Your power is made perfect in my weakness.
Mental Health Struggles are normal.
At the moment, I am going through some big life changes. As well as difficult changes in my personal relationships, the end of my university studies is fast approaching. Not to mention the ever-changing coronavirus situation.
Over the past few months, like many others, the level of stress and anxiety that I have experienced has been more than usual. Plans cancelled, working from home, everyday changes. It seems like none of us can turn off the news in-case the next announcement is made.
For many people, this may be the first time that they have experienced anxiety or for others like me the past few months may have brought up buried memories from within you.
Growing up I lived a fairly stress-free life until the age of 10 when my mum became very ill and life changed forever. At that time my dad was working away from home often and my brother was also moving to university. I hadn’t realised the impact that this had on my life until I reached the age of 15 and sat my Higher exams. That was when I experienced panic attacks for the first time in my life which was a very scary and disorientating experience both for myself and my parents.
When I was 17, I moved away from home to university. This was an extremely unsettling time both in my personal life and also in my spiritual life. Temptation at university was all around and like many others I struggled so much to resist the urge to fit in. In December of my first year I had what I would describe as a mental health crisis, which included two visits to hospital to have psychiatric assessments. Even at this point, I was never ‘labelled’ with a diagnosis, just urged to work through the pain I encountered in my childhood. However even through all of this and by God’s grace I was able to continue my studies.
So why did I share all of this detail online of a pretty private and personal thing? This detail is important because it is my lived journey and experience which God has laid on my life-path for a reason.
It is easy to look back on this experience and say: where was God in all of this? Even as I write this, hurting from the most recent difficulty I have faced, I the easiest thing to do would be to ignore God. However, it is through these experiences that God is calling us to cling onto him, sometimes in a way we have never done before.
Having recently experienced mental health stigma in a way I could never have imagined, I started to believe there was something ‘wrong’ with me that made me ‘less-than’ other believers who didn’t have mental struggles. The cracks in my life seemed to be so much more permanent and obvious than those in other’s lives.
When we think about being created in the image of God, we often fail to remember that we as individuals are created in God’s image. Including individuals who have physical struggles and mental struggles. As Christians we should never stigmatise those with mental struggles who have doubts in God’s goodness as being ‘less-than’ other believers. Sin in our lives makes us imperfect people, but it does NOT mean that God views us as less-than. God sees us as his dearly loved children in spite of the struggles we face. That is the glorious news of the gospel.
I know most people reading this will probably not be in a position of needing to know the comfort of God however, the beautiful thing about the bible is that it is relatable to all of our circumstances regardless.
“but we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us” 2 Corinthians 4:17
As a culture we hate to show weakness or be perceived as being weak. However, we as Christians need to understand the value of weakness. Sometimes periods of suffering arrive at our door to expose our weakness. Just like jars of clay that are fragile and easily breakable, all of us at times are exposed to the weakness and cracks in ourselves. Exposure of the fragility of ourselves and the sin in our lives allows us to be broken in order to remould us into the likeness of Christ.
However, it is in these times that the power and grace of God is shown.
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. – 2 Corinthians 12:9
It is when we are truly weak that we see the power of Christ, working in our hearts and renewing our minds. I want to encourage anyone that is feeling the weakness and fragility of their own existence to run to Christ and hide in his loving embrace.
One thing I know is that my experience of life is normal, we all face trials and tribulations of many kinds which can push us off course. The most important thing is to remember we are all made in the image of Christ, we are all broken in different ways but we are all made perfect in Christ.
If you are reading this thinking I have no idea how to support someone in that position the most important things to do are:
1. to pray for them
2. to comfort them by words or in practical ways
3. to reassure them that weakness and suffering is normal and part of our daily battle as humans.
