Saturday, February 26, 2011

Miserable Comforters

Job, during his time of illness and despair, referred to his friends as miserable comforters!

I have been blessed with the opportunity to teach the ladies class at my congregation on Tuesday nights. I must confess that I was a little skeptical of my own abilities to teach this class…ESPECIALLY when I was given the topics!!!! The topics were dealing with depression, anxiety, grief and illness. Boy oh boy, ‘what do I know about this???’ I said to myself! I felt like I was the most “unqualified” person to teach this class. ‘I don’t know anything about depression, anxiety, illness and grief!’ Boy was I wrong!!! One day I was sharing my fears with another sister…And she said to me, “but you do know about illness…because you know about it from a mental health standpoint. And everything that you went through with the varied emotions you can relate to the sisters!” I am thankful for the encouragement I received along the way to do this class…I have truly been blessed beyond what I can imagine…

Monday, February 7, 2011

My Last Days in Trinidad

I started off this trip with the goal that it would be different…Different than any other trip I had taken before. And I am happy to say that my trip was amazingly different!!

God has truly done an amazing work in my heart…especially as it pertains to how I approach and dealt with my mother.

For as long as I can remember I have had a strained relationship with my mother due to her mental illness. I was probably around 7 when I realized something was not right…my father just told me that she was “sick.” But as a child I could not understand what that really meant. So due to a lack of knowledge, lack of medical support, lack of family support, and lack of whatever else, our relationship grew further and further apart.