All Christians

We are continuing our series for things pastors need to be educated on with awareness as we go through this time of coronavirus. We full expect as we move out of shelter-in-place that several areas of life may be impacted. We previously talked about hidden abuse with child abuse or domestic violence.

The next topic of substance misuse is when people use substances outside of their original intended use or causes significant problems to their lives, whether legally, financially, socially, medically, or psychological/emotionally. There is no shame in admitting that you need treatment for drug use; doing so can be life-saving. When a full-blown substance-use disorder (SUD) develops, it can be extremely difficult to stop using drugs without professional treatment.

This is chapter eleven of the Quit Giving Up ebook. You can get the whole thing in our shop now!

Accomplishing something great is not so easy when you do not actually know what the final results look like. Further, long term projects, like creating a mental health team over a year or building a church tech ministry from scratch for your mobile church can feel overwhelming to say the least.

Throughout the United States, we see racism protests and debates at the forefront of nearly every part of the country. Within mental health, we have already talked about how black communities are not receiving the full of services, whether because they don’t feel comfortable with the counselor or the black community has stigmatized mental health. Within the Church, through centuries of evangelism, we know that understanding a community’s culture is the best way of sharing the love of Jesus.

Joni Eareckson Tada has a unique story to tell that helps the listener immediately address their own self and become introspective. Their latest video on Joni and Friends talks about sorrow and how it connects us to Jesus, even in our weakness with pain and fear.

This is chapter ten of the Quit Giving Up ebook. You can get the whole thing in our shop now!

One of the biggest barriers to motivation is the stuff outside of our control. Whether it is our past or future, we do not have control over these points in our lives. The only time we can change is right now. Unfortunately, when we are stuck and do not have the motivation to continue, the present is typically the one point in time we are not focused on.

Our past can haunt us. Remember how many times you failed? Remember the worry you struggled with of being able to balance work and home life? It was so overwhelming. And you want to do that again? Our future can paralyze us. Will this be a success? Can I actually do this for a living? What if I’m not good enough? Will I ever be good enough?

Be More Present

We can certainly learn from our past and plan for the future, but it’s a fine line between planning and predicting it. Honestly, the only power you have to make any change is right here, right now. That’s exactly how God would want it.

Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

“Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Luke 12:22-34 (NIV)

It is in this passage we see where we must focus on what is present. Imagine being so stuck in your ministry that you miss the joyful text from your spouse, the milestone of a coworker, or the story of how your ministry deeply and everlastingly touched the life of someone. The angels in heaven are singing, yet you are here worrying about replying to all of your emails before the end of the day.

What one small moment can you hold on to today? Why is it important to remember?

May is Mental Health Awareness month where we want to make sure we help educate people on the risks of mental health. The National Alliance on Mental Illness partnered with television stars from HBO, TBS, TNT and TruTV to help build awareness for people to normalize and talk more about mental illness. I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

For those that want a more spiritual awareness tool, check out our Church Mental Health Awareness cards here.

This is chapter nine of the Quit Giving Up ebook. You can get the whole thing in our shop now!

As a counselor, one of the biggest difficulties clients present with at some point in their counseling is they hit resistance within themselves. Initially, they decided they wanted to stop feeling anxious and depressed or using drugs. After some hard work, maybe some failures, not finding immediate peace and relief, and the need for even more hard work, they become ambivalent about making more changes.

We continue to get more and more resources for churches and Christian counselors during this pandemic. This current webinar is a collaboration between Steve Grcevich of KeyMinistry.org and Kay Warren in partnership with the United States Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Partnership Center with future trainings to come this month.

Within the world of mental health, you need to always be learning, always growing, and always adapting or your and your agency will become obsolete. This world of coronavirus is a very clear view of this as many, if not most, counselors have not done telehealth, yet we really have very little option. Pastors who have resisted livestream now have to figure out how to do this on the fly or shut their doors.

But change is hard, yet necessary. The video below is by Donald Berwick, President Emeritus and Senior Fellow at Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), speaking at the 2001 IHI National Forum as the keynote that touches on this.

This is chapter eight of the Quit Giving Up ebook. You can get the whole thing in our shop now!

This is different than Day 5 when we had talked about positive thought placement. What if we did not need to change the thoughts we were having from negative to positive, but instead our natural inclination was to be positive?

Here’s an example of what I mean.