While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, […]
Read More...…if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. 1 Peter 2:20-21 As we follow Jesus we might be surprised at what God will call us […]
Read More...I was still like a child in ways. What was happening bewildered me. I had developed strong bonds with those who had showed me love. Like a child clinging to her parents, I could not let go. Only after thousands of dollars’ worth of psychotherapy did I learn to recognize the truth about what happened. […]
Read More...Friends had betrayed me. My whole community betrayed me. I found myself ostracized. My feelings of self-worth plummeted. Gradually I forgot that I had done anything good at all. One of the worst forms of discrimination is when there is a conflict between a well person and someone with a history of mental illness. This […]
Read More...People with mental illness are too often treated in ways that make them feel inferior—ways that make them feel they’re not as much of a person as others are. If that could only change! Jesus quoted the prophet Isaiah when he announced the following in Luke 4:18. “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, […]
Read More...I’ve gone far enough with my story. There’s lots more, but much is already covered elsewhere. I now want to tell you what motivated me to write this series. I feel my rights as a human being, and the rights of others with mental illness, are too often considered unimportant. Yet, not taking them seriously […]
Read More...When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his […]
Read More...See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him. 1 John 3:1 NLT If our Father in Heaven loves us enough to […]
Read More...There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28 NLT At the time Jesus came to earth, people were not believed to have equal value. But Jesus changed things, treating people with equal dignity and worth. Christianity became foundational to […]
Read More...FINDING A PURPOSE Having a mental illness can make a full life more difficult to achieve than it is for healthy individuals. So far I had only been puttering with life. Nothing I did was serious enough or fulfilling enough. I wanted to do something truly meaningful. For many years I scoured the Help […]
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