Prayer
Prayer has been a weakness for me. My thoughts are always racing, my body is constantly moving. Quietness, like sleep, is a foreign concept to me. During prayer meetings I struggle to stay connected to the group. My hearing loss has added to this problem, because I can't hear the person praying next to me.
Suffering and Bitterness
Jesus said whoever wants to be His disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Him. (Matthew 16:24-26) Although we will never suffer the way Jesus suffered for us, suffering is hard. Succumbing to bitterness during suffering is difficult to avoid. Suffering is isolating, we feel disconnected to our Lord and Savior, our family and friends, and our church community. Why God? Why?
The Vital Role of Church Community as Part of a Mental Health Support Team
The church community is essential in the recovery and stability of the Christian afflicted with mental illness. God designed His Church to include the weak and strong in one body for His will. Paul illustrates this in Romans 14 with three points.
1: It honors God (Romans 14:6);
2: Christians are to bear each other’s burdens like Christ did (Romans 14:8-9);
3: God is judging us and one judge is enough. (Matthew 7:1).
The Great Commission
As Christians, we must not only share the Gospel and the unique testimony written for each of us by Our Father, but we must also make disciples. Jesus didn’t qualify who should participate in the Great Commission. He didn’t qualify who the Great Commission is for. All Christians are to be obedient to the call of the Great Commission.
Summer Break
Summer break was always a welcoming relief from the dreadfulness of school. As much as I hated change, I hated school more. School days were an endless maze of bullying on every social hierarchy.
New Journey
There has been a lot going on at Abnormal Missionary! SALT and Abnormal Missionary (AM) mutually agreed that AM should be a stand alone ministry. AM will still partner with SALT in the future. Praise God…
Rescue, Redemption and Restoration in Christ
Easter fulfills God’s promise to rescue, redeem and restore His people through Christ, His beloved son. Jesus dwells among us, fully God and fully man.
Dark Side and Reality of Living Afflicted as a Christian
I am alone a lot, and it is not by choice. People don’t choose to isolate, not even autistic or mentally ill people. God didn’t create us to be alone. God created the Church as a community of believers to love one another and bear each other's burdens.
Love
Does your autistic child love you? For the past several weeks I have wrestled with my childhood memories. Did I love my mom, dad, or siblings as a struggling child? I remember fiery anger filled me as a child. My Pop-Pop Franck wondered why I never hugged him goodbye. As an adult, when I reflect on this, I feel regret about many of my other childhood behaviors.
Suffering
The Wednesday before Christmas, I had a procedure intended to relieve my ear fullness. I had tubes put in my eardrums. For the past several years, I have been suffering with hearing loss and ear fullness. This procedure went well but my hearing got worse. I felt like I had ear muffles on.
Five Things on My Christmas “Wish List” as a Mentally Ill Christian
1. End the stigma of mental illness in the church community.
2. Continue to seek belonging in the church community.
3. Continued support of my family, friends, and the church community.
4. Not be judged for my mental illness or symptoms.
5. Be able to find joy during the Christmas season.
12 Things During the Christmas Season
If you can offer this kind of love and grace to those who really need it, yet may not be capable of returning, you will not only make a difference in their lives, but you will also grow to be more like Christ! Not a bad trade off!
Debrief - Part 1
And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. - Matthew 9:35-36
Belonging = Access
Why is mental illness so stigmatized in the church?
The Nouthetic counseling movement emerged in the church during the 1960s and ’70s as a reaction to psychological theories and approaches to mental illness that appeared in many ways to be in conflict with traditional understandings of Scripture, especially behaviorism and the moral relativism that runs throughout Rational Emotive therapy. According to the Nouthetic view, as articulated by Jay Adams, mental illness in the absence of a clear organic cause is a manifestation of personal sin. That view still holds significant influence in many of our churches. - Stephen Grcevich, MD (Biblegateway Blog)
Belonging > Inclusion
“The confidence that God is mindful of the individual is of tremendous value in dealing with the disease of fear, for it gives us a sense of worth, of belonging, and of at homeness in the universe.”
— Martin Luther
50,000
50,000 Americans took their lives in 2022. 50,000 tragedies that whisper in shame for all affected. One in four suffer with a mental illness, and many suffer in silence and isolation. Mental illness is the disease of the lonely. Some are seemingly fulfilled with friendship, success, and love, but it is an illusion, a façade thin as veneer on the surface. Bubbling under the surface is torment and exhaustion to keep the façade from crumbling.
Trip Debrief
The orphans with disabilities had so much fun with all the activities. Pray that we continue to have involved caregivers as we move to different rooms of children each day.
Challenging Verse: Luke 10:2
Luke 10:2 is about the mission field and serving; those with mental illness can’t see how they are a part of God’s mission. God loves us so much that He wants to include us in His plan - missions. God doesn’t need us for His plan, but we need God. We foolishly think He needs us, but His plan will happen with or without us. How do the mentally ill participate in missions?