Day: June 26, 2018

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“MY” 12 Step Program for Better Mental & Spiritual Health

The 12 Step Program was created by the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous to establish guidelines for the best way to overcome an addiction to alcohol. The program gained enough success in it’s early years for other addiction support groups to adapt the steps to their own needs; ranging from Cocaine Anonymous to Debtors Anonymous.

What impressed me the most about this program is the heavy emphasis on spirituality. The language emphasizes the presence of God as each participant understands Him, and for me that would be God. It is already established that the only way to overcome an addiction of any sort; is we cannot do it alone, we need an higher, spiritual power. And so it is with a mental illness; if we are going to survive, we need God.

With my experience with a mental illness, I believe this 12 Step Program could both be beneficial and adapted for someone suffering a mental illness. Here are “MY” 12 Step Program to better Mental & Spiritual Health.

  1. We first have to acknowledge that we have a mental illness, stop living in denial, seek help and speak out. We have nothing to be ashamed of.
  2. Come to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to better mental health.
  3. Make a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, for only He can see us through this dark hole.
  4. Search me oh God and know my heart today.
  5. Admit to God and ourselves that we are powerless and rely totally on Him to walk this road with us.
  6. Ask God to remove anything in our lives that is unlike Him.
  7. Forgive us of our shortcomings.
  8. Ask for God’s forgiveness of our past and live in the moment.
  9. Place our future in God’s hands and trust that He knows what He’s doing.
  10. Admit when we are wrong and learn from our mistakes.
  11. Spend time in prayer, meditation and solitude, praying only for knowledge of His will for us.
  12. Having a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps. And may we know that He will never leave us or forsake us.                                                                                   
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Comfort in Trouble

It basically took me a lifetime of suffering with depression to realize that there was probably a good reason for all this pain. It could not have all been in vain and nothing good could come out of it all. There had to be a reason, a purpose, for all this misery that depression and anxiety had brought to my life. The fire of this illness had consumed me to nothing but ashes. But out of the ashes there will come some good.

I was reminded of this very fact when I recently read this from a devotional, which said, ‘The tough things we experience can help us understand others, relate to others and gain valuable resources with which we can help others’. I knew there had to be something positive hidden under all those ashes. And when I started digging, I realized what it was. To help others! I believe that the most effective person that could help someone with depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts; is someone who as walked down the same road.

I may not have all the answers but I can feel the pain, feel the hurt and listen without judgement. And I am someone who totally ‘gets it’, I understand where you are. When others don’t understand, not because they don’t care but because they haven’t been there; they aren’t where you are and therefore just cannot fully comprehend what it is you are going through.

In recent years I have dealt with more hurt, pain and trials then I have in all my lifetime combined. And I have often asked God, ‘why?’. Why do I have to experience so much tribulation?And I’m sure in your own situations you have questioned God and asked, ‘why?’. And the only answer I could find is found in 2 Corinthians 1:4 “God comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble”.

I guess God had it all figured out before I even existed. I learned two life lessons from this Bible verse. One is that God comforts me in all my tribulation. So no matter what  my troubles are, I can be assured that God will comfort me no matter the circumstances that I might find myself in. He is present in the rain and the sunshine. Secondly, I believe God knew in order for us to be touched by someone else’s infirmities; we would have to experience them for ourselves. Because I have a mental illness, I can be a comfort to someone else who is dealing with a mental illness themselves. Nothing brings me greater pleasure, a feeling of accomplishment and self worth; as does when I have encouraged and offered support, hope and comfort to someone else.

So mental illness; you haven’t beaten me down, you haven’t destroyed me, you haven’t had the last word. You have not won!  God will bring light out of the darkness, good out of the bad and comfort out of our tribulations and trouble. In Him will I trust!