IN THE NAME OF JESUS I was disturbed a short time ago when I was at a church service that spent part of worship time singing a song focused on Jesus as One who could loosen our chains of depression and anxiety. Although it was about Jesus, “the light of the world,” I felt that […]
Read More...EMOTIONAL DISTRESS CAN DRAW US CLOSER TO GOD – from Dr. Harold G. Koenig, M.D. “C.S. Lewis said. “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain. It is his megaphone to a deaf world.” (The Problem of Pain) Indeed, it is emotional stress that gets our attention […]
Read More...SENSITIZED TO THE SUFFERING OF OTHERS – from Dr. Harold G. Koenig Until one has undergone pain, discouragement, isolation, confusion, and fear, it is difficult to really understand and appreciate these experiences that people with mental illness must deal with on a day-to-day basis. Having gone through such experiences, a person is more able to […]
Read More...HOW DOES FAITH HELP US SURVIVE? – from Harold G. Koenig, M.D. Many, many persons today must live with recurrent persistent emotional or mental illness. What about these people? Are they doomed to a life of senseless pain and suffering? Certainly they should hope for, and seek, information about new treatments that may relieve their […]
Read More...WHEN DID THE CHURCH LOSE DIRECTION? In 2005 Harold G. Koenig, M.D. published Faith & Mental Health. It happened to be the year before the faith-based support group, Living Room, was founded in 2006. I look forward to re-printing some of the highlights of Dr. Koenig’s book here. Followers of Christ should find his thoughts […]
Read More...LIVING ROOM Something I found in a blogpost from April 2011: My thoughts have been going back lately to the Good Friday service exactly five years ago in 2006 when my pastor invited me to read a bit from my not-yet-published A Firm Place to Stand. With the reading I shared some of the emotional battles I […]
Read More...GROWING Written in my blog, in November 2009: My moods continue to go up and down. And when I feel ok, it’s as though I’m walking a tightrope, trying to maintain my balance so I don’t fall one way or another. Amazing how many symptoms there are to watch out for. And each time one […]
Read More...HEALING THE WOUNDS OF STIGMA Help with our mental health has come from many areas of the secular world. The medical profession and mental health professionals help us deal with symptoms of our illness. We have medications. We’re taught coping skills. We have counselors to listen to our day-to-day problems. But none of these […]
Read More...FAITH-BASED SUPPORT GROUPS Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. Psalm 25:4-5 A wise person warned me today, “Listen to God and be guided by him, and do not be led astray by our […]
Read More...MENTAL HEALTH AND SPIRITUALITY SPEECH DELIVERED TO NEW LIFE COMMUNITY CHURCH, JANUARY 29, 2023: In 1993, I answered God’s call to do all I could to build mental health awareness—a few years later focusing on the Church. I thought that if anyone could show the love of Christ, members of his Church could. They just […]
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