I am bipolar. I am also a Christian. Some years ago I was diagnosed with bipolar II disorder. This diagnosis came after many years of misdiagnosis--generalized anxiety disorder, sleep disorder, depression, mania, etc. But it is clear that I have bipolar II. I experience rapid cycling, over weeks at a time, from mania to depression and back. The mania is never as high as with bipolar I. Instead I experience hypomania for some weeks at a time (how I love these times!) before descending into depression (how I hate these times!), sometimes quite deep depression. What this means is that I can pretty much identify with anything you may be going through--anxiety, sleeplessness, depression, mania. I have been hospitalized twice, albeit on an outpatient basis. I have also been to that dark place where I despaired of life. Thank God that I was delivered each time.
That brings me the Christian side of all this. Over the years of my treatments for mental illness I have discovered and developed tools that help with my mental health. These practices come out of cognitive behavioral therapy and dialectical behavioral therapy. But I have learned ways to "Christianize" these tools and make them work for me as a Christian with mental illness. For example, I have augmented the practice of mindfulness with what I call "mind-full-ness." You'll have to wait until a future blog to learn about this. I have also come to discover and apply many Bible texts that help me with my mental health. For example, Psalm 103:2-3 says "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases." We Christians know that forgiveness of all our iniquity is only possible through faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross. But the text goes on to say that He "heals all your diseases." I believe in God's ongoing, everyday healing of my mental illness, and I plan on telling you about this in future blogs. For now, let's just rest in Him and "all His benefits."
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