Blog
To The Christian Who Self-Harms
I know I’m not the only believer who struggles with self-harm and suicidal thoughts. I’m making myself vulnerable here with the prayer that whatever you’re going through, you won’t feel so alone. This is my prayer for you, from the depth of my own struggle.
When My Thoughts Lie to Me
When my inner world was so gray and cloudy, was it any wonder that I perceived everything around me through the same dark lens? Was it any wonder that, a few months before this when my therapist tasked me with making a list of 100 good things in my life, it took me almost a month to do so?
6 People in the Bible Who Struggled With Their Mental Health
Each of these people in the Bible is a reminder that those of us who struggle with our mental health are not alone. But beyond that, we can also learn valuable lessons from those who’ve gone before us in how they dealt with and responded to their struggles. Let’s take a look.
How to Create a Suicide Safety Plan
We’ve recently been sharing the stories of people with firsthand experiences of suicide; whether they’ve lost someone to suicide, helped someone navigate that dark period, or have struggled with suicidal thoughts themselves. Through all those stories, you might be left wondering, ‘What can I do about it? How can I help?’
My Bipolar Disorder and God, The Redeemer of My Story
After being diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder at 18 and descending into a deep depression, I felt like a shell of a person. I dropped out of college, stopped working out, had no job, and was quickly gaining weight. I was desperately grasping for a lifeline, something to calm the fire in my mind, something to live for.
What Not to Say to Someone Struggling With Mental Illness
I’ve recently been trying to be more open about my bipolar disorder; I want to be a voice for those with mental illnesses within the church. It’s a scary endeavour, especially when there are so many misconceptions about the illness.
My Healing From Depression Came Slowly
Depression came for me when I was 16. Not overnight, but over a period of months; a gradual descent into a darkness so deep that it consumed everything in my life. I withdrew from friends, and disconnected from church. The things I used to love doing took energy I didn’t have, and I stopped enjoying them.
When It Felt Like God Wasn’t Fair
Night after night, month after month, I’d cry out in prayer, asking God to help. I didn’t ask for full and complete healing from mental illness, but for Him to make it even just a little better. An incremental step was all I wanted; something to ease the pressure and burden I felt. But even that didn’t come. And after crying out for as long as I could, I stopped. God had left me.
How I Learned to Find Beauty in the Chaos
God rescued me from a dark time in my life a few years ago. I was struggling with life and in survival mode, both mentally and physically. My relationships suffered because of it. I even remember admitting to my husband one day, “I’m just not a happy person.”
When Your Friends Don’t Get It: The Story That Led to Anxious Faith
In a recent episode of the podcast, we turned the tables on our host James, and instead asked him the questions. He shared his journey of mental health–both his own, and his family’s–and how it led to what is now Anxious Faith. In this blog post, James shares one of the moments that was part of that journey.
It’s Hard to Be Open About Mental Illness as a Guy
However you define a true-blue Australian man, there seems to be one universal agreement: Men should not be weak. Not surprisingly, men are far less likely to access mental health services than women, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Sadly, this desire to be strong does not dismiss our mental suffering. Instead, it exacerbates it.
I Was a Pastor With Depression
I was still pastoring a church when I began experiencing dissonance between my faith and emotions in the form of anxiety and depressive thoughts. This would happen especially during sermons. But surely it was just stress that would pass?
Why Is Vulnerability So Important?
For me, being deeply honest about my feelings and struggles comes easily. I feel freed when I speak those things out into the open. But I know that isn’t the case for a lot of people.
God... I'm Feeling Burnt-Out
Jordan describes himself as a “pretty chill, stoic, level-headed guy” – that is, until he faced burn-out and depression that sent him spiralling. In Jordan’s second year of paid ministry, he felt the pressure mounting.
Suicide Awareness
For many of us, whether we’ve experienced the effects of suicide personally or not, it probably isn’t a subject that we speak about very often. Yet it is an important subject and one which we as churches and believers need to consider if we are to serve our communities as well as our fellow brothers and sisters in church.
Caring For My Anxious Wife… Without Despairing
When I first met her, I had no idea about mental illness. Up to that point, depression was something that I had thought of as a foreign concept, but wasn’t something real or experienced.