Having a Mental Illness can mean you feel very alone, but does being a Christian mean that you’re somehow on the outside?
I wouldn’t have noticed it at the time, but a few years ago, I began to look at the shaping influences that happened in my early life, particularly the Christian Church that my parents were very involved with.
We lived in the countryside and attended a church in the local township. Small church, and it was a place, I suppose, where you got to know quite a bit about each other.
Looking back now, I recognize that quite a few people struggled with various Mental Illnesses. For example, one of the church attendees had had a Lobotomy. Another would have Bipolar mood swings. Some would sit in the pews nursing depression whilst others would fidget with anxiety.
There was glue, however. An acceptance of ‘lame ducks,’ as my Father would lovingly call them. My mother would spend hours on the phone listening to the heart calls.
I suppose this normalized this encounter of Mental Unwellness to me.
I remember one day, though, later in his life, where my Father shared an experience of a Pastor telling my mother to believe certain scripture passages and that she would be healed. A kind of ‘Name it and Claim it’ approach.
I could sense his annoyance about what I would call a ‘burden of performance’ being laid on her. I would love to have a soul-talk conversation with him about this now.
All these shaping influences upon my thinking.
Read more here
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I am Waiting for the Shroud to be Lifted
Why Was I Created
Being Faithful with the Little
Can You Pray For Me?
Is This Punishment from God
You Can’t Make It On Your Own
The Power of Love
The Beauty of an Empowering Question
The Plans God Has For You
When No One Understands You. 11 Reasons
A Life Controlled by Lies
What is Emotional Pain?
Coping with Ambiguous Loss by Estrangement
Absolute Responsibility Needs Absolute Forgiveness
But Trouble Comes
And It Just So Happened
God, I Still Have Doubts
Sitting in the Mental Health Shadow of an Eclipse
Whatever you retain will be retained
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