Episode 75
Christians and Mental Health
This podcast episode emphasizes the critical intersection of mental health and Christianity, particularly in light of personal loss experienced by the host. The discussion is profoundly rooted in the realization that mental health issues are often overlooked within Christian communities, leading to detrimental consequences for individuals who struggle silently. I share a personal narrative regarding the unexpected passing of a dear friend, which prompts a broader inquiry into the importance of community support and accountability in mental and emotional health. By advocating for a more nuanced understanding of mental health, we seek to challenge the stigmas that often accompany such discussions within our faith. It is imperative that we recognize the complexities of mental health and foster environments that prioritize healing and open dialogue. For further insights on holistic health, we invite you to visit our website at https://www.holyistic.co/.
Takeaways:
- The episode discusses the profound impact of mental health on Christians, emphasizing the necessity for open dialogue.
- It highlights the importance of community support in navigating mental health challenges, particularly within the church.
- Listeners are encouraged to reflect on their own mental health and the health of their community.
- The speaker shares personal experiences with loss, mental health, and the complexities surrounding the issue of suicide.
- A significant theme is the disparity between spiritual beliefs and the acknowledgment of mental health struggles.
- The episode calls for greater awareness and compassion regarding mental health issues within Christian circles.
Transcript
Foreign.
Speaker A:Hello everyone, and welcome back to Casting Seeds.
Speaker A:I'm Savannah, your holistic health practitioner and host.
Speaker A:My headphones just fell off and you're listening to the only holistic health podcast that uses God's singular truth to give you individualized discernment.
Speaker A:We missed our very.
Speaker A:For the very first time, we missed a recording last week, and I am so sorry for that.
Speaker A:We had a very unexpected loss.
Speaker A:Jeremiah and I had our baby moon up in Santa Barbara and it was so beautiful.
Speaker A:And we got to stay at a client's house in a longtime friend's house, which was such a blessing.
Speaker A:And unfortunately, on the very end of that trip, on Monday morning, I got a phone call that a long time friend since I think I met her right after high school and I'm now 31.
Speaker A:So a long time friend had passed away and I had a few topics in mind for, for that Casting Seeds week.
Speaker A:And I've just been recording weekly because just, just been so chaotic to do batch episodes and I couldn't, I couldn't do it.
Speaker A:I couldn't record.
Speaker A:I felt like her death was so.
Speaker A:Weighed so heavily on my heart.
Speaker A:Also, you know, being pregnant, I'm now 33 weeks.
Speaker A:I just like she and her mom and her family, they were.
Speaker A:I mean, her family's still coming to my nesting party slash baby shower.
Speaker A:But I mean, she was supposed to be there.
Speaker A:And I just wanted to lightly discuss this this week.
Speaker A:And if anything, I didn't want to give an answer to.
Speaker A:I didn't want to give an answer to what I thought happened under the circumstances.
Speaker A:But I do want to talk about mental health and Christianity because I feel like it's not discussed as much or it can be very much.
Speaker A:I feel like it can actually be very much overlooked as either purely on like, only spiritual warfare where people will then like to blame the enemy for everything and take zero accountability and zero responsibility.
Speaker A:And as you know, in this podcast, I'm all about taking accountability and being your own healthcare representative and being a healthcare advocate for yourself as much as possible.
Speaker A:But then what happens when somebody literally doesn't have the right mindset to be able to do that for themselves?
Speaker A:And then you hear because of that, people will say, well, then they can't be saved or they've never been saved.
Speaker A:Like I tend.
Speaker A: lems, especially right before: Speaker A:And ever since I knew her, she loved the Lord when I, even when I first met her, I did.
Speaker A:If I'm being 100 honest, I felt like she would struggle and go back to a milk and honey stage very often.
Speaker A:And we were close all throughout these years, very close.
Speaker A:In fact, these past few years where she struggled the most, her mom and I probably were the people who worked with her the most throughout this.
Speaker A:And losing her was so insanely unexpected.
Speaker A:But I just wanted to create an episode on really challenging you guys as individuals to be able to take a step back and understand what mental health really means.
Speaker A:As a Christian, people are probably listening to this and thinking like, oh, she must have taken her own life.
Speaker A:To be honest, the coroner has not gotten back to us and that isn't a hundred percent an option.
Speaker A:I mean, it could be.
Speaker A:Unfortunately, she was found.
Speaker A:I don't even know if she was found under a bridge, but she was found near a bridge face down in the water.
Speaker A:And I still don't know if it's something like she jumped or if she slipped.
Speaker A:She was known to run away because she was scared.
Speaker A:She had paranoid schizophrenia that she was diagnosed with.
Speaker A:And yeah, so it has not been confirmed to me whether or not a suicide attempt was even there.
Speaker A:But it didn't really make sense to me because her paranoid schizophrenia was that she was actually fearing, she feared death.
Speaker A:So that's what I would work through with her biblically about how Christians, we don't fear death when we know that the Lord is there for us.
Speaker A:That's what gives us eternal hope here and after.
Speaker A:So with that, I just wanted our listeners to be able to, to take a step back and understand why mental health is so important, mental and emotional health for any type of Christian, and also why community is so important.
Speaker A:I love my friend dearly and, and that was one of the things that we also discussed was that she needed to be a part of a solid church community, a Bible teaching community.
Speaker A:And at that point, when she hadn't spoken to me for a few years and I knew something was kind of up when we hung out, she described to me the church that she was going to that told her that she must have gone through these things in childhood.
Speaker A:She, but she must have forgotten them.
Speaker A:Her family was trying to trick her, that they had visions and signs of her being, you know, taken advantage of as a child.
Speaker A:Even though all of those tests were done and it was proven that that wasn't true, it just had gotten to that point where it just, it sank so deeply into her mind that she didn't know who to trust and not even her own self or her own mind anymore.
Speaker A:And yeah, I mean, the base of a lot of this came from literally being in a cult like atmosphere.
Speaker A:And I'm not gonna say atmosphere.
Speaker A:I this place claimed to be Christian and it was a cult and the woman pastor, and I can't even say that because women can't be pastors.
Speaker A:The woman and she and her husband were a pastoral team and they're the ones who told her that this happened to her when she was young and she shouldn't trust her own family, she shouldn't trust her own mind because clearly she blocked this out.
Speaker A: lly stemmed from, starting in: Speaker A:So when we talk about mental health and Christianity, when we talk about life in Christianity, of course spiritual warfare is going to be a part of that.
Speaker A:In every single way.
Speaker A:We are called right to understand that we have conquered all powers and principalities.
Speaker A:So I'm not disregarding that powers and principalities or oppression can't happen to Christians.
Speaker A:My husband and I have 100% experienced that in many ways, where we've had to actually pray for a demonic presence to leave us in our own home and learn how to protect our own home.
Speaker A:But it's also something that we don't go around and advertise and speak about often because it's, it was a one time thing and once it was gone, it's been gone and that's it.
Speaker A:Because we know and trust that the Lord is good and that because he died for us and he dwells within us, we have conquered all powers and principalities.
Speaker A:So it's not something that we dwell on our focus on in our ministry, in our life or in our walk.
Speaker A:And we always look inward first to see if there's a self control issue rather than blaming things on the enemy.
Speaker A:And that is, you know, a, a part of that is what kind of brought my friend into a downward spiral that she felt like in her Christian walk she couldn't have any control because these people convinced her that it wasn't true.
Speaker A:Even if she knew the scripture, even if we would go through it and it was really hard because it would be like a switch would turn on.
Speaker A:Another part of mental health and Christianity that I feel like people don't talk about enough and is actually just the medical side of it.
Speaker A:When we are as Christians too hyper focused on just the spiritual side of things, we can lose track in the fact that we also any type of stress, and it's proven scientifically, even biblically.
Speaker A:When Jesus was so severely stressed because he knew that he was about to take on the sins of the world, he literally sweat blood.
Speaker A:That is a serious sign of stress on the body where even organs can shut down.
Speaker A:So imagine you're a young woman and there is a big hormonal shift in your late 20s where women actually have a much higher risk of having a mental breakdown.
Speaker A:And she was in her late 20s, early 30s, just like me.
Speaker A:And that's when this all started.
Speaker A:We're around the same age.
Speaker A:I think she's like six or seven months older than me.
Speaker A:Her birthday literally just happened in June.
Speaker A:So what I'm trying to say is when it comes to mental health and the physical aspect of it, I could tell she did not look good.
Speaker A:She looked sick.
Speaker A:She had bags under her eyes, her skin looked saggy, her hair looks dull.
Speaker A:And once, um.
Speaker A:And that, that chronic stress, literally you could tell was affecting her hormones and her youth.
Speaker A:It didn't.
Speaker A:It made her not look good.
Speaker A:And when we finally were able to take her to the hospital for the first time and she got on the correct medication, not just mental medication, but also hormonal medication, you could see that she.
Speaker A:It's like she came back to her normal self.
Speaker A:You could see that there were mental and chemical imbalances in the brain and in the gut that had happened from chronic stress.
Speaker A:And that's why I've mentioned we've had tons of episodes on stress and mental health and I mean lots of episodes on anxiety.
Speaker A:And I, I don't think that it's a sin for Christians to be under stress or experience anxiety.
Speaker A:But I do think when it's become an idol in your life, like you're crippled under anxiety, there are ways that you should be able to go about that with the Lord.
Speaker A:And it needs to be done with someone who's loving on you, holding accountable in your community.
Speaker A:But you also have to be willing to accept that.
Speaker A:And that's what was so hard with my friend.
Speaker A:She would want it to an extent and then would run away.
Speaker A:And she's a grown adult, so it was hard I to stop that.
Speaker A:I wish to some capacity, you know, that her car would have been taken away, that she wouldn't be allowed to, to have lived on her own and other things.
Speaker A:But I'm also not her family or her parent.
Speaker A:I'm just.
Speaker A:I was her sister in Christ and I would suggest things and tell her and that she should be at home, but there's only so much I could do.
Speaker A:But I will say she did tell me and it was such an honor and a blessing to hear this before all of, like, her life ended up knowing that she said, savannah, I always come to you and Jeremiah, because I know you'll be honest with me and I trust you.
Speaker A:What do I need to do?
Speaker A:That knowing that she felt that way was the biggest honor ever.
Speaker A:And that's all I could have asked for.
Speaker A:I know I can't change the circumstance.
Speaker A:I know God knew what was going to happen from the day that she was born.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:I understand that there's free will.
Speaker A:I understand that there's consequences for sin.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:But I also know that at the end of the day, my friend could quote scripture even better than I could.
Speaker A:She could just pull things out of her butt.
Speaker A:And I was like, I know you know it.
Speaker A:We just have to get it practically applied in your life and have you have more community than just me and your mom and a few friends trickled here and there.
Speaker A:A large group of us already knew that she was, you know, struggling.
Speaker A:And it came to a point where we couldn't placate into it anymore that everything was fine.
Speaker A:And these past few years we've been much more direct and helping, but yeah, didn't end the way that we expected.
Speaker A:So I. I want you guys as other as believers to understand.
Speaker A:We tried.
Speaker A:I mean, she was in and out of hospitals and therapy.
Speaker A:We tried our best to get her to work with some Christian counselors, but because of the cult that she was with, she was very sensitive to being in a church, which is totally understandable.
Speaker A:So the other part of Christian mental health that I wanted to mention was church hurt.
Speaker A:I have experienced immense church hurt in many, many ways and where like, my heart, like actual betrayal happened and my heart was broken.
Speaker A:And you know, I. I can say for the first round, it 100%, actually.
Speaker A:Yeah, especially the first two times because one was at one church, one was at another church.
Speaker A:My.
Speaker A:I mean, having people lie and spread rumors, I mean, like, there's nothing you can really do about that.
Speaker A:But here's the thing.
Speaker A:I still decided to hang out with the same type of people even when I went to a new church.
Speaker A:And it was very clear when it happened, not just once, but twice, but three times.
Speaker A:It was so clear by the.
Speaker A:Especially the third time, I was like, why does this keep happening to me, Lord?
Speaker A:And it's easy to point the finger and blame other people, but I also realized looking back That I was choosing to hang out with the same type of people over and over again.
Speaker A:People who were wayward, people who didn't want to hear any type of correction or conviction from the Lord from you, but they wanted to only correct you.
Speaker A:People who were chronically selfish and just really didn't have any fruits of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker A:And I don't know why I chose to hang out with those people.
Speaker A:But you know what?
Speaker A:They were fun because they would still want to go out dancing and they wouldn't mind having a few drinks and doing all that.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:So it's these types of things that me not growing up in a Christian family, it was like, fun to still feel normal kind of, and not like, oh, you know, I'm a Christian and I don't drink.
Speaker A:Which, by the way, my husband and I do drink.
Speaker A:We haven't in a long time just because we did a detox cleanse and we actually don't feel really good when we drink.
Speaker A:So it's not really our favorite.
Speaker A:We have alcohol here to make tinctures, but.
Speaker A:But we've.
Speaker A:That's like, pretty much it for us.
Speaker A:And there's no judgment.
Speaker A:We love having some tequila with friends or even Jeremiah will have like a rando cigar once in a while.
Speaker A:So, like, things like that aren't bad to us.
Speaker A:We do think that God obviously knows our heart and whether or not you're trying to be, you know, like a drunkard.
Speaker A:But at the end of the day, I never thought of putting church hurt and mental health together in such an extreme way and how it really could affect someone who's all by themselves.
Speaker A:And I have met lots of people who have experienced extreme church hurt.
Speaker A:And I mean, yes, of course we can't blame just, you know, like, we can't just blame the sin all on God.
Speaker A:Like, oh, I'm going to turn away from God because people sinned.
Speaker A:But also we have to have an honest conversation with ourselves and the other person and say that trust has been broken.
Speaker A:And now it's going to take time for those people to earn back that trust.
Speaker A:Even like a totally different community.
Speaker A:So, like my friend who was hurt and broken, she was just starting to get settled again.
Speaker A:She wanted to start coming to church with myself and my husband and try out our church.
Speaker A:But we didn't even get to that point or that chance after she got out of the hospital.
Speaker A:So things like that take time and sometimes that time is robbed from us in a way that we don't expect.
Speaker A:But I do want to say at the End of the day, I think what tore me up the most was try hearing really unbiblical comments from all ends of the spectrum about her and her lost loss, where one person quoted saying like, well, she jumped off the bridge and into the arms of Jesus.
Speaker A:One, we don't know if that even happened, like if she jumped.
Speaker A:But two, no aspect of that is biblical in any way, shape or form.
Speaker A:And then on the other spectrum, just hearing like, oh, well, if she committed suicide, she went to hell, so I'll be praying she didn't.
Speaker A:And I think for me, as a friend who loved her and still does so deeply, what broke me more than anything is actually like not really knowing what to do with it.
Speaker A:In the Bible, you know, when Judas committed suicide, even though he regretted what he did to God and he sinned, he went to hell.
Speaker A:So I think a lot of people brought up that.
Speaker A:But on the flip end, to the opposite end too, a lot of people bring up the fact that, you know, that self murder is the same as like regular murder or lying, like all sins are created equal in the eyes of God.
Speaker A:And even if you do a gravestone like that, like kill yourself, a Christian, if you're still saved, will go to heaven.
Speaker A:And for some reason on both ends, neither sounds 100% accurate to me.
Speaker A:And I do agree that God, only God knows our hearts fully, 100%.
Speaker A:Like, I can be 99.9% sure that Jeremiah is going to go to heaven, but at the end of the day, I don't know his heart fully and I never will.
Speaker A:Only God does.
Speaker A:But at least I still have the hope that my own husband will be there because I know him and I know his fruits.
Speaker A:When it comes to my friend, I know her and I know her fruits.
Speaker A:And to me it's kind of a 50, 50, but it's still that 50, 50 chance that I may see my friend in heaven is higher than the friends that I do have who are not saved.
Speaker A:And that's a conversation that I had to have with one of my friends who isn't a Christian.
Speaker A:When she blatantly asked me, like, do you think she's in heaven?
Speaker A:And I said, well, um, I don't know because I'm not God.
Speaker A:But I am going to tell you, knowing that she did believe in the Lord, I can say that even if it is as low as a 50, 50 chance, or even if it was a 10 or 1% chance, that's still higher than you.
Speaker A:And just being able to share that gospel message with even that one Friend.
Speaker A:It didn't make losing the girl that I know and love any better, but it did bring some purpose to her death and her passing.
Speaker A:And because death is the antithesis of life, it wasn't God's original plan.
Speaker A:But guess what?
Speaker A:God used death.
Speaker A:God used sin.
Speaker A:He used Adam and Eve's fall to then bring forth something even more beautiful.
Speaker A:Now that it is a part of his plan and that he does use it for his purpose and his will.
Speaker A:I. I can't be sad about it.
Speaker A:This is the first time I've talked about it and genuinely gotten choked up because I still think I'm in shock because it's been a full week now.
Speaker A:But it's also been hard to be able to cultivate a.
Speaker A:An honest conversation without also offending a bunch of Christians because I feel like the possibility of suicide is not mentioned often.
Speaker A:Mental health is also.
Speaker A:It can be judged and looked down upon.
Speaker A:And I think also too, I'm just pregnant and it's hard actually admitting that I lost a friend and that I couldn't have done more for her.
Speaker A:And that's what's hard.
Speaker A:And I do think that it's a beautiful thing to experience now while pregnant.
Speaker A:I already did experience it, losing my four babies and my miscarriages.
Speaker A:But seeing somebody who had a daughter for 31 years struggle and not know, like, will I be able to take care of her?
Speaker A:What happens if I die before her?
Speaker A:Who's going to be there for her?
Speaker A:Seeing your child experience such heartache and sin in such a physical and mental way is heart wrenching.
Speaker A:And it made me a lot more protective over our daughter, Penelope.
Speaker A:But it also made me realize, like, losing, losing her, there's nothing that I could do.
Speaker A:The same way that I couldn't do anything about losing my four babies.
Speaker A:And I can't control Penelope coming as well as I can't control Jeremiah.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:And I don't want to.
Speaker A:I'm not.
Speaker A:I can't.
Speaker A:I don't know what's best for all of them.
Speaker A:Only God does.
Speaker A:So learning that through this and knowing at the end of the day God is good, he is just, and he's holy and, and he knows what's best.
Speaker A:And I do pray that I see my friend in heaven and.
Speaker A:And all I can do is take a step back and understand that I'm not God and I don't get to make that choice is so freaking humbling.
Speaker A:But I know, like, I say this with, like tears going down my face, that at the end of all of this, our Lives are still going on and we're still called to preach the gospel and to help and have that genuine, intimate community and love on people who are hurt, especially within our own church and our own communities.
Speaker A:I feel like churches focus so much on outreach and there are people right now in your church body that are suffering so deeply and sometimes too quietly as well.
Speaker A:And just checking in and learning how to suffer well together and rejoice well together are both equally as important.
Speaker A:So I know this isn't a normal episode by any means, and it's so deeply personal, and I feel like they've become a little bit more that way.
Speaker A:Maybe because I'm pregnant, but also Jeremiah and I have been going through so much more since this pregnancy.
Speaker A:And to think that I lost my friend of man over maybe, like, how I don't even.
Speaker A:I can't even do the math.
Speaker A:I've known her since I was like 18 years old, and now I'm 31.
Speaker A:How many years is that?
Speaker A:Over a decade.
Speaker A:It's all I can pray is that she's another treasure in heaven because that's all we get to take with us.
Speaker A:And so I, I just want you guys to be able to take a step back this week and really acknowledge in your church who's hurting.
Speaker A:Who can I pour into?
Speaker A:Or if I'm hurting, am I asking for help from the right people?
Speaker A:Am I around the right people?
Speaker A:Does my community actually serve and pour into me?
Speaker A:Am I serving and pouring into it?
Speaker A:And if neither is happening, why isn't it happening?
Speaker A:Is it because I don't want to?
Speaker A:Or is it because this actually just isn't my community and it's time to move on?
Speaker A:Yeah, I honestly, I honestly think community is one of the biggest aspects of that.
Speaker A:And if you need help in any way, shape or form, mentally or emotionally when it comes to this type of stuff, please do not hesitate to reach out to myself or Jeremiah because there are really great contacts that we can put you in if you, even if you're in a different state or a different country and just know that ultimately, like Jesus is going to be able to take that burden in every way, shape or form.
Speaker A:Obviously, my friend's burden weighed so heavenly on her that something happened.
Speaker A:And personally, I think that she went to go for a nighttime walk and slipped and fell because it was a really steep area.
Speaker A:I also don't know about the autopsy or corner report yet because it hasn't gotten back to myself or the family.
Speaker A:But I can say I love her dearly.
Speaker A:And if I love her to any extent.
Speaker A:The father loved her so much more.
Speaker A:So, so, so much more so with this, I say with a very heavy heart, but I want you guys to keep casting seeds and in ways that you maybe didn't think were necessary or challenging, I want you to cast seeds of hope and of faith.
Speaker A:I want you to cast seeds that reflect the Holy Spirit and the fruits of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker A:Casting seeds in this podcast literally means to help plant seeds in people's life and not just cast pearls and be empty and not allow people to see the glory of who God is and be able to have discernment, be able to have wisdom in all situations and of course in healthcare, but spiritual, mental, physical and emotional, all of those things go together in holistic health.
Speaker A:And that's literally the point and the purpose of this podcast.
Speaker A:And if my friend's life can be a, a warning to people of even having.
Speaker A:She was one of my closest friends and I couldn't, I couldn't even help her.
Speaker A:And I want this to be a warning that no one has control over life and death.
Speaker A:Only God does.
Speaker A:So all you can do is help cast seeds and help plant seeds of faith and love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:The fruits, all you can do is help plant those in someone's life and be there and be present and, and that's all God's asking from you.
Speaker A:So with that, and as always, please keep casting seeds and please be praying for my friend's family and even for us.
Speaker A:It's a hard, hard thing to process.
Speaker A:And her celebration of life is next week and I promise we'll get back into normal healthcare episodes.
Speaker A:But this was just a really, really hard, shocking and sudden loss that I couldn't even take.
Speaker A:I barely even had time to process this week, so I'm processing it with you.
Speaker A:Let me know what you guys think about this episode.
Speaker A:I pray it's encouraging for you and let me know if there's anything I can do for you in your healthcare journey.
Speaker A:And as always, please, I beg you, keep casting seeds.
Speaker B:We hope you enjoyed learning how to cultivate God's creation from a biblical perspective.
Speaker B:Holistic health is to prioritize whole person wellness through Christ like and comment on what topics we're casting seeds or casting pearls.
Speaker C:If you found this information provided useful, subscribe to our podcast for future updates.
Speaker C:Leave a review to help us improve and share this episode.
Speaker C:We would like to remind you before we leave that perfect health cannot be attained in this world.
Speaker B:Only spiritual salvation through sanctification and repentance to God and turning away from sin will give you a perfect body in the kingdom come.
Speaker B:Nourish yourself in the Word, in prayer, and in biblical fellowship daily.
Speaker C:Thank you for joining us today.
Speaker C:And a special thank you to our listeners for making this podcast possible.
Speaker B:Always praying.
Speaker C:Keep casting seeds.
