Stigma is like a dirty word to most of us. We would not think of stigmatizing people with mental health problems or people with other disabilities. We don’t want to harm them, but try to follow Jesus by treating them with kindness. We want to help them find healing. And yet, it’s in that very […]
Read More...As mentioned earlier, borderline personality (BPD) has greater stigma attached to it than any other mental illness. Those with the disorder are feared and avoided to such an extent that it’s been referred to as “the leprosy of mental illnesses”. We know too that in his day, Jesus did not avoid or fear the leper […]
Read More...Suppose someone said something or did something especially hurtful to the person with BPD. Such a sensitive person might not be able to help but react, often with the over-the-top anger (or emotional dysregulation) we’ve been talking about. That’s the feature of BPD that’s most alarming in the eyes of the people around us. And […]
Read More...December 2015 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 Have you ever given […]
Read More...December 2016 As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” He called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Luke 18:35-38 In his book, Love Walked Among […]
Read More...I think a lot of us suffer more from how we have been hurt by others than we do from our mental illness. And how hard it is to find a friend who will understand. How often we lose friends because our need for them is more than they can bear. Pain like […]
Read More...He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Isaiah 53:3 I brought you this scripture last Monday, telling you how meaningful it was to me. I believe this […]
Read More...Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, […]
Read More...When Jesus sees our pain, understands it, feels it with us – it matters not to him where it came from. He doesn’t look at who caused it or why. He never judges whether it’s worthy of compassion or healing. With love, he joins us in it. marja
Read More...I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Philippians 3:10-11 I wondered to myself: As Jesus hung on the cross, did he feel compassion from anyone? Did anyone […]
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