Christians and Mental Health - I Can See Clearly Now

Fog.  Thick, thick fog.

Swimming through molasses.    

These are just a couple of the ways I have explained the feeling in my head since my last concussion.

It is hard to explain that feeling of being detached from yourself.  It is a scary feeling.  At times I have felt frustrated and overwhelmed.  I wasn't depressed but I sure was discouraged.  After a year and a half, I was not sure if I would ever see relief.  I was ready to concede that this was the new normal. 

The holidays were rough.  It took all of my energy to focus on the work before me and by the time I got home, I was spent.  I prayed and prayed for a healing but each day was the same.

Finally, I visited the doctor.  After some conversations about where I was emotionally, physically and mentally I decided to broach the subject of medicinal help for my situation.  The doctor prescribed me an anti-depressant that works more as a sleep aid than anything else.  I thought that some of my post-concussion symptoms could be improved with a good nights sleep.

All I can say is Praise God.  I am sleeping well and for the first time since my concussion, I no longer feel the foggy brain when I go through my day.  I am rested and relaxed and feel more like my old self. 

I know some Christians are vehemently opposed to prescription drugs, esp. anti-depressants.  Hey, I've been there.  I see now that I was being judgmental.  Jesus Himself used various means to heal people.  John 9:1-7 talks about a time when Jesus made mud with a little spit and told a man to go wash it off in order to be healed.  In the OT, we have the story of Elisha who told one sick man to go and dip in the river 7 times in order to be healed. (2 Kings 5:1-15)

If God can use the rivers and pools, mud and spit, why can't he use medicine?

Today I am clear headed and I feel better able to focus on all that God would have me to do.  I thank God that He still heals today and I am no longer opposed to how He chooses to do it.  Be it a word, a touch or a pill...God is the one who heals.  

Other Topics in the Christians and Mental Health series:
What are we afraid of?
How Should the Church Respond?
 

One Foot in Front of the Other - Just A Thought #58

Perseverance.  

I see that word and it brings up a lot of different thoughts.

Hard work.
2 steps forward, one step back.
Falling down...a lot! 
Blood, sweat and tears.
Failure...more than once.
Christianity!

The Bible talks about perseverance and endurance often but there is a story I was reading in 2 Kings 5:1-19 that really resonated with me. Maybe it was because I am in a place where the idea of perseverance has become a reality.  We live in a world filled with pain and hardship.  In this world, we get glimmers of grace and hope that can only be found in Jesus Christ.

Recently I have had to persevere through some pretty significant issues.  Like the man in the picture...it feels like a slog up a long path, one foot in front of the other.  

It is how I have been living lately.  

I won't lie, I wish our problems had instant solutions.  In this fast-paced, answers now society, we don't like waiting for anything.  Waiting for answers, healing, guidance, etc does not fit that plan.  Yet that is what God calls us to do.  To wait, to persevere.

So getting back to 2 Kings.  Naaman was a mighty warrior of some renown.  He was also a leper.  Eventually he heard about a prophet who may be able to heal him.  He traveled with many gifts and finally came face to face with Elisha.  He wanted instant answers but was told that he had to dip seven times in the Jordan River.  He got angry, not liking what he heard, and left.  

Cooler heads prevailed and encouraged him to listen to Elisha.  He went to the Jordan,  dipped in seven times and came out healed!  

I can so relate.

When I come to God, I don't want delayed answers.  Like Naaman, I have sometimes gotten angry with the answers I did receive. I especially don't like it when the answer is to persevere.

Yet God's ways are higher than ours.  He has a plan.

I can obey or kick against it.

I want to obey.

Which means I have to persevere at times.  Times like now.  I don't know how long it will be before we see the other side of this challenging time, but it doesn't matter.  God is in control.

In the meantime, I will keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep my eyes on Him!

Age is Relative

You are never too young, too old, too uneducated, too poor, or too busy to serve the Lord!

I wasn’t much older than 20 when I was asked to be a youth pastor. I was the missions director of my church at 15. When I was 21, I traveled with an itinerant evangelist in his late 70’s. I could not keep up with his energy!

It is a sad, but true fact, that over the years, the church has relegated the young and the aged to the pews and youth groups. I have heard numerous stories of people who were told that they needed to be older in order to serve God. I have also seen the elderly members of a church ignored when it came to ministry opportunities.

“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” (Galatians 6:9-10)

How can we do good? By serving others, by loving others and by sharing the truth of Jesus Christ. For that job description, age doesn’t matter.

You may be familiar with this Scripture: "And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;" (Acts 2:17)

I like the following passage found in Joshua 14. Caleb is telling part of his story to Joshua and the Israelites and he says this:

And now, behold, the LORD has kept me alive, just as he said, these forty-five years since the time that the LORD spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old. I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming. So now give me this hill country of which the LORD spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the LORD will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the LORD said." (Joshua 14:10-12)

He was 85 years old and still ready to go for God! However, even the youth can be mightily used by God! Remember, Samuel the prophet was called by God as a youth.

The Bible talks of two kings: Joash who assumed the throne at the age of seven; and Josiah who became king at the age of eight. The Bible says that both of them obeyed the Lord. (2 Kings 12:2, 2 Kings 22:2)

Nor do you need to be educated to serve God. True Biblical education happens when you leave the Bible College, the missionary training school, etc… . It happens just like it did for the apostles…when you rub up against the world. Remember that Peter and a few of the others were just plain old, uneducated fishermen. Yet God used these uneducated men to change the world!

I am not knocking education; however, any education or lack thereof, is not an excuse to sit idly by on the sidelines and hope others will share the love of Jesus Christ. Any one at any age can and should do that. The Great Commission is for all of us!