This book is written in memoir style, by a Christian music artist and speaker who was working with the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN). She derives much of the material from her memoir, HONESTLY, a book that I read years ago. This book takes many parts of HONESTLY and adds new material to it. She starts this memoir with the "distant rumblings" of her impending mental breakdown, and follows that first chapter with her mental breakdown, her stay in a psychiatric hospital, what she learned and how her lessons affected her in later years. She uses her experience with clinical depression to educate the Christian community to the reality of mental illness that also affects followers of Jesus but which we seldom speak of or speak of only in hushed whispers. This author is on a mission to end the stigma to end the stigma of mental illness in the Christian community. She takes us inside her stay in the psychiatric hospital and through her difficult experience and journey to wholeness. She includes a short chapter, which appeals to the reader to begin their similar journey on the road to becoming whole and emotionally and spiritually healthy.
I had read prior books by the author of this book. So I was not surprised at this book and it was what I expected. I had listened to Sheila Walsh's music prior to the mental breakdown that she describes, in detail, in this book and in books like HONESTLY and THE HEARTACHE NO ONE SEES, and one of her recent songs kept going through my head as I read this book. I found myself saddened that it takes mental breakdowns and trips to psychiatric hospitals, before we will get real with our brothers and sisters in Jesus. I found myself mentally saying, "Amen!" as the author laments how most of us churchgoers have lost the ability to be honest with each other about who we are and what we are. I have found this to be so true! Even in small groups, which are said to be intended to foster "authentic Christian community," I have found that so many of us in these groups feel driven to "inspire the others" in the group settings with testimonies of the courage and faith of others or themselves. About the deepest sharing we hear consists of cancer stories or cancer prayer needs, or other physical illnesses or needs of grieving people whose loved ones were lost to natural causes. The authentic sharing that should take place in our churches has, sadly, been replaced by paying psychologists, psychiatrists, or other self-help measures, instead of turning to a Pastor or to others in the Christian community. This author, by sharing with us her own experiences and that of others, shows us how critical God's grace and our willingness to lay hold of His grace, is in attaining personal emotional and spiritual health. I found myself wishing that it was not so hard to build this kind of community in our churches. But personal observation and experience has shown me that some things get in the way of the community that this author calls for, such as misplaced priorities, our fast-paced culture, consumerism, materialism and individualism as has been pointed out in other books about the call to build community. At churches, I have often heard of the need for "authentic Christian community," but I have been saddened at how little priority that we place on it. I know that the author's position on clinical depression and how to manage it, will still be controversial in the Christian community. For there are some Christians who believe that mental illness is just sin redefined. Unfortunately, I do not see the kind of transparency that many of us long to see happen in our churches, happen. In the West and especially in America, our self-sufficient, fast-paced and consumerist culture exerts overwhelming pressure against this kind of community. And this culture has slipped into our churches. The result is that since we cannot be real in our churches, we usually have to turn elsewhere if we need "more support." This is what this author had to do, as many of her Christian supporters walked away from her. The end of this book was no surprise to me, as I had read earlier books by Sheila Walsh and knew the end already.
I recommend this book for everyone. I recommend this book for non-Christians, including psychologists and psychiatrists. They need to know that the answer to all forms of human brokenness is found in Jesus and His grace, and in casting ourselves on His mercy. It is not found in spending months or even years, trying to dig out the secrets of one's id, or uncovering the "deep, dark secrets" of one's childhood. Psychology can diagnose the problems of human behavior and emotional ills, but it cannot cure them. I recommend this book for every Pastor and others in spiritual leadership, so they will know that if a Christian music artist experienced a mental breakdown because of unresolved personal issues and faulty biology, none of us is immune. That includes them. I strongly recommend this book for those who co-ordinate small groups as well as small group leaders, to show them the principles of building community in our churches. I recommend this book for every Christian so that they can know that none of us is immune to the brokenness of life and that while it may cost us greatly to know emotional and spiritual wealth, in the end we will find that it is worth it.
I received this book free of charge through Booklook Bloggers in exchange for my honest review.
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