Psalm 139:13-14
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well. NIV
Being healed of depression and bipolar disorder does not mean that my brain is now wired “just like everyone else’s.” Healed does not equal “normal,” in the sense of mainstream or consensus. Healed equals “normal” in the sense that my brain has now gone back to it’s original, God-given design.
Different isn’t ill. Different is God’s design and plan for every individual human being. Illness is part of the curse that came as the result of Adam’s sin. And Jesus paid the price to redeem us from that curse.
Romans 5:17
For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! NIV
When I was mentally ill, the way my brain was wired, the way my genes expressed themselves, and the way my chemicals and hormones interacted were all broken and under the curse. So while I did have some benefits of the way God designed my brain to work, such as creativity, I also had depression, anxiety, hypomania, hypersensitivity, and a host of other mental illness symptoms.
When I received my healing, the root cause of those symptoms went away and I was left with God’s original design.
My God-given, differently-wired brain makes connections that not everyone else’s brain makes. In a sense, I see things that other people don’t see. And it has nothing to do with psychosis or delusion. It’s a different perspective. It’s creativity. It’s neuroscience. And I don’t have to be mentally ill to experience it.
Even if you’re struggling greatly with mental illness right now, let God’s Word touch your heart with the assurance that He created the unique you underneath the illness.
Psalm 8:3-5
When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?
You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor. NIV
Adam’s sin, the fall of man, and the work of the enemy may try to distort God’s creation. But they can’t change it; they can only cover it up. Let the truth of how God created you settle in your soul and give you hope that His original design is still there – no matter what has tried to cover it up.
What is your unique “normal”? How has God fearfully and wonderfully made you?
Let’s celebrate His creation together.
Final image: Maria M. Johnson, Background image: geralt
God's Word For Mental Health 