Forgiving God When You're Diagnosed With A Mental Illness

As some of you may already know, when I was originally diagnosed with a mental illness when I was sixteen years old, I felt ab intense shame and hatred. I was ashamed for myself but I hated God. I hated God because i felt like He was intentionally causing me harm. It was precisely because i believed that He was intentionally causing me harm that I decided to take out my anger, frustration, and hurt against His people. I would do some horrible things to anyone who even professed the name of Christ. I honestly believed that any time I harmed a Christian that I was harming God and it caused me deep satisfaction. In reality, however, God was showing me patience and long-suffering because I was acting out of ignorance. It was not until The Lord eventually saved me that i realized this. Part of my salvation process had to do with coming to grips with my mental illness. In this blog, I will be giving some advice on how to "forgive God" when you are diagnosed with a mental illness. Obviously, I do not literally mean that God needs forgiveness, but sometimes we need to let go of our anger about our mental illness. I trust that after you read this, you will be encouraged and edified. These tips are what I have personally done so I'm speaking from personal experience. I know that dealing with a mental illness is nothing to balk at. For those of us who struggle with mental illness, we are incredibly strong. I would like to say that this list is not comprehensive so If you can think of something I have not thought about please feel free to add it to the list. The things that have helped me forgive God for my mental illness are the following: 

1) LETTING GOD KNOW EXACTLY HOW YOU FEEL 

I know this may sound like dangerous advice, especially if you were raised with the mindset that you must always speak nicely to God. However, the Lord wants us be open and transparent with Him. The book of Psalms are filled with all kinds of songs from people who were experiencing all kinds of raw emotions. God is not afraid of our emotions and so we can be real and authentic with Him.

2) Realizing That All Things Do In Fact Work For Good 

One of the most comforting verses, yet the most challenging to accept is Roman's 8:28 which says; 

"And we know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose"

This is a beautiful verse right? It is very difficult to accept especially when you think about mental illness. I mean, how does Depression and anxiety work for good? How does one's delusions and hallucinations work for good? It may seem hard to accept but God is not a liar. He cannot lie to us. So if His word says ALL THINGS, then that would include our mental illnesses as well. We can trust God at His word because He is faithful and reliable. 

3) REALIZING THAT MENTAL ILLNESS DISPLAYS THE GLORY OF GOD 

I talk about this more in depth in my blog, "How My Schizoaffective Disorder Displays The Glory Of God" so if you are interested in how I can make such a claim then I would recommend you read that blog. For the purpose of this blog, however, I will discuss how coming to that realization has helped me tremendously. It has helped me because now I understand that there is a purpose to my mental illness. I am not just struggling mentally for no apparent reason. If my hallucinations and delusions and mood fluctuations were just random for no rhyme or reason, then I may as well give up on life. However, knowing that there is a purpose behind what I am experiencing gives my experiences actual transcendental meaning. 

I hope that this blog has helped you in some way and I thank you for taking the time to read it too. May the grace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ richly bless you all! Soli Deo Gloria! 

-David Lee Chu Sarchet 

Christian Mental Health Advocate 

Please Check Out The Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry