Simply Eric: Arriving At Pueblo State Hospital (Part 1)

 ***The following is a fictional account of a teenager who has Bipolar Disorder and Conduct Disorder. Some content may be triggering. Reader discretion advised***

My name is Eric Thomas and up until recently, I was living a normal life. I mean, I had everything a teenager would want. I had two loving parents, a beautiful girlfriend who was the head cheerleader,  a nice car, and I was the captain of Wasson High School's Varsity football team. I was pretty popular with the ladies, and many of the guys were secretly jealous of me. Everything seemed to be going good in my life. So, what could have happened that drove me to end up in a state mental hospital? It all started about two days ago after a grueling football game with our rival team, Mitchell High School. It was the fourth quarter and we were down about three points the Captain of Mitchell's team was getting pretty cocky toward me and I grew increasingly angrier by the moment. You can say that I was just getting upset because we were losing, but that would only be half true. Of course, I was frustrated because we were losing, but that was not the whole story. The truth is, I was getting upset because Mitchell's captain kept on making flirtatious gestures toward my girlfriend, Katrina. I know she would never cheat on me, but it still bothered me nonetheless. 

By the end of the game, Mitchell High School was declared the victor and that is when all hell broke loose. Their captain came up to me and spit on the ground in front of my feet and then said, "Better luck next time, chump!" How dare he say something like that! Doesn't he know who I am? Immediately, a surge of anger rushed through my body because I felt like he was challenging my manhood and I was not about to let that happen right in front of Kat. I made a split decision to walk right up to him and lay into him with a right jab to his jaw. When I did this, he fell to the ground, and I felt accomplished. Then, he stood up and tackled me to the ground, and then we began fighting one another. It took all of our teammates, on both sides, to pry us apart. But, by the time they got us apart, it was too late because the police had already shown up. What happened next is only a blur in my memory, and I am not even sure what exactly came over me. I began yelling at the officers and even took off my jersey and football gear. As I stood there shirtless and unashamed, I attacked the closer officer to me. I was handling my own pretty well with the officer until the other came up to me and hit me with the pepper spray. That was the worst pain I have ever felt in my eyes before and I thought I was going to go blind. I could barely breathe and my eyes began to water up. The whole scene was very humiliating. The officers handcuffed me and threw me in the back of their police cruiser. Kat was watching all this go down in complete horror. 

I thought they were going to take me to jail, but then to my surprise, they ended up taking me to something called a "Crisis Center". I am not sure why they brought me here but all I remember was sitting inside of an empty room with two chairs and a table. The cops told me that I would be evaluated by a psychiatrist and what happens next would be up to him. Then, the officers left my presence. I was pretty familiar with psychiatrists because my mother deals with one. However, I never thought in a million years that I'd ever be seeing a psychiatrist. I am not crazy. I am just a normal teenage kid with normal emotions. As I sat in this room for what seemed like an eternity, I immediately thought about walking out. I mean, no one would stop me if I did. I could easily walk out of this place before anyone noticed. Two hours went by and no one came in to talk to me. I decided that I would leave, but as soon as I stood up, the door opened. The woman who came in was a well-dressed African-American woman with glasses. She did not look a day over twenty. She introduced herself as Dr. McCay. That's a peculiar name. She asked me for mine and I told her. She then asked me to recount everything that went down tonight and so I decided to indulge her. 

"What was it about Mike's behavior that bothered you the most?" She asked me and I told her it was the fact that he kept making passes at my girlfriend. She simply nodded and wrote something down in her notepad. That made me nervous. 

"What are you writing about me?!" I furiously asked her and she just maintained her composure as she asked me why I wanted to know. That made me even more angry. Why is this woman writing about me and not telling me what she is writing? Is she saying I am crazy like my mother? 

"I just want to know what you are writing..." I say, as my voice trails off. Immediately, I imagine myself ripping the notepad from her hands and slamming her against the wall. I shake that thought from my mind, but I think she notices how tense my body is getting. I am even gritting my teeth. 

"What are you feeling right now, Eric?" She calmly asks with absolutely no fear in her. Doesn't she know that I could seriously hurt her if I wanted to? She should be afraid of me. Very afraid actually. Why is she asking me dumb questions? I slam my fist down on the table and tell her that I am fine, but I do not appreciate her lying to me. 

"I never lied to you," she says in response. Technically, she is right, but that fact merely angers me more. We end up going back and forth like this for nearly an hour or so. All of a sudden, she tells me that she thinks I need to be hospitalized for 72 hours for an evaluation. What in the world does she mean by that? 

"I refuse to go to the looney bin!" I scream at her and she still seems unfazed by my act of aggression. She simply says that she understands. 

"The fact is, you assaulted someone and you should be happy that you are not going to juvenile detention. You are getting off pretty easy, in my professional opinion. You will spend three days at Pueblo State Hospital and then what happens next will be up to the doctor there," She tells me in a matter-of-fact tone of voice, which only serves to fuel my anger even more. She then tells me that I will wait here until the hospital says there is a bed available and they send transportation to come get me. 

"Are you hungry?" She asks me and this surprises me, but I shake my head. I am so angry that food is the furthest thing from my mind right now. She says that she will have a tray sent down to me anyway because I could be waiting awhile. Then, she stands up and walks out of the room. I decided at that moment that I was going to walk out of this place. I might as well leave while I can before the transportation people come to take me away. However, as soon as I step out of my room, I am greeted by a huge security guard. He looks down at me and asks where I think I am going. I feel a little intimidated by his size so I just tell him I need some fresh air. He orders me to go back in my room and I do as he says. I do not want to cause any trouble with him. 

After about half an hour, someone brings me a tray of food. I take the cover off and see a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a bag of Lays potato chips, and a brownie. What I did next does not even make sense to me, but I did it anyway. I threw the tray at the wall. I told that dumb woman that I did not want anything and she sent me a tray anyway. As soon as the guard heard the tray crash into the wall, he and a nurse came into my room. He pinned me down into my chair, as she stuck a needle in my arm. Almost immediately I felt very tired and I fell asleep in the chair. I am not sure how long I was sleeping, but I was awakened by two EMTs. One of them was a young man who looked like he was in his twenties and the other was a heavy-set woman who looked a little older than her partner. They told me that they were there to take me to Pueblo State Hospital. I reluctantly got out of my chair and slowly climbed onto the gurney. I was much too sedated to put up any real fight. They strapped me down into the gurney and loaded me into the ambulance. 

The ride to Pueblo State Hospital was only a forty-five-minute drive, but it felt like it took forever because I was half asleep. We arrived at around 1:00 in the morning, so the unit was silent. As soon as the EMTs released me from the gurney, I was greeted by a young man in hospital scrubs. His name was Michael Brown. He told me that he would do my intake. Apparently, I am in what is called the "Locked Adolescent Unit", which is a locked-down portion of the hospital. He asks me to recount everything that led to this moment and I am getting quite irritated with having to retell the same story. I give a very reduced version of the story and he seems pleased by that. He has me sign some papers and since I did not come with anything, he takes me to my room. I am pleased to see that I actually have my own room because I was afraid that I'd have a roommate to deal with. He tells me to get some rest because breakfast will be served at 7:00 in the morning. He then leaves me alone in my room and lay down on the bed. The bed is not very comfortable, but I fall fast asleep anyway. 

***Stay Tuned For Part 2***

-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate 

Check out the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website

An Encouraging Word For Those Who Are Newly Diagnosed

 

For some people being newly diagnosed with a clinical mental illness is a scary thing. Many thoughts may run through the minds of someone who is newly diagnosed. Some of these thoughts may be "Am I a freak of nature" or "I am a shame to my family" and many other negative thoughts. It is very rare for someone to feel a sense of relief concerning their diagnosis. I remember when I was first diagnosed when I was sixteen I felt a sense of great shame and anger. Actually, it was that shame and anger that caused me to lose my faith in God temporarily. I thought that the Lord must hate me for making me like my mother and therefore I should hate Him back. Thankfully, the Lord was patient and good to me because He drew me back to Himself. So, please understand that I know how you must be feeling right now because I've been there. The purpose of this blog is to give you some encouragement from His word so that you can freely and bravely embrace your new diagnosis. Perhaps one day you can even see your diagnosis as a gift from God like I do, but I know that will take some time. I hope that after you read this blog you will walk away feeling a lot better about your mental illness. There is so much I can say to encourage you concerning this topic but for the sake of this blog, I will focus on three points: Not Alone, Working For Good, and God of all comfort. I will now elaborate on each of these points. 

Not Alone

According to NAMI (National Association of Mental Illness), over 20% of the nation's population struggles with a clinical mental illness and some estimates say it is over 50%. This means that at least 20-50% of the population have mental illness. In other words, mental illness is fairly common in our country! You are not alone in your struggle and I would say that you are the norm. When I was younger, this fact was probably the most comforting for me to hear because I was believing the lie that I was not normal. However, I now realize that was a lie straight from the pit of hell. I have found that as I open up to people concerning my own mental health struggles, so many other people can relate to me. I believe that as you open up about your own mental health struggles, you will see the same exact results too. So, next time the enemy whispers in your ear that you are a freak, just remind yourself of this very important fact. It is even true concerning people inside the Church. I would daresay that over half of the people inside any given church congregation struggle with some form of mental illness. So, do not fall for the lie that says you are the only Christian who struggles with this because you most certainly are not. I do not care how "well-off" many Christian men and women seem on the surface because as you get to know them on a personal level, you will find out they are just like you and me on so many different levels. This is why Paul can tell us in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that, 

"No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it" 

Paul is telling you and me that everything we experience is similar to what all people experience. None of us are "freaks of nature" in God's universe. However, God will always provide us with a way out of our temptations and trials. For those of us with clinical mental illness, that "way out" is the use of psychiatric medication and therapy. We can trust our psychiatrists and therapists to understand us enough to be able to treat us appropriately. 

Working For Good 

My absolute favorite verse in the book of Romans is Romans 8:28. Paul tells us in that verse, 

"...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 such a beautiful and profound truth! Did you notice how Paul is not saying that everything we go through in this life will be good? He does not make that promise, but what he does promise us is that all things, whether good or bad, will work together for our good. Imagine a beautiful tapestry for a moment. It is made of many different designs and if we signal any of them out the image will not look good. However, if we look at the tapestry as a whole, we will see a gorgeous picture. In the same way, if we signal out any one of our many trials, we will not see the bigger picture. It's only when we look at how all of our trials are working together that will notice how it all works for our good. A few years ago, I had a really bad experience with a medication that almost killed me and I wound up in the hospital for three months. During that time, I became increasingly angry with God, but as I began to realize the good that came out of that experience, my anger subsided. Some of the good that came from that experience was that I was no longer overly medicated, my relationship with my wife was restored, and my faith in God grew more intimate too. The Scriptural truth behind Romans 8:28 really proved true in my life and I just know it will prove true in your life too. No matter what you experience just remind yourself that it is working out for your good. I understand it may be difficult at times to see this happen, but God does not lie to us. We can trust Him over our fickle emotions. 

God of All Comfort

When we turn to 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, we read the following words from the Apostle Paul, 

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all of our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God" 

Here Paul is telling us that God is the God of all comfort and that as He comforts us in all of our affliction, we can comfort those in ANY affliction. This is particularly remarkable for those of us with clinical mental illnesses because a lot of times we do not feel very useful in the Body of Christ. However, it is because of the comfort we receive from the Lord that we can comfort other people. The reason why we can comfort other people who are in ANY affliction is because, as I have already pointed out, there is nothing we experience that is uncommon to man. Sometimes we can fall into the trap of thinking that we cannot help others unless we have a Masters's degree or a Ph.D, but that is entirely untrue. According to this text, we are already equipped to be able to offer comfort to those who are afflicted because we have experienced comfort from God Himself, who is the source of all comfort.  This is why I find support groups to be more helpful than therapy groups. In therapy groups, the group is led by an "educated" therapist who cannot really relate to us. However, in a support group, the group is led by someone who also has a mental illness, and thus they can relate to us more. It is even better to find a Christian mental health support group because now you have a group led by someone with mental illness who also will speak on the faith that we all share in common with one another. 

I hope that this blog really does encourage you as you learn how to manage your own mental health. Always keep these Scriptural truths close to your heart and in your mind. I wish when I was younger I had someone tell me all this because it could have saved me a whole lot of trouble. I hope this word of encouragement saves you from a lot of trouble and heartache. Thank you very much for taking the time to read my blog and may the grace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ richly bless you all! 

-David Lee Chu Sarchet 
Christian Mental Health Advocate 

Check out the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website

Is It Ever Appropriate For A Christian To See A Non-Christian Counselor?

 

Too many Christians have a low view of therapy. These same Christians have an even lower view of secular therapy. The reason Christians hate therapy so much is because they believe that secular therapists have an anti-Christian agenda. It is almost as if these Christians believe that secular therapists wake up thinking, "I cannot wait to destroy a Christian's faith today!" They seem to not be able to fathom the idea that a non-Christian counselor could genuinely be interested in seeing all of their clients grow emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. However, I do believe that there is much benefit that a Christian can receive from seeing a non-Christian counselor. In this blog, I shall discuss why it could be appropriate for a Christian to see a non-Christian for counseling sessions. I will be building my case from the Reformed concept of Common Grace. What is Common Grace, you wonder? Ligonier Ministries says, Common Grace 

"encompasses the biblical teaching about the universal and undeserved goodness of God toward sinners. By Common Grace, God restrains sin, evil, misery, and wrath in this fallen world, while conferring general, nonredemptive blessings on all mankind"

You may be wondering where we see this idea of "Common Grace" in Scripture. Well, we have our Lord's own words in Matthew 5:44-45. He says, 

"But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust" 

As you can see from this text, Jesus wants us to love our enemies, but the reason He gives us this is because God is good to all of mankind. Since God gives everyone good things, so shall we be good to those who would harm us.  

So what does this have to do with believers seeing a non-Christian counselor? It is because of God's common grace that he confers on all mankind that we can accept counsel from even counselors who do not profess our faith. Wait a second! I know you may be skeptical of this because you may be under the impression that Christians should only seek counsel from other Christians. However, do you use this same logic for anything else in life? For example, would you expect a dentist to be a Christian before he operates on your mouth? Now, you may answer back by saying, "A dentist is not going to affect my worldview by teaching me wrong ideas". That's fair enough, but let's imagine you are in college. Would you expect all of your college professors to be Christian before they can teach you anything? After all, some professors would be teaching you from faulty presuppositions. But, you would not expect your professors to be Christian to teach you true facts. In the same way, a therapist does not need to be a Christian to equip you with the right tools to know how to manage your mental health. 

It is precisely because of God's common grace that we can trust our non-Christian counselors to teach us true things. As I always say, "All truth is God's truth". This means that any true fact that a non-Christian counselor can teach us is a true fact from the Lord. Scripture is sufficient in everything it addresses, but this does not mean that it addresses everything. For example, Scripture does not tell us how to treat Schizophrenia or it does not tell us about molecular biology. For these, we must turn to the experts in the field of mental health or science. 

But, aren't non-Christian counselors anti-Christian in their core presuppositions? This line of reasoning would have worked back in the days of Freud and Carl Jung. However, in these modern times, psychology has progressed so far away from its founders that it no longer holds any weight in modern psychological thought. I've been to many non-Christian counselors in my life and I can tell you from personal experience that many non-Christian counselors are very friendly towards religion and they even see religious beliefs as being beneficial for stable mental health. But, do not take my word alone for it. Read the words of Christian Psychologist Dr. Gary Collins on this matter. He says, 

"It would be highly inaccurate to assume that most non-Christian counselors are like vultures, ready to pounce on the Christian's faith in an attempt to ridicule it, tear it apart, and destroy it. On the contrary, secular counselors frequently recognize the mental health value of religion and seek to strengthen rather than weaken the counselee's faith" 

I hope that by now you can see that it is perfectly fine for a Christian to see a non-Christian counselor. However, the question does remain, what is more beneficial for a Christian to see between a secular counselor or a Christian counselor? In my honest opinion, I would say that it is a million times better for a Christian to see another Christian for counseling because it is a lot easier to talk about your faith with a counselor who already shares your beliefs. However, if you cannot see a Christian counselor for whatever reason, then there is absolutely no harm in seeing a secular counselor. As James 1:17 tells us, 

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change" 

James wants us to know that every good gift is from God Himself. This means that if your secular counselor has proven to be helpful and beneficial to you, then they are a good gift from the Father in your life. You can trust your secular counselor.

I hope that this helps you to better understand why it is right for you to see a secular counselor. Hopefully, you will not feel condemned or that you are a "lesser Christian" for doing this. If you ever get the opportunity to see a Christian counselor, I highly recommend that take that opportunity, but if that opportunity never comes your way, you can rest easy knowing that your secular counselor is just as good. Thank you very much for taking the time to read my blog and may the grace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ richly bless you all! 

-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate 

Check out the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry

The Fine Line Between Delusion & Reality

 

As some of you may already know by now, I struggle with delusions that tell me that I am God and that people are praying to and worshiping me. These delusions seem to be much more intense while I am in church or in some kind of Bible study/prayer service. Sometimes these delusions become so intense that I need to remove myself from the room or sanctuary just to get my mind to calm down. It is a sad reality for many people with Schizophrenia that we have to struggle with wrestling between staying in reality or believing in a delusion. Unfortunately, for many of us we never truly can distinguish reality from fantasy. It is for this reason that I am writing this blog today. The purpose of this blog is to help people on the Schizophrenia spectrum know how to biblically distinguish what is real from what is a delusion. I will focus on three vitally important points for this blog, but there are far more ways that will help you distinguish between the two. The three things that I will focus on are the following: 

1) Renewing Your Mind 

2) Trusting His Word Over Your Delusions 

3) Taking Every Thought Captive 

I understand that each of these points may be unclear but I will elaborate on all of them. However, first I'd like to say that these three tips are not going to be easy. We are all sinners and that means we all desire innately to be our own gods. This means that these tips will not come naturally to any of us. We need the help of the Holy Spirit to be able to do these things. The good news is all we have to do is ask the Lord to help us and He definitely will. He understands that we are weak and because of that we need to rely on His strength. Now, with that said, please allow me to elaborate on my points. 

Renewing Your Mind 

When we turn to Romans 12:1-2, we read the following from the Apostle Paul, 

"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect" 

As you can clearly see from this text, Paul is telling us that we must not conform to this world, but instead, we are to renew our minds by presenting our bodies to God as living sacrifices. How do we accomplish this task? We do so by reading and meditating daily on His word. We should always be willing to fill our minds with Scripture. As the Psalmist says in chapter 1:2

"...but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night" 

As Christians, we should never "empty our minds", as some pagan philosophers tell us, but we should fill our minds with His inerrant, inspired word. Our Lord Jesus Christ, when He was tempted by the devil for forty days, said to the enemy when he tempted Him to make bread from stones that, 

"Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4)

Obviously, Jesus understood the importance of His people depending on His word. His word provides us with the daily sustenance that we absolutely need to survive in this wicked world. As long as we are filling our minds with the word of God, our minds will be renewed and only then will be able to distinguish what is real and what is fantasy. 

Trusting His Word Over Your Delusions 

For this next point, I'd like to point you in the direction of one of my absolute favorite verses in the Old Testament. When we turn to Proverbs 3:5-6, we read the following, 

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths" 

I love this verse very much because as someone with Schizoaffective Disorder, I fully realize that I cannot always trust my own reasoning or perceptions. But, I know that I can always trust His word because His word defines what is real. For this reason, whenever I hear a delusion that contradicts His word, I know to immediately reject the delusion. This is only possible to do as long as you are always in His word. If you do not stay in His word, then you will never know how to combat your delusions with His truth. I will now give you an example of how this plays out in my personal life. As I have already said, I experience delusions of grandeur that tell me I am God. Whenever this happens, I repeat a certain verse back to the delusions repeatedly until they go away. What is this verse? It is Deuteronomy 6:4, which says the following, 

"Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one" 

Whenever I recite this verse back to my delusions, it helps to remind me that there is only one God and I am not Him. This does not mean that the delusions disappear right away. Most of the time I must recite this verse numerous times before they eventually go away and sometimes they do not go away, but I always remember to disbelieve the delusional fantasy because it goes against His word. 

Taking Every Thought Captive 

This final point will probably prove to be the most difficult task I can give you because it is extremely difficult to attempt. If we turn to 2 Corinthians 10:5, we read the following, 

"We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ..." 

Here the Apostle Paul is telling us that we should monitor our thoughts and literally submit them to Jesus Christ. I do not know about you, but this is one of the most difficult things for me to do because most of the time I cannot even keep up with all of my thoughts. However, here it is in Scripture telling us that we must take every thought captive to make them obey Christ. The only way we will be able to accomplish this task is if we follow the first two tips of renewing our minds with His word and trusting His word more than our own delusions. If we fail at any point in following these tips, then we will not be able to take our thoughts captive to obey Christ. Again, this is not something we can do by our own strength and might, so we need to rely on the Holy Spirit to give us the strength to accomplish this. If we rely on our own strength, we will always fail, but if we rely on His strength, then we will succeed. 

I hope that this blog helps you to better understand how to navigate that fine line between reality and delusion. I know that implementing these things will not be easy, but I have every confidence that you will be able to do it by the grace of God. Thank you very much for being willing to read my blog and may the grace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ richly bless you all! 

-David Lee Chu Sarchet 
Christian Mental Health Advocate 

Check out the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website

4 Ways To Overcome Grumbling

 

Recently, I wrote a blog about Why Grumbling Is Bad For Mental Health. In that blog, I discussed how grumbling was truly offensive to God to the point of deserving death. I even talked about some reasons that made grumbling bad for one's mental health such as causing one to no longer have peace of mind, making people no longer love one another, and making people into workaholics. As I wrote this blog, it dawned on me that I should discuss how one can overcome grumbling in one's life. Grumbling is a natural thing that we are all guilty of. One could say that grumbling is as natural as breathing air. Most of the time we do not even realize that we are doing it. Even though grumbling comes so naturally to us, it is still deeply offensive to the Lord because it shows that we do not truly and fully trust in His sovereignty. So, what is the answer to something that comes so naturally to us? In this blog, I shall discuss biblical ways that will help us overcome grumbling. This does not mean that you will never grumble again if you implement these four things. On the contrary, it is because we deal with indwelling sin that it is inevitable that we will fall into the sin of grumbling from time to time. However, remembering these four points can help you to grumble less. That is my intention in writing this blog. If you keep in mind these four points when you are tempted to grumble, you will remember to refrain because you trust in His sovereignty. The four points I will be addressing in this blog are the following: 

1) Prayer 

2) Thinking Positively 

3) Meditating on His Word 

4) Participating In Fellowship 

I fully realize that there are more points that I can address that will help you overcome grumbling, but for the sake of this blog, these are the four points that I will choose to focus on. If you can think of any more tips that help you overcome grumbling, please feel free to share them below. I will now elaborate on these four points. 

Prayer 

When we turn to 1 Peter 5:7, we read the following: 

"...casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you" 

In this short verse, we see that we are commanded to give God all of our anxieties. Notice how it does not say that your anxiety is sinful. This is an important point to make because some well-meaning Bible teachers have been guilty of condemning all anxiety as being sinful. We need to be careful that we are not doing the same. Anxiety is not always sinful, but we are commanded to go to the Lord with all of our anxiety. Why should we do this? The second half of this verse answers perfectly: "Because he cares for you". Think about this for a second. The Sovereign, omnipotent God of the cosmos cares for you. God controls literally everything that takes place in His creation and yet He still chooses to care for His people. If this does not give us reason to rejoice as we are encouraged to go to Him with all of our fears and anxieties, then I am not sure what will. This same God who breathed an entire complex universe into existence really cares deeply and intimately for His people. 

Another passage that I'd like to draw your attention to is Philippians 4:6-7. This text says the following, 

"...do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding. will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" 

Here is another text that commands us to bring all of our anxieties to the Lord. We are told to be anxious about nothing because we are bringing everything to Him in prayer. The Sovereign God of the universe already knows us better than we know ourselves because everything we think, say, and do is laid bare before His very eyes. Knowing this fact should make it easy to go to Him because it does not make much sense to attempt to hide anything from Him anyway. One other thing I'd like to point out concerning this text is the fact that it gives us a promise to follow the command. What is this promise? If we actually do bring all of our anxieties to God, the promise is that He will give us perfect peace of mind because He is guarding our hearts and minds. When we fully trust Him and His sovereignty, we will never have anything to worry about because we know deep down that He is always in control. This is why Paul can tell us in verse 4 of chapter 4 of Philippians to rejoice always. This knowledge certainly gives us every reason to rejoice. 

Thinking Positively 

This point is a bit tricky because if you do not fully understand the text of Philippians 4:8, you could end up thinking wrongly that your thoughts determine your destiny. I do not want you to leave this blog believing such nonsense. Our thoughts do not create our destiny. Our destinies are already predetermined by God before we were ever born. So, what is the purpose of this text? Before I go into that, it would be helpful if I show you what exactly it says. Philippians 4:8 says the following, 

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things" 

There is a profound application to this text that many people seem to overlook. While this text is not saying that your thoughts create your destiny, there is a truth to how your thoughts really do affect how you perceive any given situation. For example, if you find yourself stuck in traffic, you can either complain in your heart about this situation, or you can choose to see this situation as some time to worship the Lord. Whatever you think about a situation will ultimately determine how you perceive that situation. 

Another text that I'd like to draw your attention to comes from Matthew 12:34-35. In this text, our Lord says the following, 

"You brood of vipers! How can you speak good when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks". The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil" 

In this text, Jesus is obviously speaking to the Pharisees, but what He is saying can easily be applied to us all. First, when the Bible mentions "the heart" it does not mention the organ inside of your chest that pumps blood. No, when the Bible mentions "the heart" it is speaking about one's mind. What Jesus is essentially saying is that whatever we are thinking in our minds our mouths will speak. In other words, if we are thinking purely negative thoughts, then our words will be purely negative. However, if we are thinking purely positive thoughts, then our words will be more positive. In other words, our thoughts will cause us to see our situations from either a more negative or positive point of view. 

Meditating on His Word 

For this point, I'd like to draw your attention to the first chapter of the Psalms. Psalms 1:1-2 says the following, 

"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night" 

There is much talk about meditation in these modern times. However, most of the talks concerning meditation seem to be more focused on an Eastern philosophical perspective that tells us to "empty our minds". Biblical meditation is much different from the pagan form of meditation because instead of "emptying our minds", it tells us to fill our minds with His word. The Psalmist is telling us to meditate on His word "day and night". This means that His word should always be on our minds daily. When we focus on filling our minds with Scripture, we will not fall into the way of sinners, nor will we desire to. Many people miss this, but this Scripture also comes with a promise. When it says the man who meditates on His word "day and night", it says that man is "blessed". In some translations "blessed" is another word for "happy". In other words, when we are meditating on His word all the time, we will truly find happiness because our minds will be at peace.  


Participating in Fellowship

When we turn to Hebrews 10:23-25, we read the following, 

"Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near" 

In this text, the writer to the Hebrews encourages his readers to not forsake fellowship with the saints. As some of you may already know, I watch a lot of atheists on YouTube. One of the most common things I hear from these atheists when they talk about their deconversion stories is that at some point before their deconversion process, they stopped going to church. This is truly remarkable, but not very surprising. I say this because the Lord created us as relational beings. We were not meant to be alone and actually, when we isolate from the Body of Christ, we are much more susceptible to the enemy's attacks. When we gather together to worship the Lord together, that is when we can encourage one another in the faith, build one another up, and then "stir up one another to love and good works". Basically, fellowshipping with the Saints gives us a chance to recharge ourselves after a long and grueling week. This is why the fellowship of the Saints is so very important. We definitely need one another to face the daily troubles of living in this world. As Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 tells us, 

"Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man prevails against one who is alone, two will withstand him-- a threefold cord is not quickly broken" 

Basically, there is strength in numbers. When we are in fellowship with other believers, we will be much stronger and when we are stronger, we are less likely to fall into the sin of grumbling. If we isolate ourselves from the Body of Christ, we are much more susceptible to the sin of grumbling because our minds will be filled with negative thoughts. But, when are in fellowship, we will grumble less because our minds will be filled with positive thoughts. 

I hope that this blog helps you to better understand how you can avoid the sin of grumbling. Keep in mind that you will never be able to completely refrain from grumbling. I still get caught in the sin of grumbling from time to time. But, when this happens, I already know that I am covered by the grace of Christ. And so are you covered by the grace of Christ whenever you grumble. Do not walk away from this blog feeling shame for grumbling because there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ (Romans 8:1). 

Thank you very much for taking the time to read my blog and may the grace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ richly bless you all! 

-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate 

Check out the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry

Why Grumbling Is Bad For Mental Health

 

Since the Fall of man, grumbling has been a natural thing that we humans can fall into. It is easy to begin grumbling when things do not go our own way. I know from personal experience how easy it is to grumble. However, grumbling should have no place in the heart of a believer in Christ. As Christians, we should be thankful for what the Lord is doing in our lives. Grumbling shows that we do not really trust the Lord in our hearts and minds. Also, not only does grumbling display that we do not trust the Lord, but it is also not very beneficial for our mental health. In this blog, I shall discuss some ways that grumbling harms our mental psyche. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list of the harmful effects of grumbling, however. There are innumerable ways grumbling affects our mental health, but for the sake of this blog, I shall focus on a few of them. If you can think of any more, please feel free to tell me in the comments below. Before I get into the ways grumbling affects our mental health, please allow me to take you to some Bible scriptures on grumbling. When we turn to Philippians 2:14-15, we read the following, 

"Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and depraved generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world" 

In this text, we see a clear command to do everything without grumbling. This Scripture does not tell us to only do easy things without grumbling, but it also tells us to do difficult things without grumbling too. Then, it goes on to say that when we do not grumble, we are seen by God as blameless and innocent children in whom we shine brightly in this depraved world. One of the things that separate us from unbelievers is our undying trust in the Lord in every circumstance. So, while the world is busy fretting over this or that, we can rest easy because we know our omnipotent God has our back. 

Also, when we turn to 1 Corinthians 10:8-10, we read the following, 

"We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day. We must not put Christ to the test as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer" 

In this text, the Apostle Paul points us to the Israelites as an example of what happened to people in the Old Testament times when they grumbled. God saw grumbling as a capital offense against Him and it was worthy of death! This is how serious our Lord takes grumbling. This is why we Christians in the New Testament times should be all the more willing to keep ourselves from grumbling. When we grumble, we are not only venting our feelings, but we are complaining about God's sovereignty. 

Now, that I have established what the Bible says concerning grumbling, I shall discuss how grumbling harms our mental health. As I contemplate this issue, I have noticed three ways grumbling impacts our mental health: Peace of Mind, Loving Others, and Workaholic-ism. I will now elaborate on these three points. 

Peace of Mind

What I mean by this point is that grumbling destroys our peace of mind. When we grumble, we are basically telling the Lord that we do not trust Him. We may not verbally say this out loud, but we are saying this in our hearts. As a result, we will begin to stress out about things that we should not be stressing out about. Instead, it would be helpful if we meditated on our Lord's words in Matthew 6:33-34. He tells us, 

"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble" 

In this passage, Jesus tells us to not worry about anything because the Lord will provide. He uses the beautiful analogy of birds and flowers saying that they do nothing to care for themselves, yet our Heavenly Father takes care of them. How much more worthy are we compared to them? If we really believed this, we should never worry, or grumble about anything. 

Loving Others 

What I mean about this is that when we have a heart that grumbles against God, it will taint how we see other people. If we are always grumbling about this or that, then we will look with jealousy at the people around us who we perceive to have a better life than we do. It would be helpful to us if we meditated on Philippians 2:3, which tells us, 

"Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others as more significant than yourselves" 

What Paul is telling us here is that we should not look at people with envy, but instead, we should consider other people as more important than ourselves. I know this is much easier said than done, but with the Holy Spirit's help, anything is possible. Paul uses the example of Christ to make this point. Jesus is in every way God, but He did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but instead came to us as a servant. In the same way, we should behave as He did. 

Workaholic-ism

What I mean by this is that when we have a heart that grumbles, not only are we not trusting in the Lord, but this will cause us to attempt to handle things on our own. As a result of this, we will forget that the Lord is sovereign and begin to think that we are sovereign over our own universe and that everything hinges on what we say and do. When we have this type of attitude, we will forever become like a hamster in a hamster wheel, always running but never quite getting to where we want or need to go. This in the end will lead to literal death due to overstress

I hope that this blog helps you better understand why grumbling is bad for believers' mental and why God sees this as such a serious offense. However, if we are caught in the sin of grumbling, there is grace from the Lord. As Romans 8:1 tells us, 

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for the one in Christ Jesus..." 

We are not condemned anymore when we sin because we are covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. When we sin, God sees us as holy and blameless before Him. Thank you very much for taking the time to read my blog and may the grace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ radically bless you all!

-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate 

Check out the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website

How The Gospel Addresses The Fear Of Men

 

In these modern times, the devil is working hard to make life difficult for the lives of believers. It is very easy for us to curl up in a ball and hide in our homes during this time. I understand all too well how fighting the good fight can become tiresome, especially when we do not see anything good coming our way. However, the Lord does not want us to hide in our homes. He calls us to endure to the very end. Some Christians may think there is no use in fighting and as a result, they cower in fear. But, the attitude we need now more than ever is the same attitude the Apostle Paul had in his lifetime. Paul tells us in Romans 1:16, 

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greeks" 

Paul said this during Emperor Nero's reign and if you know anything about that time you are very much aware that it was not a pleasant time to be a Christian. Emperor Nero would bind Christians up and light them on fire to light up his front lawn. He would also feed Christians to lions in the Colosseum as a sporting event for the Romans to be entertained by. Basically, back then if you identified as a Christian, you were signing your own death warrant. However, none of this stopped the first-century Christians from identifying with their Lord and Savior. As a matter of fact, they were all the more glad to be persecuted for Jesus' sake. Nowadays, we have become too soft and I believe it is because we have had it pretty good in this life. We do not have to worry about being persecuted in the same way as the early Christians were. Sure, we may get mocked on television or yelled at if we are street preaching, but all of that is child's play compared to what our forebears went through. However, all of this is about to change as we come closer to our Lord's imminent return. The Bible clearly tells us that things will get worse. Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 3:1-5, 

"But understand this, that in the last days there will be times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power" 

As you can see from this text we are currently living in the end times. People are growing from bad to worse with every waking morning. If what I am saying does not make you uncomfortable, then I do not think you properly understand what it is we are facing. However, I am not telling you this to scare you. We should not be scared about what is to come. As Solomon tells us in Proverbs 28:1, 

"The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion" 

In this blog, I shall attempt to give you some biblical encouragement that should cause you to be "as bold as a lion". I will separate this blog into three sections: A Sign Of Their Destruction, Only God Can Destroy, and Our Eternal Reward. After you finish reading this blog, my hope is that you will come away from this with a newfound boldness for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We need more soldiers who are willing to die for the Gospel. It is a sad indictment when false teachers such as the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses act more courageously than Christians do. Now, please allow me to elaborate on my points. 

A Sign of Their Destruction 

Have you ever considered how your courage can be a sign to unbelievers of their impending destruction? Well, Paul tells us this is the case. If we turn to Philippians 1:27-28, we read the following, 

"... I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation" 

The Apostle Paul is clearly telling us that as we take a bold stance for the gospel, it is a sign of our opponents' destruction. We are reminding them of where they are heading. I believe this is why Paul tells us that to those who are being damned, we are an aroma of death (2 Corinthians 2:16). Every time we are boldly confronting the wicked we are reminding them of their impending doom. This is why they hate us. Every time we attend a gay pride parade to preach the Gospel, we are exposing their folly. Every time we pass out gospel tracts, we are showing them where their sin is leading them. However, not only is it a sign of their destruction, but it is also a sign of our salvation. We stand out from the crowd because we are not of this world. We belong to another world, another Kingdom. For this reason, we do not need to show the unregenerate any fear because we know the One who is in control of this creation. Absolutely nothing happens in this creation apart from God's will and He has ordained that in the end we ultimately win. 

Only God Can Destroy

In Matthew 10:28, we read the following words from our Lord Himself, 

"And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can kill both body and soul in hell" 

Notice how Jesus is not denying that unregenerate man can kill our bodies. He is not saying that that is an impossibility. He is realistic enough to acknowledge that the wicked can kill our bodies. But, what He is rejecting is the notion that the unregenerate can cause us any harm in the eternal sense. The unregenerate may kill us in this life, but that is all they can do. They have no control over us in eternity. Only God Himself can destroy both our bodies and souls in hell. For this reason, and this reason alone, we should only fear Him, not man. This is why the Writer to the Hebrews can tell us it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:31). You see, an unregenerate man can kill us, and even torture our bodies, but there is always a limit because eventually we will die. When we die, we are no longer in that wicked man's hands. However, when we are in God's hands, He can punish us for an eternity if we are covered by the blood of Christ. For this reason, it makes much more sense to fear God over fearing any man. 

Our Eternal Reward

In Matthew 5:11-12, we read the following Beatitude from Jesus, 

"Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you" 

In this text, we see that our Lord is telling us that when we endure persecution for His sake, we will be greatly rewarded. This does not mean that we should go out looking for trouble on purpose. Paul tells us elsewhere that we should seek to live at peace with all people (Romans 12:18). However if we find ourselves not being able to live at peace with men because of their wickedness, then our reward is great in heaven. What exactly do we have to look forward to for all our efforts in enduring persecution, you ask? Well if we turn to Revelation 21:1-4, we read the following,  

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away'." 

We are looking forward to the time when God will create the New Heavens and New Earth where there will be no more suffering or sin ever again. During this time, God Himself will dwell with us and we will reign as kings and queens with Jesus Christ for all eternity. This is what we have to look forward to. This life right now is temporary, but the life to come is eternal. This is why we can boldly stand up to our persecutors because we know where we belong in eternity. 

I hope that this blog better helps you understand why we have every reason to be bold in this life. We do not need to cower before our persecutors. As a matter of fact, our courage should give them every reason to be afraid because they are reminded of their destruction and of our salvation. Thank you very much for reading this blog and may the grace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ richly bless you all! 

-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate 

Check out the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website