I’m so thankful for God’s mercy upon me. Many things could have turned tragic but He delivered me from them all. He pulled me out of situations where my faith would suffer or my values would be compromised. And He allowed my personal mistakes to turn out for the greater good.
There is hope for recovery and healing no matter what mental health issues you find yourself in. But it may require you to seek out professional help. To tell someone who is trained to help you understand your personal struggles and put your past into perspective.
Healing will likely require proper medication prescribed by a doctor. And adhering to the restrictions that come with the prescription. To stay on it and talk to your doctor about side effects or ongoing struggles so they can adjust the doses.
Support from family and friends is also vital for recovery. If you don’t have that or have burned those bridges then a support group in a professional setting can be helpful.
And also finding a church that allows you to be honest about your mental health issues is essential. There are churches and people who believe faith and prayer are all you need for healing. I tried that and ended up in worse condition.
I have found that my faith in God has been strengthened throughput my many years of struggles. I have learned to lean into Him during especially trying times, to trust my health care professionals and to be honest with my support system and ask for help.
I’m here to tell that you that you can manage your mental health condition and live a normal life. You will struggle however. Likely in times of personal loss, unexpected changes and fractures in relationships.
It’s important to learn to read your emotions and test your responses. To seek counseling to get you through those difficult times. And just as importantly, not to turn to unhealthy ways of escape including substances.
I’ve struggled with my mental health most of my life. I had a complete breakdown in 2003 and was hospitalized. But God and all of the above have helped me keep on the path to a good life.
Last week I shared insights from my Christian counselor. When I was in the pit of depression, the truths that I learned were the rungs that helped me climb my way out of the pit.
I first had to recognize that what I believed about myself was not the truth about me.
In one session, my counselor was trying to print something and had to change the default printer to a different one. She said that it was similar to what takes place in my thought process.
My “default” feelings:
Blaming myself when something goes wrong
Thinking that everything bad that happens is my fault.
Feeling that I am not worth anything or a bother to someone else.
Believing that I am less ____ than anyone else
Harboring resentment
Feeling guilty for past sins or mistakes
To find healing from the depression, I needed to let go of these thoughts. I needed to learn to Stop, to Catch my Thought, and to Change the Default.
Replace the negative thoughts with the truths about who I am. (See Previous Post: Climbing Out of Depression: Key Steps to Healing).
Phillipians 4:8 gives us an illustration about the things we as Christians are to think about:
8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Often times I feel like people don’t like me, or I did something dumb and they now think poorly of me. My thoughts turn against me, telling me that I’m a bad person or I’m unlovable.
When I think like that, I turn inward and pull away from people who care about me or stop going to the places where the events happened.
I am my own worst enemy. But my feelings are not facts.
A few of the facts about me are:
I’m not dumb.
I am who I am because that’s how God made me
I’m okay the way I am.
I’m not like everyone else.
I might have made a bad choice but that does not make me a bad person.
When we catch ourselves in a negative thought, we can turn it around and replace it with a positive truth, or affirmation. We can learn to change the default thought.
No one can do this for us. We can only do this for ourselves, and by the grace of God.
I’m not suggesting that this is easy. In fact, it’s very hard to change the way we’ve thought about ourselves for so long.
We need to take this healing process one step at a time. One day at a time.
Don’t look at a week, a month, or a year.
“THIS is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24)
This post was previously published in October 2024 under Sweaters and Knee Socks.
Today I’ve added an update to the original post to share how God has directed my path.
Sweaters and Knee Socks
I grew up in a family that didn’t have much money for extras. We didn’t buy name brand clothes. We shopped at garage sales before it became popular. Mom made sure we had a couple of new outfits for school each fall and new dresses for Christmas and Easter. Sometimes they were homemade.
Fashion was all about Izods and Calvin Kleins when I was in high school. I don’t think not having name brand jeans and shirts really mattered to me. But one trend I wanted to have so badly was a wool skirt with a wool sweater and knee socks. That outfit was really popular and something I yearned for.
My senior year, a cousin bought me a wool sweater for Christmas and my aunt paid me in wool skirts for babysitting her boys. When I went off to college that fall, I was ready to be in style.
Only people in college didn’t dress that way.
I had missed out on wearing the trend. Now my clothes were out of style at the small college I went to.
My country roots were showing.
(Things got better at the end of my freshman year when a settlement from a driver’s ed car accident came through, giving me spending money above what my college costs were. I bought parachute pants. {Cringe} I actually wore them!)
However, the outdated style didn’t stop me from making friends and experiencing some of the fun the conservative college offered.
One experience I remember well early on in my freshman year was a spiritual retreat. I don’t know where the campground was, but the girls’ bathroom were all open-stall toilets. Needless to say, I didn’t feel the urge to go.
There were also really tall, old growth trees. When we all took a walk through the trees, the leader told us to lay down on the ground and look up. I still remember how majestic the treetops looked from that point of view.
Experiences like this spiritual retreat helped cement the faith that I had experienced in high school and made me a stronger Christian. A sophomore year trip to Mexico gave me new confidence.
I began to walk my own path. Things that had mattered before weren’t important anymore. I had new plans, new dreams.
Forty years have gone by since my college days. (Yikes, I’m THAT old!)
I felt recently like I have finally “come into my own.” I had confidence in myself and in my plans.
Then news I hadn’t expected put a roadblock in my path and I’m not sure what the future holds for me.
I love this verse and have had it memorized since I was a teen:
Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.”
As I have done for most of my life, in these moments I put my faith in the Maker of Heaven and Earth, the Father who created me and loves me. He will direct my paths. The NIV says, “He will make your paths straight.” I like that translation also.
I am praying and waiting to see what He will do, even as I take each step that I know is right for that moment. No, I can’t see ahead, but that’s okay. He will make my way straight and clear.
Now thinking back to that long-ago retreat, I realize I am not the same person. I have a deeper, abiding faith and more life experiences to know that God will, indeed, fulfill the promise in Proverbs 3:5-6. As I trust in Him, He shall direct my path.
And I realize that if I were to lie on the ground and look up at the treetops, I wouldn’t be able to get back up! (Not gracefully, anyway).
Update: February 9, 2026
More than a year has passed. I wasn’t shown a direct path after I posted the original. I tried a couple of things that didn’t work out to my benefit. One endeavor was partially responsible for a mental health crisis mid-summer. It took 3-4 months for my mental health to stabilize. I didn’t work on anything during that time.
In December, I set up a booth at a local event in the school I used to attend. From the sales that day and contacts made that month, I sold 32 books. The most I’ve ever sold in one month.
The New Year didn’t start on a very positive note, but my mental health had improved. I spent two lovely days with my sisters. Then I started to feel the depression and the wait of some of my grief coming back. I made an appointment with my counselor. However, a few days before I saw her, inspiration came to me for my writing projects.
It feels good to be inspired and even better, to see some of my dreams for my writing come to fruition.
I will publish 4-5 new books in 2026. Maybe more as God directs and finances come through.
My faith in God is stronger than ever. I feel very blessed.
Inspirational Author 