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).
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.
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
Challenging Verses Series: Philippians 4:6-7 (and many other verses)
There are many verses on anxiety in the Bible. These verses can be incredibly difficult for those afflicted with mental illness because of the misunderstanding of the clinical definition and Biblical definition of anxiety.
Let’s End Awareness and Begin Acceptance
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Although awareness is a good thing, it is time to move on to acceptance. One in four suffer with a mental illness, and most Americans are aware of mental illness.
Challenging Verses Series: Psalm 119:11
I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you. – Psalm 119:11
In my last blog on challenging verses, I talked about Spiritual Fruit and abiding in Christ. To be able to abide in Christ, we need to know His Word.
Challenging Verses: Galatians 5:22-23
Galatians 5:22-23 are difficult verses for Christians afflicted with mental illness, especially Bipolar, but these verses are so misunderstood by many. We may arduously strive all our lives to…
How to Love Someone Afflicted with Mental Illness?
Mental illness takes a toll not only on the sufferer, but on everyone around them. Stigma and shame make it very difficult to find…
Challenging Verses: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 are difficult verses for those afflicted with mental illness or/and autism. This verse contains four items that the afflicted struggle with in their Christian walk. How can I rejoice always when I feel depressed, manic…
The Digital Contagion
I have been reading about the effects of social media and digital technology on people, and it reminds me of the cultural climate after World War I. In no way, am I making light of the brutal reality and deaths of World War I. Like many Aspies (code of someone with Aspergers), I think in pictures, but many times my mind relates to artwork…
Dialogue
It is always hard leaving at the end of a mission trip. I love serving others, and this trip was no exception. It has been a wonderful God-glorifying trip.
Last week with our SALT Ukraine partners was amazing. It was exciting to have face to face fellowship with partners I had previously only met on Zoom.
Two Years…
Who would think that someone afflicted with bipolar and Asperger’s would live on mission? Who would think God would call someone with such afflictions for His Kingdom? God knows and we can never understand His ways and plans for us. Who are we to comprehend the wisdom of God? (Illustrated in Job 38:4-42:6)
Love One Another
Jesus gave us a new commandment to love one another as He loved us. Believers are to be known by their love for other followers of Jesus. Although these followers may be from different ethnic, tribal, cultural, racial, and socioeconomic backgrounds, our love for one another transcends all.
Madness Within the Inferno
Suicidal Ideations are a numbing, deafening isolation from reality, an all-consuming fire erupting within my brain. My skull can barely contain the burning inferno, mindlessly submitting to the raging flames. These thoughts are involuntary and submerge logic and reasoning into a helpless, drowning consent to lunacy.
What Comes to Mind When You Think of Serving on the Mission Field?
What comes to mind when you think of serving on the mission field?
Feeding people, clothing people, helping people in need… these are all the traditional images of serving others. My years serving in Ukraine, God has shown me other ways, ways that seem insufficient to us. I took photographs of those…
Beginnings
In 2005, I graduated with a MFA from Maryland Institute College of Art, but my life was full of what seemed to be endless discouragement. My mental health was borderline stable. In the summer of 2009, I was invited to serve…
Four Hidden Aspects of Bipolar
1. The side effects of my medication really bother me.
Medications are essential for stability, but their side effects can be very intolerable. I have developed a twitch…