Tag Archives: mental health

Christ, the savior

In this blog post, I want to highlight another aspect of Jesus’ identity. Today, I want to emphasize that He is a savior, someone who saves you from dangers or difficulties.

If you find yourself in a challenging situation, Jesus will save you. He is known for saving us from eternal death, infinite suffering, and ongoing pain (Matthew 13:50). He did this by dying on the cross for us, which He did out of love. He saves us because He loves us.

The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His love; He will exult over you with loud singing. – Zephaniah 3:17

His qualities as a savior do not stop at the cross. He wants to be your savior in your everyday life.

He saves you by protecting you:

“The Lord watches over you, the Lord is your shade at your right hand.” – Psalms 121:5

He saves by guiding you on the right path: The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. – Deuteronomy 31:8

Saving is in His DNA.

He is especially your savior when you are struggling with your mental health. The strength you need is found in His presence, and He will be there to comfort you.

Struggling with your mental health is often very complex and can be tangled with unhealed trauma. This is one of the reasons why doctors often can’t fully help people get out of a mental state; it is too complex.

Jesus, however, is the maker of heaven and earth. Nothing is too hard for Him. While I was going through mental illness, Jesus gave me insight into the root causes. He was there with me every step of the way and led me to a place of deliverance.

But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.- John 14:26

You’ll always have hope because you’ll always have Him.

Trust the one who gave you life

Life. A beautiful mystery. 

I spent a lot of my time debating the meaning of life and why such a thing exists. Consequently, I asked God a lot of questions about human life.  

I came to one conclusion:

You asked, ‘Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?’

 It is I—and I was talking about things I knew nothing about,  things far too wonderful for me. – Job 42:3 

The meaning of life is too wonderful for us to understand. As humans it is hard to completely understand God, His ways, and His purposes. However the bible does give us an image of the way God is in the details of our lives. 

He had a plan for us before we were formed in our mother’s womb (Jeremiah 1:5). 

Then he knitted us together in our mother’s womb  (Psalm 139:13). 

He gave people the free will to come back to Him (Isaiah 44:22). 

If we make the decision to walk with Him, He leads us through life and gives us an assignment here on the earth (1 Corinthians 7:17). 

And then we can go back to heaven to spend eternity with Him (Titus 1:2). 

This sounds like a beautiful plan, but living it out can sometimes be difficult. The bible mentions the suffering and tribulations we would have while living on this earth. It also ensures that we are always safe with God and that He will carry us through (John 16:33; Psalm 9:9; Isaiah 46:4). 

It can be hard to keep your faith when you are suffering mentally and other people are not. Or when you are going through other difficulties other people aren’t facing. If God is who He says He is, then why does He allow these things to happen? 

I am the first to admit that I don’t have all the answers, but I do know that God has good plans for his children and that His ways are simply different than our ways. 

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.- Isaiah 55:8-9

God has a beautiful plan for you if you decide to walk with Him. Far too wonderful for you to understand. 

I want to encourage you to trust Him with your life. And His plans for your life to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and hope.  

I know the plans I have in mind for you, declares the Lord ; they are plans for peace, not disaster, to give you a future filled with hope. – Jeremiah 29:11 

Christ, the rebuilder

I feel called to emphasize characteristics of Jesus that are not enough talked about in our culture. The sole reason I do this is because I experienced Jesus in this way, and I want to share this experience with others. 

In this post, I want to introduce Him as a rebuilder. 

Someone who builds something again after damage or deconstruction. 

I want to focus on a biblical figure known as the woman with the issue of blood (Mark 5: 25-34). This woman was bleeding for twelve years straight. She visited multiple doctors, but none of them were able to heal her. The bible even mentioned that throughout the years her condition only got worse. On a certain day, Jesus happened to be nearby, and she already heard of him. Or how I would like to call it: She had a revelation of who He was. 

She went through the crowds and touched His robe. She had enough faith to know that if she could only touch his robe, she would be healed. In fact, she did get healed. Jesus felt that healing had gone out of him, noticed the woman, and told her: 

Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over – Mark 5:34 

Imagine the life of this woman. How damaged and broken areas of her life have been, because of her condition. 

Can you resonate with this woman? Maybe you have been suffering mentally for years and already tried everything. And are other areas of your life affected, because of your mental suffering? 

I want to encourage you by looking at the response of the woman with the issue of blood. She touched his robe, which is a form of intimacy. 

Her life was rebuilt through intimacy with Jesus. So, even when your life seems damaged beyond repair, Jesus has the ability to rebuild your life.  

Because of Jesus, the suffering of this woman was only temporary. And if you surrender your life to Him, this will apply to you as well. Whether he heals you on this side of eternity or whether it’ll be the moment you transition to heaven, your mental suffering is only temporary. 

I will rebuild you my virgin Israel and you will again be happy and dance merrily with your tambourines. – Jeremiah 31:4 

Christ, the surgeon

My heart needs a surgeon, my soul needs a friend – Run to the father 

During my life, I’ve come across lots of people that have an opinion about Jesus or claim to know Him. The ideas I refer to are mostly negative and not even close to the truth. If you are one of those people that think to know Jesus and if this opinion carries a negative connotation, let me reintroduce Him to you: 

As a surgeon. 

Someone that operates on people to heal wounds. 

Psychological treatment is very helpful and necessary, but unable to truly heal emotional wounds. I learned a lot of tools to deal with emotions, thought patterns, and toxic behaviours. But none of these treatments were able to heal the trauma that was underneath. 

However, Jesus is able, because the one who made your heart is the only one that has the ability to heal your heart. 

He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds. – Psalm 147:3

In practice, this healing is achieved by letting Him in. Let Him reintroduce Himself as a healer and learn to express your pain to Him. He will lead you toward your healing through His word (the bible) and His presence. 

I know a lot of people that walk through life with deep emotional pain and shrug it away as ‘ this is life’. Pain is certainly a part of life here on earth, however, your life does not have to be marked or defined by pain. 

Jesus sees your hurt and cares about you. 

He will heal you or He will give you the strength to endure the emotional pain you are experiencing. 

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak – Isaiah 40:29 

I want to apologize to you if the world gave you a wrong perception of who Jesus is.  

We refer to the gospel as good news. This is because Jesus is the good news. Yes, He died on the cross for our sins so we can be made right with God. 

But, He also experienced enough pain while being here on earth to understand you. 

We serve a God that felt emotional pain (Matthew 26:38), cares for our emotional pain, and has the ability to heal our emotional pain. 

Your life does not have to be marked or defined by pain.

Your redeemer is alive.

Professional treatment is key

I am a firm believer in the importance of seeking professional help when suffering with mental illness. Through professional treatment, I learned to observe and handle my thoughts. Thereby, I learned to put my thinking process into words. With that I learned healthy coping mechanisms. And even suffered from less trauma complaints. 

Because of the methods I learned in therapy, I was better able to express my mental issues in my relationship with Jesus, and this in itself brought me a lot of healing. 

Below I want to discuss a few of my favorite treatments and in which way I actually learned from them. 

EMDR– stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing,  and is a well-known treatment that helps one to cope with traumatic complaints. Because of EMDR, some of my traumatic experiences lost their emotional weight, which made them more bearable. Thereby, did I suffer from less traumatic complaints after finalizing this treatment. 

CBT– stands for cognitive behavioral therapy. This treatment taught me to be aware of thought processes that are going on in my mind. I learned how they were developed and also became aware of the toxicity of them. Besides, did I learn exercises which helped me to have more control over my thought life.

ERT– stands for emotion regulation therapy. This treatment helped me to become aware of my emotions. I learned a lot about what exactly happens in my mind when I feel certain emotions. Thereby did I learn healthy coping mechanism so that I know what to do whenever I feel that my emotions are taking over. 

These treatments will take some time  depending on the severity of your illness. The more severe your mental illness is, the longer these treatments will take. 

However, I can assure you that it is all worth it. 

I must give notice to the fact that professional treatment can be very painful at first. I’ve often seen that when people start with professional treatment it is so hard to be confronted with their emotional baggage that they quit with their treatment. I can testify that enduring this initiation period and finishing your treatment is rewarding.

This can be compared with cleansing a physical wound. First you will have to disinfect the wound which is very painful. However this is necessary to make sure that the wound heals. The same goes for an emotional wound. 

The first steps of healing are always the hardest, but it gets better. 

So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up – Galatians 6:9 

He is life (part 3)

This is part 3 of the series of Jesus being the way, the truth and life when suffering from mental illness. 

During the years I was suffering from mental illness, I never understood why Christians are against suicide or euthanasia. I always thought that if they suffered as much as I did, at the time, they would understand why a person would make one of  these decisions. I asked Jesus a lot of questions in these seasons.

Did He enjoy watching me suffer this deeply? Or did I do something wrong, and is this His punishment for me? 

During my recovery process, I realised that death could never be a solution to mental suffering, because Jesus promotes life.  The entire gospel is about Jesus overcoming death, so we could live. As Christians we know that death could never be the solution to your mental illness. This is with the reason that death is not the mental peace you desire, it is simply a portal to an afterlife. 

Death could never be the solution to your mental illness, because Jesus overcame death. 

Jesus wants you to live, because He designed you to live. And I, of all people, know how hard and suffering life can be. But you were never meant to do it alone. Jesus can be next to you, every step of your life. From your first breath until your last.

If you let Him. 

He is not a God that throws you on the earth, watches you in agony to see if you will make it. He is a God that is standing next to you, to catch every tear. Furthermore, He is a God that lived on this earth and suffered tremendously. Which means that He is no stranger to suffering. 

He understands you. 

As hard as life can be, know that Jesus wants to be your comfort. An intimate relationship with Him will help you to understand his character and hear his voice. You’ll experience that He wants to help you to get through your hardest days. 

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. – Matthew 11: 28 

Jesus is pro-life, not to punish you nor to watch you suffer. Neither did He promise you an easy life. However, he did promise to love you and never leave you. 

He is the way (part 1)

In this series, I want to discuss the popular saying of Jesus being the way, the truth, and the life. 

This is derived from the famous bible verse John 16:4, which says: ‘Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’ 

I believe he is also all of these components when you are suffering from mental health problems. In this post, I want to discuss how Jesus not only is the way, but will also help you through the way. 

When you think about a road, you can only look forward for a certain distance. After that, it gets blurry, and you will have to trust that there is still a road left, beyond what you can see. This is precisely the same when you are recovering from mental illness. Oftentimes, it seems like you are in a never-ending battle. However, you can trust that there is a way to your recovery. Since Jesus is the way, and he promises to make one. 

”Behold, I am going to do something new, Now it will spring up; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert.” – Isaiah 43:19 

Throughout your recovery, you can trust in this promise. But also knowing that during your process, you can lean on him. I will not lie, recovering from mental illness is a harrowing and challenging road. However, it is one of the best decisions you will ever make. There will be moments when you will feel too weak to fight this battle, but within these moments, leaning on Jesus will give you strength. 

He will strengthen you in unimaginable ways, in moments where it feels like you have nothing left.

”But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ”

– 2 Corinthians 12:9. 

An intimate relationship with Jesus has helped me through years of treatment. In crying out when it was too hard, reminding me to not give up, and assurance that better times were coming. 

I, myself, was not able to go through this process of recovery. However, I was convinced that Jesus could. So with Him, I believed I was capable. 

And I know you are too. 

”For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.” – Philippians 4:13

A playlist for the bad days

Bad days. 

We all know them.  

They taste like suffering that will last forever. 

As if a light at the end of the tunnel feels nothing more than a false promise. 

It is easy to be swept away by a hard season. Even more when you have had multiple of them that follow-up on each other. It is easy to go into a roller coaster of negative thoughts that will slowly get a grip on you. Some events are so traumatic that their grip on our lives is more than fair. However, on the dreadful days it is important that you distract your mind. 

By putting your focus on something else. 

Whenever I talk about unjust suffering and that God’s plan with our suffering is not always in line with ours, I like to refer to the book of Job. 

A very tiny summary: Job is a man in the bible that lived according to God’s will. Then God allowed him to go through a lot of tremendous and lasting suffering for decades. All this time, Job did not know why he had to go through this. Nonetheless, He stood firm in the knowledge that God had a plan for his life and that He is a good God. Because of his faith God rewarded Job after decades of suffering. 

 He got back what He lost and more! 

Sometimes I wonder If Job ever knew why he had to suffer. 

If he ever knew what the bigger purpose was. 

Today I know, whenever a Christian goes through a hard time. We just look at the book of Job and think if Job can do it, then I can do it too. Thereby, we have an example of how our attitude should be when we are suffering. 

Crying out to God and having faith that his plans are good.  

I want you to know that there is a God in heaven that has a higher purpose with the pain you are feeling right now. This does not mean that the outcome you want for your situation is in line with God’s plan. Nevertheless, know that His ways are best and that He is a good God. 

I made a playlist for you, because music carried me through my darkest seasons. This playlist is centred around what I believe in. Namely, that God is fighting our battles. As well as that He will never ever let us go.  

On my bad days I literally put music themed around this topic  louder than my thoughts. So I was forced to listen to the lyrics and let them comfort me. 

Bad days. 

We all know them. 

However, we also know our God. 

To the Suicidal one: You don’t want to die

You don’t want to die.

Death is no solution.  

Having suicidal thoughts is a side effect of a severe depression, which means that when you are suicidal your mental health is remarkably bad. 

Depression puts your mind in a negative cognition. So everything is perceived through a more pessimistic lens. Therefore are the chances high that when your mental health recovers your suicidal thoughts will fade as well. 

The first sprinkle of hope… 

You don’t want to die, you want to end the emotional pain you have. Life can be hard and painful, but also so so beautiful. I don’t have an immediate solution for the agony that comes with being alive now. But I do want to change your perspective on the fact that everything is temporary. Your situation may seem hopeless, but a change of perspective, maybe with the help of someone else, will lead to better days. Or even happiness.

The second sprinkle of hope… 

I once read a quote about that when someone commits suicide they transfer the pain they’ve been carrying themselves to their loved ones. Personally, I couldn’t agree more. I don’t want to talk you into guilt. I just want to state the truth. You think a successful suicide attempt will be the solution for your situation but it simply is not. 

Don’t take me wrong I know what living in severe emotional pain for longer periods of time feels like. And I’m giving this advice out of the experience. The only way out of your struggles is being brave and looking your pain right in the eye. And heal from thereon.

It is tremendously hard, but definitely possible. When I realized the only way out was to face (in my case) my traumas. I found solace in the fact that I didn’t have to do it by myself.

For I am the Lord your God

who takes hold of your right hand

and says to you, Do not fear;

I will help you. – Isaiah 41:13-14 

I found rest, strength, and ultimate deliverance in Christ. His word strengthened me in ways that I can’t describe. As I was sorting out my pain I found peace in knowing that the one who holds the universe holds me by my hand.

This was my solution.