Mental Health and The Gospel
Photo by Marcel Strauß on Unsplash
When is your mental health important?
When is your spiritual health important?
Now— always!
That’s what I’m talking about.
The month of May was National Mental Health Awareness.
As I read through many articles and social media posts I couldn’t help but notice that spiritual wellness can be directly connected to our mental health. Stay with me…
You and I understand that spiritual trauma exists, right? But did you know that the DSM-5(MH Industry standard diagnostic tool - APA publication) acknowledges that religion and spirituality can be significant factors in mental health, both as potential sources of distress and as sources of coping and resilience.
Religion and spirituality can be helpful or hurtful.
Question for us:
Where do we fit in this scenario and what’s my responsibility?
HRR is discovering ways to connect the dots to mental - emotional health to the Gospel.
In identifying Gospel connections I’d like to share 3 key ideas for wellness for ALL of us;
The addict, alcoholic, sinner and saint:
You are not alone ~ we need each other!
Isolation is a gigantic hole in the boat! Isolation is fertile ground for negativity, unbalanced sense of self (ego/pride), justified anger and fear, leading to hopelessness. Critical for wellness and hope is finding your people. Maybe not people who are exactly like you in every way either. The Recovery Community has been offering this by way of meetings since 1939.
“From park benches to Park Ave we have found fellowship”
Today, an A.A. presence can be found in approximately 180 nations worldwide, with membership estimated at over two million. There are more than 123,000 A.A. groups around the world and A.A.’s literature has been translated into over 100 languages.
THE CHURCH has been doing faith community (New Testament) for over 2000 years!
And we have been given the Great Commission to “go, make disciples of all the nations…” We live this life of faith and recovery from all kinds of sin, with one another!
Hebrews 10:24-25 24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.
What’s hard is when you cannot find your people.
Harbor Rock Recovery is connected.
We can help you find your people.
Faith community, Recovery community, Clinical or Therapeutic care.
We’re here to help.
Honestly, we need to be honest:
Lying to others is lame and a significant reason why we may not have trusted friendships, but what of lying to ourselves? Do we see ourselves accurately? Do we have a clear sense of who we are and are created for? We need people around us that are both honest with themselves and with us. Do you have that in your life? The confessional was meant to be a place for a sinner to tell on themselves about the secrets they carry to a person of significant religious influence in order to find absolution and even penance (next steps).
According to scripture and many in recovery, telling on yourself to another brings healing! “You are as sick as your secrets”
Here’s what the Bible says in I John 1:8-10
8 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. 9 But if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that His word has no place in our hearts.
Carrying around toxic material can lead to sickness in all manner of life.
Perceptions ~ Relationships ~ Life Choices.
HRR can help you find people who will offer acceptance, understanding, wisdom and direction while affirming “you are not alone.”
That’s an expression of LOVE. (Agape)
God’s love— this love requires no work for us to do and it deeply changes us.
HRR has received such love from God and aspires to reveal this love to others.
Be love and light!
My friend Cris operates an amazing family restaurant, where one of their tag lines is;
“You are what you eat, so eat Goodstuff.”Are you feasting on Good Stuff? Here’s some good stuff to feast on:~ God sees, knows, cares and can meet us where we are.
To realize we are seen and known requires honesty. Certainly you can close your eyes, be in total darkness, but God sees you. ~ You know that God sees in the dark, right?
Open your eyes, admit your needs.
This may sound kind of scary, but did you also know, you are loved beyond what you think, feel, face or have ever experienced!
I recently heard a woman in a recovery meeting say that she had been seeking her identity in this life to no avail, then she read something the Psalmist wrote proclaiming
“Your steadfast love is greater than life” Psalm 63:3
WOW
She then confessed she was seeking her identity in the wrong place.
Let God’s love do the work and be transformed. Stop striving to fix yourself.
Don’t you just love the creativity, mercy and grace of God as we honestly and in community seek Him. We then reveal and reflect Jesus in how we live our life.
We’re love and light to those around us because we’ve received love and light.
Harbor Rock Recovery has seen and understands that many believers live in secrecy in the body of Christ, suffering and experiencing diminished faith due to addictions. But why?
There’s a good chance they struggle with shame and guilt. The internal monologue goes something like, “I know better— I should do better, God's mad at me.” or some version of “If anyone knew what I was struggling with they’d throw me away…”
Guilt assigns and accepts responsibility whether real or imagined. Shame is toxic and attacks identity. I’ve met many believers in the 12 step community that tell me they’ve had a hard time with church, they confess they don’t feel accepted, they feel judged for their struggles. Well meaning believers have said things like “If you loved God more you wouldn’t struggle with addictions.” In fact, I’ve heard preaching with this tone. It’s like telling the diabetic to “Stop it and just love God more”
In and through HRR we want to love like Jesus loves. How we treat others reflects how we understand we've been treated by God and by others.
Love: unconditional ~ to us & through us
Grace: Gift of God not earned or entitled we receive & offer
Mercy: Compassion that communicates understanding & forgiveness
Speaking truth, admitting struggles connects us to ourselves, to each other and to God.
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You are not alone * You can be honest * You are created for love and light
These 3 ideas invite you and I to be part of the solution to a world contending with a mental health and an addiction crisis.
There’s not a person on the planet that doesn’t need love and light.
The spiritual life is meant to be lived daily, honestly with others.
Let’s walk together in this!
PD
