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Today's Post
God and Mental Health
God and Mental Health
I am going to write a lot about mental and emotional health in the coming months, but I want to share this testimony now, because it reveals how our perception of God changes when we become mentally and emotionally free. I met with this 13 year veteran missionary one Friday afternoon. Two months later I received this letter:
I’ve been waiting to write to you for awhile now, but I’ve waited this long to confirm to myself that this is truly for real. This is what I wrote in my diary on Sunday evening following our time together on Friday. “Since Friday afternoon I have felt like a different person. The fits of rage and anger are gone. My spirit is so calm and full of joy. I wake up singing praise to God in my heart. That edge of tension and irritation is gone. I feel so free. The Bible has been really exciting and stimulating and more understandable than ever before. There was nothing dramatic that happened during the session with Neil, yet I know in the deepest part of my being that something has changed. I am no longer bound by accusations, doubts, and thoughts of suicide, or murder, or other harm that came straight from hell into my head. There is a serenity in my mind and spirit, a clarity of consciousness that is profound. I have been set free! It is so wonderful to have joy after so long a darkness.
It’s been over two months since I wrote that in my diary, and I’m firmly convinced of the benefits of Freedom in Christ Ministries. I’ve been in therapy for several months, but there is no comparison with the steps I’m able to make now. My ability to process things has increased many-fold. Not only is my spirit more serene, my head is actually clearer! It’s easier to make connections and integrate things now. It seems like everything is easier to understand now.
My relationship with God has changed significantly. For eight years I felt that He was distant from me. Shortly before I met you, I was desperately crying out to Him — to release me from the bondage I was in. I wanted so badly to meet with Him again, to know His presence with me again. I needed to know him as a friend, as companion, not as the distant authority figure he had become in my mind and experience. Since that day I’ve seen my trust in Him grow, I’ve seen, my ability to be honest with Him increase greatly. I really am experiencing that spiritual growth I’d anticipated in my journal entry. It’s great!
Dr. Neil
For Spanish, see: http://ficmm.org/blog
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