Photography & Thoughts || Mental Health Awareness

   Did you know that May is Mental Health Awareness Month? This May is a great opportunity to talk about this topic, as it is close to my heart. I especially have a growing passion for sharing about mental health as it relates to the church.

 

    For most of my life, I've had anxiety and OCD. As an adult, I've become more interested in researching the issues that I struggle with. I have also grown to view my mental health differently. Lately, I have begun to think of it as being like a chronic illness. Just like a person with arthritis or food intolerance I have something that can add extra challenges to life and should cause me to give myself a little more grace.

   As a Christian, I view everything through the lens of a Biblical worldview. This includes mental health. Some questions I could ask are "Why does God allow His children to suffer with these issues?" "Are they defined as the world defines them?" "What really causes the brain to behave certain ways?" "How do Christians with these struggles improve our state?" I'll tell you right now that I don't fully know the answers to these questions. Some parts of life are just plain mysterious. At the same time, I have learned two important things:

1. Having a Mental Health Struggle is Not a Sin

A person with anxiety is not necessarily sinfully worrying, nor is a person with depression failing to embrace the joy of the Lord. For whatever reason, our hormones or brain chemistry have caused us to have thoughts and emotions that don't always make sense. How we react to our thoughts and feelings can be sinful, but the problem is not sinful in itself.

2. Having a Mental Health Struggle is Not Due to a Lack of Faith

Just as with physical issues, lack of healing does not mean lack of faith. We can definitely pray for healing. When it happens, that is wonderful and glory should go to God! When it doesn't, it may be that God is teaching us to depend on Him or growing in us a deeper faith. Think of Paul and his thorn in the flesh (see below). JJ Heller has a song about anxiety featuring the phrase "It's not because I'm weak/It's how you choose to speak to me."

And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
II Corinthians 12:9-10 

 
Okay, now on to a few articles that are informative and encouraging. Most of them are on anxiety probably because that's what I relate to. Feel free to send me any links about other struggles. Also, this is a lot of reading so you may want to take a few days to get through it. :'D

Some Things You Should Know About Christians Who Struggle With Anxiety 
I've read this article at least twice. Go read it if you have anxiety or want to understand someone you love who has it.

Suicide and Grace: The Life of William Cowper
Mental illness is not a new thing - the great reformer Martin Luther even struggled with it! This post is a synopsis of the life of a depressed man who God used to leave a legacy of hymns.

 Experiencing Anxiety for the First Time
This is a good one to share with friends and family to help them understand you better if you have anxiety (because let's be honest - we're confusing). It's also an introduction to anyone who has just started experiencing anxiety/panic.

You're Not Going Crazy
Now I've had panic attacks, but they have never been that frequent! JJ Heller also has some songs about anxiety, so after you're done reading look up "Daylight" and "Have Mercy On Me".

  I hope that this post has proved educational and uplifting! Remember that if you have mental health struggles YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Others have experienced the same thing, and if you are a believer, the Lord is always holding you in His hand. If you don't know Him, I pray you come to know the Comforter.

If the Lord had not been my help,
My soul would soon have dwelt in the abode of silence. 
 If I should say, “My foot has slipped,”
Your lovingkindness, O Lord, will hold me up. 
 When my anxious thoughts multiply within me,
Your consolations delight my soul.
Psalm 94:19