Helping you navigate the tension between faith & mental health by looking at a tension point, a talking point and a truth to ponder.

Tension Point

"I know God should be my source of strength and stability, but my sense of wellbeing feels as temperamental as Autumn weather!"

Talking Point

My family and I recently spent a glorious couple of weeks on the Norfolk coast. The weather did not disappoint: apart from one drizzly day, the majority of our time was spent on the beach, hunting for sea glass, eating chips and giving in all too easily to the constant requests for ice-cream.

Now, I know true happiness is not found in something as fleeting as a sunny day and yet, with that warm glow on my face, the gentle breeze and the sound of kids having fun with the simple pleasures in life, I must admit to feeling… well… happy.

But those memories are fading faster than the leaves can fall from the trees. Gentle breezes are replaced with bitter autumnal winds; simple pleasures have given way to the busyness of life. It’s easy to find ourselves reminiscing about the sunshine, and those simpler days where joy seemed so much easier to grasp hold off.

It’s at times like this where we realise how easy – but unstable – it is to build an internal sense of happiness on external factors.

A good job, a significant other, a sunny day. Whilst these factors are all indeed ‘happiness’ inducing, they can never become the basis on which we build our lives. They are all changeable, like the weather.

We have to come to a place in ourselves, where our internal weather system is set, not by what is happening (and ever-changing) on the outside but by what we have cultivated on the inside. We must find an anchor for our soul - a sense of security, identity and purpose that has its foundations firmly rooted in an unchangeable truth.

Truth to Ponder

“I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”

— Philippians 4:12-13

The ‘him’ Paul refers to is Jesus. He is the constant, He is the Son and so He shines whatever the weather of your life. This doesn’t mean that when it rains in life, we have some magic ability to stay dry and not be affected. No – what it means is He gives us His umbrella and so whilst we may be facing the same conditions as everyone around us, our internal weather system is set on Him and our warmth comes from the inside out. We stay dry when we make use of what God has made available for us to use in the event of a storm; peace that isn’t dependant on circumstances, joy that becomes our strength, love that casts out all fear…

Life is unpredictable, people are fallible, things are breakable. But in Him and with Him you can find that a sunny disposition comes from a deep internal sense of being chosen, loved and living on this earth with a purpose to fulfil.

No matter what the weather is doing- you always take that truth with you so it becomes your steadfast anchor in a life that is as changeable as the weather.