Mental Health Awareness

This photo is the first of many launching my new conceptual art series called "awareness" The image depicted here is "mental health awareness" Many of us deal with anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, and lies of who we are or who we have been told we are. There is a battlefield right inside our minds between who we want to become and who we are in this moment. There is a constant battle of good and evil waging wars inside your thoughts. For some, this battle is deadly and the cost is high. I want you to know you're not alone! According to the World Health Organization there are as many as 300 million people suffering from depression worldwide. I was 6 months pregnant, driving down an old country road after dark. The very few street lights that this road had, all blurred into one as the tears created abstract vision. I'm certain I was swerving all over this road. "Why am I even alive?!" I screamed into the air through my sobbing fit. My eyes focused in on a telephone pole, and I began to drive towards it. Leaving my other children at home, certain I was failing them. I wa listening to lies inside my head, blaming everyone around me who should be able to see how much I need them, for not helping me more, but the one I blamed the most was myself. I cried out to God and then felt His peace rush over me."You have a purpose" He whispered to me as my sweaty hands gripped the steering wheel with disbelief. I kept driving, I chose not to hit the pole, I chose to fight back against the darkness inside my mind. My challenge to you this week is each day wake up early, MAKE yourself get up, out of bed before the kids, before the rush of getting ready, before the alarm. Slowly drink a cup of coffee, spend time with Jesus, write a list of the small things you're grateful for, like the sun trickling in through your kitchen window, or your cat purring against your leg, nothing big but just 5 small things. Then take a shower, get yourself ready, even if you have no where to go, wash away the thoughts, let the water refresh you. Each moment of the day that you begin to feel overwhelmed, or the lies and thoughts begin to creep in your mind, I want you to fight back! Because you are a warrior! Fight back with all your might. The moment you think "I can't do this." know that God can!! He is the strength you need, you ARE doing it. When you have the question "why am I here?" know that YOU HAVE PURPOSE fight back with thoughts of all the things you enjoy doing and realize THAT. IS. YOUR. PURPOSE! When you think "I am not enough" counter it with each mountain you have over come, even if that mountain was getting out of bed and getting dressed today, that is an accomplishment! While you are in this battlefield, while you are fighting for your sanity, for who you once were, speak life back into existence. Do not accept the death that tries to cloud your mind. DO not partner with the lies! Someone is waiting for you to overcome this battle, to see that it is possible! You are not a victim you are a conqueror, a warrior! FIGHT BACK!