The show today is a flashback to one of the top viewed sessions in our 2020 church Mental health summit with Sarah Robinson.
If you don’t know Sarah, well…you are missing out. She is amazing.
Sarah is the author of the book I Love Jesus, But I want to Die: Finding Hope in the darkness of depression. And after you hear this session from the Summit I know you are going to want to hear more.
I want to say upfront that the topic of this episode can be triggering for some people and may not be appropriate for young ears. Sarah shares details of her personal story with suicide and self-harm and it may be triggering. If that is the case I encourage you to listen with a safe person or press pause and skip this week’s episode.
PODCAST LINKS:
Free Download: 16 simple, encouraging phrases that anyone can use to uplift those who are struggling.
Sarah’s Book: I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die
When I became a Christian I thought everything would get better.
- If I did all the right things I would find joy
- I filled every spare minute with the ministry, but the darkness, the pain and fog refused to lift
- Intrusive thoughts- intrude on your life whether you like them or not
Myth: Cutting is an attention-seeking behaviour
- For most people it’s a source of intense shame
- Self-harm is a coping mechanism to manage intense emotions
- Self-harm is not a suicide attempt although people struggle with both.
- Self harm is addictive
- Self-harm is more than cutting, it’s any intention a way to harm yourself.
How do we help those who are struggling?
- 1 Kings 19:3-7
- God didn’t argue or disagree with Elijah’s struggles
- God acknowledged the struggle and offered practical supports
- “You don’t have to understand someone’s battle with mental illness to make them feel loved, cared for and safe.”
- “We want to skip straight to telling people the truth, but God gave us a pattern that we first need to tend to the physical and emotional needs before we respond to the lies that they are believing. “
God gave Elijah a path forward, but not until he acknowledged where Elisha was .
Helping someone through this kind of darkness, doesnt have to be hard or scary.
CONNECT WITH SARAH
Sarah’s Website: sarahjrobinson.com
Sarah’s Socials: Instagram Facebook Twitter
Sarah’s book: I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die
CONNECT WITH HOPE MADE STRONG
Join the Church Care Ministry and Mental Health Facebook Group! In the Facebook group, we chat about how to care for others, what are your challenges as well as share tons of resources. This is a great community of pastors, clinicians, and those with lived experience and we want to get to know you.