Just Finished Reading: Blessed are the Crazy by Sarah Griffith Lund

This book tells Sarah’s life as lived in the shadow of mental illness and the light of faith. Sarah’s father suffered from undiagnosed bipolar disorder and was abusive of his family, especially his son Scott, who grew up to suffer from debilitating mental illness himself. And, on her father's side of the family, Sarah’s cousin Paul killed a woman during a psychotic episode. She witnessed his execution for the crime. 

Sarah’s experiences as a family member and an ordained minister speak to how difficult it is to love someone suffering from mental illness. Some pieces I want to remember from this: Sarah talks about the idea of “bearing your cross,” and how that sometimes comes across as just putting up with the suffering that God gives us. But for Sarah, bearing your cross has come to mean carrying the things that just happen in life – like mental illness – and carrying them in God’s presence so that they might be transformed, the way Jesus’ cross was transformed from instrument of torture and death into saving source of life.

Second, one of the hardest things about mental illness is not necessarily the experience of the disease itself, but the shame and secrecy that go with it. Sarah tells her whole story, gives her witness and speaks her truth as an example of the way that telling the truth can set us free. Bringing mental illness out of the shadows and finding ways to let go of stigma are ways that people and churches can help the healing and health of people suffering from mental illness and their families. Jesus did this kind of thing all the time - bringing people back into community with his healing touch. We can let go of our stigma around mental illness, too, and learn to walk together in the light.