Amy Panton, the author of today’s reading from Good Courage, offered a view into her personal journey with anxiety and depression. I have the sense that even a decade ago, this would have been a very risky choice. There would be stigma attached to admitting that you were receiving psychiatric care, or even seeing a therapist. This made me a little curious about her, so I looked her up.
https://emmanuel.utoronto.ca/news/emmanuel-phd-student-awarded-sshrc-doctoral-fellowship/
You can learn more about her by following the above link. Her work addresses important questions about how people of faith can respond to people, especially young people, who self-injure.
Does our faith help us, when we suffer emotional/psychological distress?
Does it help us remain present with those in our lives, who struggle with depression, anxiety, or self-injury?
Do we have a tendency to shy away from folks who have these struggles?
The devotion for today closed with an invitation/encouragement to reach out to people in your life who is on anti-depressants or other psychiatric medications.
What a good idea!
I did not have to think long to come up with names, and see the faces in my mind, of those to whom I could reach out.
Darrow Woods: Writer of Things 