We must stop ignoring mental illness and start graciously offering hope.
Churches, we need a new approach to mental illness.
Or, maybe not new, but a more Christlike approach to mental illness.
Early in my ministry, I met a wonderful gentleman who loved the Lord with all of his heart, who had a deep passion for God, and who exuded the character of a man who had spent a lifetime getting to know Christ. He experienced seasons of life, though, when he would simply spiral down to a place of dysfunction. He struggled with bipolar disorder, and it would overcome him (his words) for long periods of time.
In the midst of his struggles, he repeatedly cried out to God. He spent hours meditating on the Scriptures, particularly the Psalms. He begged God for help in the midst of his trouble time and time again. He had no idea how to respond to the lack of healing, and honestly neither did I. I was 25 years old, and all I had heard about dealing with mental illness was that Christians just “prayed it away.”
It was an attack of the enemy,…
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