Health & Body
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Life, life, and more life
[Guest Post by Wendy van Eyck – When my good friend from South Africa told me that she published her first book–Life, life, and more life–AND is giving it away for free at ilovedevotionals.com, I asked her to share with us. Enjoy and be encouraged.] How God found me in my darkest time I was 21 when I realized that I did not want to kill myself anymore. After months of struggling with depression the darkness was beginning to lift. For months my soul had been in a place where light didn’t penetrate and I couldn’t see hope. When I was growing up–blowing bubbles, climbing jungle gyms and jumping on…
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Mental Illness Does Not Define You
Over the years I have learned a very important lesson that mental illness does not define me. It does not define you either. Yes! There are days, weeks, months, and even years when it doesn’t feel that way–but it’s true. Pastor Rick Warren said in a recent sermon, “Your [mental] illness is not your identity, your chemistry is not your character.” That quote means even more when you realize he has lived it. His son Matthew recently took his life. He was only 27 and struggled with mental illness his whole life. I highly recommend that you watch the video sermon in its entirety here. I wanted to share the 6…
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On Suicide Prevention: You Matter
[Guest Post by Jami Witherell – I “met” Jami when I watched her episode on Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition. She inspired me to try running for the first time. Her story was so real, so honest (my kind of friend). She shared on the show about dealing with suicide. I asked if I could share her story and she said YES. You can read her original post in it’s entirety here.] I am reminded it’s much easier to pick out flaws in others than it is to accept them in myself. And realizing that is helping me–not so much forgive (that will take time), but press on into today’s post…
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When God Intervenes
[Guest Post by Dabney Hedegard – Her story inspired me and I couldn’t wait to share. Through her story, God showed me how proud I had become towards my future children. If God could allow Dabney to have her first child while battling cancer, what’s my excuse? I hope you enjoy. You can purchase a copy of her new book, When God Intervenes here.] We brought Madison home after a week in the NICU. I finally learned how to cradle and dress her five-pound preemie body without feeling as if I’d break something. I couldn’t kiss and snuggle with her enough. A week and a half after Madison’s birth, she and Jason kept…
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5 Tips For Healthy Living
[Monthly Columnist – Jaimie Bowman. I met Jaimie at the ReThink Conference. We were both volunteers who were eagle to serve and learn from others. We’ve since kept in touch and I’ve referred her to my former literary agent. I appreciate her feedback on how to stay healthy when it’s not something that comes easy for you. Enjoy!!] Eating healthy AND exercising don’t seem to co-exist well in my life. If I’m doing good in one area, I am struggling in the other. If I eat really healthy one day, it’s like my mind says to my body, “Yay! Good for you! As your reward, you don’t have to work…
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The Sirens of Anxiety
[Guest Post by Abby Norman] – It feels like a siren, coming at you as you drive through your day. Maybe you are headed to work like you always are, listening to your favorite radio program, maybe it is the weekend, you are headed nowhere in particular but hope to land some place special. Maybe you are driving around and around your block because the baby in the back seat refuses to sleep any other way. It doesn’t really matter where you are driving, what you are doing. You hear the siren somewhere in the distance–and you wonder if it is coming for you. There are days when I am…
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On Depression: A Wounded Healer
[Guest Blog by Sonny Lemmons] – “I’m going to start you on this, at a low dosage, and I’d like to begin seeing you twice a week.” Wait – what? No. No! See, that’s not how this was supposed to turn out at all. Physician, Heal Thyself! It was my second semester of grad school. My degree was counseling based, so the university required students to sit in on one counseling session, as a patient, in order for us to begin to hone our listening skills. I figured I could just learn how to parrot the appropriate times when I’d need to nod my head, look concerned, or interlace my…
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Suicide And Depression
[Guest Post by Karen Neumair] – I like to run. Notice I didn’t call myself a runner, because that would imply that I am actually good at it. Me and my 13-minute mile–look out, world! Most people assume that I started running to lose weight, and I tend to let most people think that. Because the real reason is a lot less glamorous, a lot darker. I started running to beat depression. And not just your average, run-of-the-mill depressive episode that many of us experience from time to time, but the more sinister, dark-night-of-the-soul depression, the kind where you don’t remember to eat, you don’t have the strength to get…
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On Depression: Everything Is Not Okay
[Guest Post by Hannah Kingsley] – I have been through periods of life where every day has been characterized by some kind of anxiety. Sometimes it could be seen on the surface. And sometimes my anxiety brewed more dangerously beneath the surface. As a predominantly “happy” person, bouts of depression cause a conflict in my soul between the need to be authentic about my struggles and the desire to maintain a cheerful exterior. It can make asking for help all that much more difficult. It is easy to assume that the happy, cheerful, strong person has no need of assistance and suffers no lows–but nothing could be further from the…
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On Anxiety: Why I'm Not Ready For Kids
I’m not ready for kids because I have anxiety. I never thought I’d share this information publicly, but I never thought I’d be married and dealing with this problem privately. As some of you already may know, I was single for 12 years, 10 months, and 24 days. That’s a long time to forget about having children. Also long enough to realize I probably won’t have more than one or two kids when I do get married. I’m 30, so it’s not like I don’t time to figure out this kid business. I never realized my doctor would tell me I shouldn’t have kids. It’s not enough to know that…
