God’s desire is to have a personal and intimate relationship with us. Everything that happens in our life is designed to give us reason to seek God out and get to know Him better. It is always our choice to turn our back to God and walk away or to turn our face toward Him and run into His open arms.

This one thing I know: God is for me!
   Psalm 56:9

Past Questions of the Month:

Hope and Assurance

This website was created for those acquainted with mental illness and in need of hope and assurance.

Question of the Month

My sister is supposed to take medication for her mental problems. Sometimes she takes it and sometimes I find out she has stopped it. She feels good when she is taking her medicine like she should. I get so frustrated when she stops it because she starts having problems again and it takes a while for her to get to feeling good again. What can I do to help her take her medicine?

I commend and encourage your involvement in your sister’s welfare. Your faithfulness and love is surely benefiting her greatly. When she stops her medication and suffers because of it, remember that is her choice. You are not responsible or even capable of changing her behavior. Your foremost job is to love her and be supportive whether she takes her medicine or not. Her life and the quality of her life is her responsibility. She must decide whether it is for her good to take the medication without stopping it. Allowing her to deal with the consequences of not taking it, without being rescued, will be the best motivator for her to change her behavior.

Stopping medication when symptoms disappear and things seem to be going good is a common stumbling block. So often, taking pills for mental illness is equated with weakness, lack of faith in God, a refusal to carry our own weight, and a confirmation that we must be crazy. This in turn can cause an unwillingness to take medication and a stubbornness that says, “I can get better on my own without having to rely on a crutch”. The opinions of others add greatly to our willingness to see medication as our ally in overcoming mental illness.

Crutches for a broken leg or a sprained ankle are welcomed as a means to continue to function in our daily life and not be homebound or bedridden for weeks on end. “Crutches” for mental illness allow broken hearts, torn minds, and wrenched emotions time to rest and begin to heal while doing the necessary tasks to keep on living.

Medication can be a gift from God. It is a special tool that can allow us to act and think in ways we would not be able to otherwise. It can prevent us from doing and thinking things that we may regret and never be able to undo. It can get us over the humps and through the hard places and allow us to gain strength and wisdom. Someday, the insights and mental toughness and stability we have gained over time may make it possible to reduce the medication or even do without it.

For now, be thankful for the wonderful favor bestowed on us by having medication available to us for the taking. Only a short seventy years ago, there were no answers for mental illness. People lived out their lives in institutions not fit for animals and never seeing their families again. Taking medication may not be what we want right now but it may be one of the means God uses to help us get what we truly want and desire for our lives.

Contact

I welcome your comments and suggestions about this website. If you have a question that you would like addressed, please let me hear from you.

My email address is carolyn@hopeandassurance.com.

My mailing address is:
P.O. Box 3041
Jonesboro, AR
72403-3041.