[__ Prayer __] just gotta push on through

[Christ_empowered]

It dawned on me, finally--keep in mind, I'm a former sociology major, so this took a little too long, lol--that what I've gone through is just how "mental patients" are treated. In the 50s, people like me were sent off to long term hospitals. In the 70s, some people like me got lawyers, back when it was en vogue to liberate crazy people, and helped change the laws a bit. These days...well, my now somewhat affluent parents did get me an excellent attorney (praise God!), I live comfortably, etc, etc., but...reality is...

...few people care what "mental patients" go through. I'm just gonna have to push through the stigma and pursue my own objectives. I've been praying that God will "give me what it takes to bear up under what comes my way," and He's been doing that. And then some.

I'm kinda sorta blessed to have gone through a lot of things at a young age. Its sort of like...this is what life without Christ is like. Would you like to be a Christian now? And my response...YES, please! lol.

Anyway, keep me up in prayer. Its rough, you know...if you're "crazy," you're expected to live in poverty and "know your place." I'm supposed to "play by the rules," etc. etc. etc. Its ridiculous. Truth is, I didn't even know what "the rules" were. Funny how brain damage will do that to you, right? Now, I'm surprisingly intelligent and miraculously healthy, and...few people care. Back when people thought they could control me, it made them mad. Good things aren't supposed to happen to "poor white trash mental patients," after all. Now that I"m not "poor white trash," blah blah blah, people are chilling out on me, but they're still a little too open with "how they feel about me." Being a mental patient 'round here is sorta like being Rodney Dangerfield, apparently.

So, yes, another praise report (I'm waking up and doing things with my new life, Praise God!) and prayer request. Even though I have it much easier than most "mental patients," stigma is still there. I think its a bit worse because its the South, you know? Or maybe people are just more brutally honest down here? I dunno...

 

[AirDancer]

You remain in my prayers, my friend.

There continues to be so much growth in your process as our Lord God brings healing to you. He's also working in the lives of those around you. Ten years from now, those who know you today will no longer recognize you as the 'former mental patient' that you used to be.

And it's not just the South where 'mental patients' are stigmatized to some degree. It's universal. At least today, there are fewer areas in the world where the mentally challenged are put to death. Thankfully, as each generation appears on the scene, the fear of those with psychological issues ebbs, and that is encouraging.

Praise our Lord for His love, grace and mercy He has shown you .... and all of us!

 

[Christ_empowered]

That's true..."mental patients" have a rough go of things pretty much everywhere. Maybe southerners are just more open about it? On the plus side, this state isn't big on using the state mental hospital, so I've been spared that.

And you're right...as time goes on and I grow in The Lord, I'll change and, who knows, maybe I'll be able to win somebody (or more than 1 person) over to The Lord. Or...more likely...facilitate His work in the lives of others.

I emailed my Born Again cousin...he does missions work now, great guy. Anyway, he wrote me back...said "Jesus didn't come to make bad men good. He came to make dead men alive!" Very insightful, my cousin.

Thanks for your response

 

[AirDancer]

Isn't it amazing just how alive we each feel, once we've joined our Lord's family!

Yes.... He came to make dead men alive!

 

[Christ_empowered]

OK. So, I realize that I have to be thankful for *everything* that occurs in my life, especially after getting saved. I was always in God's hands, and now that's even more true and I have to be more cognizant of that.

OK. So people around here openly dislike me. At least I know, now, how they feel about me. "Welcome to the real world," and "this is what poor people go through," and "faggots don't matter," etc. That's the world--the broad road--I was called out of a bit over 2 years ago, Praise God!

Trials and tribulations help build faith and patience and...general virtue, I suppose. Could be far worse. I could be in prison, jail, state mental hospital, homeless, dead and in Hell, so on and so forth. At the very least, I should be living in barely contained, state-subsidized poverty. I'm not...because Christ has seen fit to be extra merciful towards me. I'm blessed. Honestly, I think its His work in my life that offends people so much.

I was ugly. Now, I'm not. Balding...now, too much hair, hair's too pretty and wavy, etc. etc. Short...now average height. Dead eyed...now sparkly eyed. Sickly...now healthy. Stupid...now smart enough for college-level work. You get the picture.

I haven't been made perfect--that awaits Heaven--but I have been washed and made clean, and made increasingly whole and normal. Our God is a God of restoration...even for me .