Mental Health Meets Faith
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Cor. 10:5) I spend a lot of time thinking about thoughts. That may sound a little funny, but a long journey with anxiety has taught me that paying attention to my thinking is crucial. Prior to that, anxiety was often a debilitating force, wreaking havoc in the background of […]
Recently, I wrote a creative piece entitled Letting Go of Control and Splashing into Life. This piece was birthed out of a recent experience I had, during which I felt the Lord speaking to me about the role control has played in my life. This was not a new theme for me, as I have dealt with “control freak” tendencies over the span of my life. However, it did uncover a new layer of a familiar subject and brought […]
I’m a girl who knows what it’s like to be led around by my feelings. Prior to getting married, I came to grips with the fact that I struggled (hard) with anxiety and had for all of my life. I pursued therapy, talked with friends, and started processing the sorts of things that lead to fear dominating my life. It was the beginning of my healing journey, and it has been a transformative experience. However, for a long while, […]
It’s the letting go I need to work on. Let go. Relax. Rest. Trust. Embrace. Be embraced. Let go of all that feels jumbled, messy, confusing, disorganized, consuming, And learn to really trust and believe that He holds it all. Trust Him that He writes and re-writes my story. Trust that I won’t be lost in the letting go. I will be found & free. Found & free in the letting go. Focus less on […]
As I am writing this, it is September 29. I started graduate school this month. With the start of school, many of my lofty goals have gone out the window and much of my time is spent with a highlighter and a book in my hand. Although in my academic past, I have prided myself on being able to do it all and to achieve with flying colors, I have come to the rude awakening that this time […]
Recently, in our corner of the world, we had a hurricane threat. I’m not one to pay much attention to all the weather hype, but the messages we were experiencing were intense. Protect your property and your life. Make sure to have food, fuel, etc. for at least three days. Expect to be without power. News channels reported a potential direct hit by said hurricane. The day before the storm I was working my retail […]
I like to hold on to things. Whether it be a relationship, a past season, reveling in the good times or processing through the bad, I have a difficult time letting things go. These past several months, I have been learning a lot about the art of letting go. There are times in our lives when God is asking us to close the chapter behind us and turn the page into the new thing He […]
This past week God has been speaking to me about narratives. As people, we love the power of storytelling. While we might become disengaged when it comes to the facts, we connect with stories. We are engaged, intrigued, inspired. Of particular interest as of late, is the stories we tell ourselves. Whether we realize it or not, there is an ongoing narrative that goes on in our minds. Our narrative strings each event together, every […]
Recently, I left Home. I use the word Home loosely, as a reference to a place I’ve become quite familiar with and one in which I’ve spent much time throughout my life. It’s been a place of safety, one in which I’ve found comfort. Although it has changed throughout the years, it is a place of predictability. In some ways, it has been a place of stability. I run this place, nothing escapes my notice […]
Lately, I have been studying and reading about the brain. Dr. Caroline Leaf has amazing materials regarding brain science and how it correlates to scripture. Right now, I am reading her book The Perfect You, which I highly recommend. Dr. Leaf speaks a lot about how we always have the power to think, choose and feel. Our brains are very amenable to change. By thinking about what we are thinking about, we have the power […]