Here you can find articles written by everyday Christians, engaging issues around public, personal, and spiritual health. These pieces come from a variety of backgrounds and perspectives, each aimed at increasing personal growth, dialog, and vital cross-pollinating as we seek building a better Kingdom together.
When my wife, Linda, passed away in April 2023, I wasn’t prepared to go through the pain that comes with such a grief journey. The first three months were the hardest for me.
I must thank at least six different kinds of friends who brought their caring gifts to minister to me during my time of suffering. Each friend came at just the right time using their different gifts which contributed to my timely and proper healing. I hope you can learn and follow the examples of my friends so you can also care for your friends well as they are going through their suffering.
What wisdom would you give to your old self on following Jesus well?
I say, “The Lord sees you. It feels insufficient, but plant that truth deep in your heart. He sees you, and he’s with you…” and “He will use the mundane to reveal Himself. God will use the mundane to reveal Himself…”
Christianity and mental health care can co-exist beautifully and wonderfully to make a difference and save lives. Oftentimes, they are seen as two different entities working in opposite directions resulting in Christians feeling ostracized and ashamed for having mental health challenges…
How does one process the immense loss of their life-partner? George, a recent widower after 52 years of marriage, shares his candid experience of his first few months without his wife. Together they wrote books and led workshops of healthy intimacy in Christian relationships.
Recently, I found out a friend of mine who I admired very much had been abusing a secret lover of theirs. This was a shock to me, naturally. It was also shocking to me how hard it was to decide to “do the right thing,” whatever that means.
Death’s properties are viral. It has the power to break the invulnerable. One who is alive can never relate to one dead regardless of how hard they try. How long would I stay in the grave?
5 shocking trends from the past year every Christian should be aware of and thinking about:
Sharp rise in Teen Internet Use, Surge in Drug Overdose Deaths for Black Men, Rapidly Shrinking Middle Class, divergent View of Slavery Reparations, philosophical clashes on balanced Journalism and Equal Reporting.
During my childhood, my family moved around a lot, and so I had few friends. During the tumultuous teenage years, I knew rejection from peers and crushes. During my twenties, family members and love interests disowned me.
Whether one’s mental condition is temporary or constant, our churches do not seem well equipped to accommodate the variety of mental health needs most congregations encounter. Why is this the case? The Church is supposed to be a place of welcoming, fellowshipping, and renewing for all, isn’t it?
As a counselor, I work with people from different walks of life: children, adolescents, adults, families, low-income populations and people who struggle with depression, anxiety, bipolar disorders, substance abuse, and much more. I get to know them. My heart aches with them.
I wrote “To My Fallen Comrade” after hearing that the son of a man my father worked with had killed himself after a long battle with mental illness. I realized that I was the same age as this young man, we were both Christians, and apart from the grace of God, I could have done the same.
It is during these dark hours of our lives that we need someone who can see us as whole persons with both physical and spiritual needs. This may come in the form of a professional counselor, a friend, or a family member. But more importantly, it is crucial that the local church steps in, because the body of Christ is supposed to be there for brothers and sisters.
My eyes had never felt this way before. They burned painfully. They were sensitive to light.
I used to think if I ever got a tattoo it would be the words “be brave” - in black script and somewhere visible, like my wrist or forearm.
Disruptions are just part of life. No matter how well we try to prepare or plan around them, sooner or later something comes along to interrupt your flow or shake your foundation.
What do you do when there are about one thousand miles between what you know in your head and what you actually feel in your heart?
This interaction largely shaped my view of God. If God held a progress report of my life at the time, it might have read, “Church attendance: A, Relationships: B, Selfless acts: B, Quality of prayer: C.”
Once we recognize our faults, blemishes, and undesirable features, we can seek to understand them and displace the imperfection in our lives.
Belonging. When originally approached about this theme, I had topics in mind, some fun stories, perhaps a joke or two. But as I compose this article, none of these come to mind. All that pervades my consciousness is the loneliness and isolation I have experienced in terms of community.
It didn’t take long for me to learn that I was different. I was waiting in line for my school lunch, standing in front of the counter, my six-year-old self just tall enough to see the cafeteria moms doling out our food, when a classmate came up to me.
The road I have walked has not always been easy. When I turned nineteen, my parents decided to uproot and move from Pennsylvania to Colorado. At the time, I was partway through my freshman year of college, and it was immediately clear I should not follow them.
Have you ever looked at your life and found you just couldn’t recognize yourself? Sounds cliché, right? But if you’ve ever experienced depression, that feeling is all too familiar.
In all of this, know that intention is the key to growth and change in our lives. If we say we want to be healthy and honor God with our lives, but we choose not to care for ourselves, we can be sure our priorities are elsewhere.
Jesus placed a high value on friendship, demonstrated through his words and modeled in how he related to others. This holds true for us in our current world… close friendships provide protection against mental health issues such as depression and anxiety, response to stress, and heart health in difficult times, while loneliness increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, and premature death…