Mental Health

When I saw him fear rose up in me and it was as if the light of the sun had been blotted out by a dark cloud. Suddenly a fearful storm was raging all around me. I found it difficult to breathe, much less think. Standing before me was someone I loved almost as much as I loved life itself, but he was so altered, so changed, that if had I seen him in a crowd I doubt I would have known him.

My first thought was, "Dear Jesus! He looks like the Gadarene demoniac!" That was when I began to let grace, mercy and peace wash away the paralyzing anxiety that had thrust me into darkness. I took a deep cleansing breath and repeated, "He looks like the Gadarene demoniac." I prayerfully put on the helmet of salvation.

I thought about how Jesus had told His disciples that they needed to cross over to the other side of the lake. Why? Why did they need to cross to the other side of the lake? It was because someone was waiting for them; someone who was living hopelessly among the tombs. A man bent on self-destruction who no human could tame. So, Jesus needed to get to where the demon-possessed man was because He had come into the world to seek and to save the lost.  

I recognize that there are times when I find myself suddenly facing a raging storm and my gut feeling is that I'm going to drown. Isn't it interesting that when Jesus told His disciples that they needed to cross the lake He was sleeping in the boat when the terrifying storm hit? When they woke Him with the question,"Don't you care that we're going to die?" He responded by rebuking the wind and the sea, "Silence! Be still!" That was all it took for the wind to cease and the great calm to come. Then He turned to His disciples and said, "Why are you fearful? Do you still have no faith?"

I would be lying if I said that I am not afraid when I find myself in an unexpected storm. I often find myself terrified when I see those I love living among the tombs, crying out and hurting themselves. I, like the disciples in the boat, would perish in the storm if I put my faith in myself alone. And I and those I love would live haunted lives among the tombs if Jesus had not come to seek and save the lost. But He did come. And so I put my trust in Him. By faith I take the helmet of salvation and place it on my head. I choose to take every thought captive. I choose to exchange my fear for faith. In doing this I choose mental health.