I read a post about mental illness recently from dayspring.com, saying that one horrible place a person can be in with anxiety is to be mentally stuck in every worst-case scenario. That spoke to me deeply, being something I’ve personally experienced. I’d like to be able to speak to others with mental illness. There is hope.
When I was first diagnosed with depression and anxiety, almost 35 years ago, I was ashamed. At that time, I felt that mental illness was due to sin.
In more recent years, I have read many gentle, Christian fiction and nonfiction writings about mental illness.
The sense of shame may not be completely gone, but I find that many Christians are willing to step up and share about their difficulty with this illness, and, maybe even more important, others in the church are coming along side to support them.
In 2 Corinthians, we are told that God comforts us so that we can comfort others. When I’ve been honest about my mental illness, others have felt safe sharing their similar struggles with me. I feel a deep caring for people who experience this same illness.
2 Corinthians 1: 3-4: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.
I want to be able to share this comfort through my writing. In the novella, Gifts from My Brother, and in my book, All My Tears, Cassie struggles with depression.
In my own life, I’ve come to believe I may always have periods when I suffer this illness. But I praise God for all the ways he has taught me to deal with it. With counseling, with medication, with knowledge. I praise God for all the times I am healthy. I’ve had careers. I’ve been married for 34 years, and I had the joy of raising five children. Even during my darkest times, I’m often reminded that this will not last forever.
In Gifts from My Brother, I want to show how, even with this painful illness, there is hope from God.
Five women search for God’s hope through sorrow and deep troubles.
Meet five women who struggle with life’s deep sorrows. Beth fights to recover from alcoholism and to mend her relationships with her family. Ann doesn’t believe God will forgive her. Kathleen wrestles with a years-old fear and with saving her marriage. Cassie needs to learn to deal with chronic depression. Martie finds herself the single parent of the eight-year-old niece she barely knows when the child’s parents die in a car wreck.
See how God gives them the gifts of hope, healing, and love.
Kathy McKinsey grew up on a pig farm in Missouri, and although she’s lived in cities for 40-something years, she still considers herself a farm girl. She’s been married to Murray for 34 years, and they have five adult children. Kathy had two careers before writing—stay-at-home-Mom and rehabilitation teacher for the blind. She lives in Lakewood, Ohio with her husband and one of their children. Besides writing, she enjoys activities with her church, editing for other writers, braille drawing, crocheting, knitting, and playing with their rambunctious cat.
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Thank you so much for letting me share.:)