The Faith and Mental Health Connection

We all have a testimony to share. We all have been through hardship, we have endured pain, we have all asked the question, “Why me?” The beauty in our testimony is that no testimony is like the other. Our testimonies are unique, just as we are each unique. No two testimonies are the same.

I didn’t want to make this site something that was fraught with a lot of negativity. I could have elaborated and made many different blog posts for the trauma and pain I have encountered. However, that is not how Jesus would want me to share my testimony to others. Yes, the negative is there, the turmoil is there, but the beauty should far surpass the negative when we share the wonders and miracles that God has done in our lives. Hope, joy, and peace should be the resounding theme when sharing our testimony because those are the promises that God gives to us in His Word.

I remember the day that I surrendered to Christ like it was yesterday. I remember the details, the feelings and emotions, the heartache and the pain. My fiance had left a few days prior, and we still had the agreement that he would pick my children up from their bus stop. I was sitting at my desk at work when a text message came across my phone. I sat with a large knot in my stomach as I read the words. He wasn’t getting them. The car I had let him use was at a gas station by my home, and that he wasn’t going to be in our lives any longer. A lot led up to this. A lot of suffering, a lot of missteps on not just his part, but my part as well. That latter realization was crucial in the past year of my walk with Christ. We’ll get to that later. I left work because I had about 30 minutes until my children got to their bus stop. I tried calling him, no answer. I tried texting, no response. I cried the entire way to the stop, I cried sitting there waiting, and then I put on a brave face for my children as they got in the car. As I drove away from the bus stop, I drove right by a church that I used to attend. Now, when people say God speaks to them, it’s not about hearing a man’s voice in your head. God speaks to us in so many different ways: A recurring Scripture, a friend that pops in, a car with a license plate in front of us that has a Scripture identified…it could literally be anything. When I drove by that church, God spoke to me. He told me that I needed to go to church that night. I went home, told my mother who we were living with that I needed to go.

I hadn’t been to church in years. I was nervous because I didn’t know anyone. I sat in the very back row for the service unaware that my life was about to forever change. When service started and songs were sang, I stood there crying. I didn’t know it then, but the Holy Spirit was working in me, bringing me to salvation. I sat and listened to the Pastor give his message. It was Mark 14, about Jesus’ arrest. In that message, it talked about:

• how we will all give an account on judgment day for our actions.
• How we finish our race is critical
• we need to trust the scriptures because every single one of god’s words will be 100% fulfilled
• satan will try to blind us with sinful desires
• tell the truth. lies are exposed as they’re retold because they eventually become inconsistent

One particular Scripture that night stood out to me.

“He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.” Isaiah 53:7

I cried sitting in my seat because the resounding message that night was how Jesus was betrayed, how Jesus had someone close to Him betray His trust and His love for earthly gains. I sat in my seat feeling in my heart how much I was betrayed by someone who had promised to love me, someone who I had spent the last 3 and a half years with, building a life together, and how quickly he was able to just throw it all away. At the end of the message that night, the as the Pastor prayed, he asked anyone who was ready to surrender to say a prayer with him. I did without hesitation. I knew in that moment that I needed Jesus in my life. I need Him to guide me. I needed His love. I needed His comfort. I needed His grace and mercy. I knew I had a difficult uphill battle in front of me.

It was that night that I gave up control. I gave all control over to God in how I moved forward from that heartbreak. Now, I get to share that journey with all of you, and hopefully, even if this only reaches one person or plants the seed in one heart, it will make a difference for someone.