoughtful, healthy, and meaningful to you.
ROOTED IN CHRIST. OPEN TO PEOPLE WHEREVER THEY ARE.
My faith is foundational to who I am and to the heart of Selah Pathway.
At the same time, I will never require someone to share my faith in order to experience my care.
Sessions are client-led, including how directly faith, prayer, Scripture, or spiritual growth are incorporated.
For those who want biblical integration, we can explore identity in Christ, Scripture, prayer, spiritual growth, and what it may look like to seek God within the season they are walking through.
For those who are questioning, unsure, hurt by church experiences, or simply not ready for direct faith conversations, there is still room here.
I believe people should be able to experience the love of Christ through the way they are received, heard, respected, and cared for.
You do not have to believe exactly as I do to be treated with dignity, compassion, and care.
You belong here.
You are welcome here.
You matter.
I’m Carla Perkins, founder of Selah Pathway Wellness Coaching.
My journey has shaped the way I listen, the questions I ask, and the care I bring into every conversation—but lived experience alone is not what equips me to walk alongside others.
I have intentionally pursued education and training in mental health coaching, marriage and family, grief and loss, biblical counseling, and ministry so that the support I offer is thoughtful, informed, and grounded in both compassion and responsibility.
My preparation includes study through the American Association of Christian Counselors and Light University, along with formal education in Biblical Studies and Ministry.
I also serve as a Christ-centered public speaker and ministry encourager, and I continue growing through ongoing study, reflection, and practical experience.
I don’t believe growth ends when we earn a credential or complete a course.
I’m still learning, too.
MEET COACH CARLA
Founder, Selah Pathway Wellness Coaching
Biblical Mental Wellness Coach
Christ-Centered Public Speaker
Ministry Encourager
Prepared by Experience. Equipped Through Education. Grounded in Faith.
What matters most to me is not presenting myself as someone who has everything figured out.
It is showing up with integrity, listening well, staying teachable, and faithfully stewarding what God has entrusted to me.
YOUR STORY IS NOT FINISHED
It Is Never Too Late to Pause, Reflect, and Begin Again.
No matter what you have done, what has been done to you, what you have walked through, or how many years have passed, it is not too late to begin again.
You do not have to have everything figured out before you take the next step.
A mistake does not make you a failure. A setback does not erase your progress. And needing to begin again does not mean everything that came before was wasted.
There is still room to pause.
There is still room to reflect.
There is still room to grow.
There is still a pathway forward
You are not damaged. Hope is not lost.
Your story is not finished.
You belong here. You are welcome here. You matter.
You don’t have to know the entire pathway.
You only have to be willing to take the next step.