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Mental Illness • Posts, Books & More

With God, Mental Illness has no stigma.

Stigma, isolation, loneliness, and shame often follow a diagnosis of mental illness. With God, mental illness has no stigma. You are His precious child, deeply loved and fully accepted.

Bend Your ear to me and listen to my words … hear the deep cry of my heart. Listen to my call for help, my King, my True God; to You alone I pray. (Psalm 5:1-2)

Blog Posts

God knows us intimately, and He understands our struggles completely. There is not a single hair on a single head that He hasn’t counted, or the briefest shadow that He’s missed, or the smallest mutation of DNA He doesn’t know. He is with us every moment of every day, without fail, even when we cannot see Him or hear Him or feel Him — and our stories matter.

Making the Most of Who You Are • Especially the Parts You Don’t Like

3 min read

My strengths are closely tied to what I label as “weaknesses.” Perhaps it’s about focusing on the parts that are helpful and letting the other stuff go.

Embrace the Melancholy

4 min read

So, I’ve decided to do something this season that I want to encourage you to do as well if you are so inclined: embrace the melancholy.

10,000 Reasons • When Gratitude Kickstarts Joy

6 min read

“Brace yourselves,” the doctor said. The months that followed were a Gethsemane place for me, a taste the bittersweet of Job, “Even if You slay me…”

Surrounded by prayer - God was and is present.

Books We Love • MENTAL ILLNESS

Discovering Hope • Beginning the Journey Toward Hope in Chronic Illness

This Beautiful Truth: How God’s Goodness Breaks into Our Darkness

Sarah Clarkson

Amid the daily realities of sickness and isolation, disappointment and pain, it can be profoundly difficult to grasp the real goodness of God. But this is where God breaks into our darkness with beauty. In the wonder of creation, in art or film, story or song, in the kindness of his people and the good they create, God breaks into our pain in a tangible way, teaching us to trust his kindness and hope for his healing.

Broken Brain, Fortified Faith: Lessons of Hope Through a Child’s Mental Illness

The terms mental illness and mental health are often used casually, but many don’t believe mental illness is relevant to their lives.

This is the story of one family’s journey through schizophrenia, navigating the uncharted waters of mental illness to find help for their daughter and support for their family. This memoir is an honest look at the stress, anger, education, and finally, hope experienced through the eyes of a mother.

Grace for the Afflicted: A Clinical and Biblical Perspective on Mental Illness

Matthew S. Stanford

Why has the church struggled in ministering to those with mental illnesses? Each day men and women diagnosed with mental disorders are told to pray more and turn from their sin. Mental illness is equated with demonic possession, weak faith, and generational sin. In Grace for the Afflicted, Stanford informs us about mental illness from biblical and scientific perspectives.

The Hidden Smile of God: The Fruit of Affliction in the Lives of John Bunyan, William Cowper, and David Brainerd

John Piper

John Piper invites you into the lives of John Bunyan, William Cowper, and David Brainerd to discover how God takes the privilege of faith and strengthens it with trials so that we experience a greater hunger for him. The perseverance of these godly servants exemplifies the essential fruit that affliction can produce in your own life.

A Sacred Sorrow: Reaching Out to God In the Lost Language of Lament

Michael Card

Have you ever thought of lament — that sacred sorrow — as a form of worship? God desires for us to pour out our hearts to Him, whether in joy or pain. From the example of men and women in the Bible, learn how to recover this lost language and deepen your worship of God.

The Soul of Shame: Retelling the Stories We Believe About Ourselves

Curt Thompson

We’re all infected with a spiritual disease. Its name is shame. Whether we realize it or not, shame affects every aspect of our personal lives and vocational endeavors. It seeks to destroy our identity in Christ, replacing it with a damaged version of ourselves that results in unhealed pain and brokenness — but God is telling a different story for your life.

Troubled Minds: Mental Illness and the Church’s Mission

Amy Simpson

Mental illness is the sort of thing we don’t like to talk about. It doesn’t reduce nicely to simple solutions and happy outcomes. So instead, too often we reduce people who are mentally ill to caricatures and ghosts, simply pretending they don’t exist. They do exist…

Unglued: Making Wise Choices in the Midst of Raw Emotions

Lysa TerKeurst

Do you ever feel like your emotions are working against you? We may sometimes find ourselves stuffing down our emotions, exploding with emotions, or reacting in unhealthy ways – but it is possible to make our emotions work for us. The good news is that God gave us emotions to experience life, not destroy it. Learn to use our emotions for good.

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MORE BOOKS WE LOVE ❤️

PLAYLIST

The Valley, Ellie Holcomb
Praise You in This Storm, Casting Crowns
Our God, Chris Tomlin
Beautiful Things, Gungor
How Great is Our God, Chris Tomlin
Mighty to Save, Jeremy Camp
Come as You Are, Crowder
10,000 Reasons, Rend Collective
Bring on the Wonder, Sarah McLachlan
Healing Begins, Tenth Avenue North
You Are More, Tenth Avenue North
My Help Comes from the Lord, The Museum
Lift Up Your Face, Third Day
Grace Like Rain, Todd Agnew
Good, Good Father, Chris Tomlin

Pervasive Misunderstandings in Mental Illness

“Herein lies one of the most pervasive misunderstandings regarding mental illness: that God spares this kind of pain and suffering from those with a deep and abiding faith. All too often, the assumption in the church is that those who continue to suffer from mental illness lack sufficient faith.” Stephen Grcevich MD