All Christians

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

When you are feeling down, depressed, rejected, or exhausted, it’s hard to find motivation. That’s the whole point of this series. I want to help someone kick it back into drive and move forward. I realized I need to establish early on with this book that most of the hard work to get motivated needs to happen when you are already running at full steam.

Let me explain.

Stress is annoying. We see it in teenagers needing to take the ACT, in young adults trying to raise children, in older adults with helping their parents who are getting older. It’s in the big things like taxes and moving, but also the little day to day issues of “do I have enough gas to get to work?,” “who is staring at me?,” and “did I leave the curling iron on at home?” But this is not just an emotional issue, it affects your brain and therefore your whole body. So, what do we know about how stress affects your brain?

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

Everyone has heard the quote “work smarter, not harder.” I’d use the phrase all the time when I was in full-time ministry and in my teenage years, mostly to justify why I didn’t want to do physical labor and instead be lazy. The problem with this is many times our version of smarter only takes into account the outcome and we are actually working harder to be smarter, but still working way too hard. Here are a couple examples.

At the end of last month, we told you we were going to have a new website design and we delivered. The hope is that 2020 we begin to expand what ChurchAndMentalHealth.com is able to offer. The focus is still to unite the Church and mental health, now with more resources. The next step is finally here and comes with our new shop being live!

The book It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way is written by Lysa TerKeurst as well as president of Proverbs 31 Ministries, a ministry I love and believe you should check out if you haven’t before. This book looks at her life in the midst of heartache and looking to where God is in her life. For Lysa, she sees how her life has shattered, but in so doing, she may not have to suffer but be transformed.

This week, I had the opportunity to give a presentation on the topic of domestic violence and mental health to a women’s domestic violence shelter for the staff. The hope of the presentation from the shelter was to better educate staff on how the two are linked as well as give a laymen’s understanding of what mental illness disorders there are and the impact it can have on domestic violence victims.

I wanted to share some of the statistics and information I found in this presentation.

Trigger warning: This video does talk about suicidal thoughts. If you have any concerns for yourself, please seek help and talk to a professional about these feelings. If you or someone you love has suicidal thoughts and need to talk, please contact Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255)

What is it like to be in the foster care system? What happens when a person does not have a home? How does a kid get to a place where they honestly think about killing themselves?

Josh Shipp talks about how you as an individual in a youth’s life and make a difference. And you shouldn’t wait till they are an adult, start now.

Happy New Year everyone. It’s a season of new and exciting possibilities for you, your ministry, your team, and your community. What will the year hold, what will you do with the opportunities you are given, and how will you take on every week? One way to make the most of a new year with your resolutions and goals is to identify training and conferences you could attend to network and learn how your team and ministry can make an impact for the Gospel to all people, including those with disabilities and mental illness.

Trevor Noah is a comedy who took over the Daily Show, an American late-night talk and news satire television program which as through it’s legacy, not shied away from controversial topics that may not be funny.

One recent topic shared, passed along to us by our friend Blessing over at ChurchMag, talks about cultural sensitivity within counseling and how mental health stigma has caused serious issues for the black community with mental health. This call is not only needed, but churches and counseling agencies need to figure out how to respond. We’d love to hear your thoughts on the video and what could be done in the comments below.

Merry Christmas. We hope that this holiday season has been one of joy and hope. For those personally who have struggled with mental illness over this holiday, we hope you were able to not only manage your symptoms but found restoration and healing as well. As we enter into the final days of the year, we look towards what is to come with excitement and interest in what the new year has to offer. We also are looking to see what yearly goals and plans we can accomplish.