S10.17 | Mental Illness & Faith: Addressing a Common Misconception
In this episode Carla discusses her recent health challenges, including depression and an autoimmune disease, and how they have affected her podcast.
She addresses a comment made on a recent Instagram post that perpetuates the misconception that admitting to mental health issues is a sign of weakness or lack of faith.
Be encouraged as Carla urges us to be good stewards of our health and our calling.
Did you know that Carla is a Christian Mental Health coach?
See if working with her is what you need in your current season.
Book a discovery call today!
Key Takeaways
Mental illness is not an identity, but a piece of information.
A diagnosis doesn’t define you—it informs how you steward your health, so you can live fully in the purpose God created for you.
2. Caring for your mental health is not “agreeing” with illness—it’s wisdom.
Just like someone with diabetes takes insulin, those with mental illness should seek appropriate treatment—whether medication, therapy, or lifestyle changes—while still believing for God’s healing.
3. Our identity is rooted in Christ, not in a label.
You are God’s workmanship, created for good works. Whether or not healing comes in this lifetime or the next, you can still live in purpose, wholeness, and hope.
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Connect With Carla:
Foundations to Healing—-> https://www.carlaarges.com/foundations-of-healing
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Resources:
5 Steps to Building Resiliency
Affirming Truths Facebook Community
5 Tips for Overcoming a Negative Body Image
Who You Say I Am Biblical Affirmation Cards
TRANSCRIPT
[00:00:00] Hello friends, and welcome to this episode of Affirming Truth. So you might have noticed we missed last week and we're a little bit late this week, and I am so sorry. It has just been a season, as you know, I was walking through some depression, but on top of that. I just discovered one. I'm in early stages of Hashimoto's Disease.
Which is an autoimmune disease that actually can cause depression. So there may be some correlation there, um, as well be behind some other challenges I have been experiencing. And then a couple of days after finding that out, I got bit by a dog. So. We have been going through it. So thank you for your grace and patience as I haven't been as [00:01:00] on top of the podcast as I would like today though, I want to address a question slash comment I got on an Instagram reel that I posted, uh, about a week ago, and.
I'm talking about it here because it, it is the exact sentiment that often Christians carry with them when they're battling mental illness or through trauma that further spiritually burdens them. And I wanna clear the air here and have open dialogue about this. So I'm gonna read you the comment from this reel verbatim, and then we'll go from there.
And the comment says, I'm genuinely curious and asks this with so much love and respect. Have you ever explored what might happen if someone came out of agreement with the diagnosis [00:02:00] itself and instead aligned with the truth of being God's workmanship? That they were created in Christ Jesus, not as disordered, but divinely designed for a purpose.
The world can't label or define. Ephesians two 10 says, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepare beforehand. What might healing look like if we viewed these experiences as not permanent identities, but as symptoms of spiritual or emotional wounds that God can fully redeem.
I would love to hear your perspective. So I really appreciate the sincerity and the genuine curiosity this question was asked in, because I often get attacked on social media by other Christians who don't understand what mental illness is and the real, uh, in and of itself with talking about. Um, things that Christians with mental [00:03:00] illness can deal with.
Um, for example, a pastor that doesn't know how, how to cancel them through it, right? Because they're not trained in that, um, the truth that God can and does still use us, um, and things like that. So let's talk about this. What might happen if someone came out of agreement with a diagnosis instead, align themselves with being the truth of God's workmanship.
So first and foremost in my own life and how I coach my clients is our identity is not in our illness. I am not, quote unquote, in agreement with my illness just because I acknowledge the fact that I have one. Okay. My identity is rooted in Christ and when I come across clients who is clearly don't have their identity rooted in Christ, which is part of the struggle, we work a lot on that, and that has a [00:04:00] lot to do with our core beliefs.
Core belief work is fundamental work that I do with my clients, and it is important. You cannot, you are not your illness. Your illness is just a piece of information about you. Your identity is absolutely 100% in Christ. Here is what a lot of Christians don't understand is. They don't ask these questions to people with physical illness.
Do you ever ask a cancer patient who says, I have cancer and I have to go to KE chemotherapy? Are they ever challenged about becoming into agreement with their illness? You know, are they encouraged not to go to chemotherapy because that's, you know, coming into agreement with their illness. If a diabetic needs to take insulin to care for themselves and help them function, do we see that they're coming into [00:05:00] agreement with their illness, or are they just being responsible and taking care of themselves?
If someone breaks their leg and we put a cast on it, are they becoming in agreement with their inner. Their injury or are they using wisdom to function in this world while they heal? And so this is the thing. Mental illness, true mental illness, is not just a spiritual or emotional wound, although those can coexist.
Mental illness is fundamentally rooted in brain malfunction. Okay, that the organ, the brain is malfunctioning. Why is it malfunctioning? There are a lot of different reasons why it could be. Brain, how the brain developed in childhood trauma. It could be because of injury. So having [00:06:00] concussions, we know, you know, having dementia, you know, different conditions of the brain can bring about elements of mental illness.
Um, it can be because we have hormonal imbalances or chemical imbalances that impact how the brain is. Functioning right? There are different things that can affect the brain that cause it to malfunction, thereby creating illness. I think sometimes when we hear mental illness, we think it's just of the mind and not of the organ, and that is a misconception.
Can you experience anxiety and not have mental illness? Yes. Can you experience depression and not have mental illness? Yes. And those seem to be the two ones that the Christian community latches on, right? Schizophrenia, bipolar, all of those things. These are [00:07:00] mental illness that requires care and attention.
Now, do we do the healing work? Absolutely. It's not enough just to take a pill. It's not enough just to go to therapy. We have to be actively engaged in our care. So yeah, if medication is needed, taking it, if going to therapy is needing needed, go to it. But also how are we caring for ourselves? Are we fueling ourselves, um, to be our best and support our brain function?
Right? How are we fueling ourselves for brain health? And brain health includes gut health because a lot of our serotonin is produced in our gut. How are we moving our body? How are we resting? What coping skills are we leaning on? Um, how are we renewing our minds and dealing with things like core beliefs?
How are we dealing with the traumas in our [00:08:00] life, which are often connected to mental illness? Right. Um, and so I wanted to say that, and then she said, what might it look like if we view these experiences, if not permanent identities? I think you don't view them as identities at all. I often tell my clients who are coming to me newly diagnosed, um, some of them who are experiencing grief and sadness and disillusionment over their illness, I help them recognize your illness is not your identity.
It is just a piece of data, a piece of information that you get to use to make decisions about your life. You see, God has a call on my life. God has a call on my life. In order for me to step out and steward that call to my best, I have to be at my best. [00:09:00] I have to be at my best. And for someone with bipolar and BPD, that means I take my medication.
I go to therapy, I eat well, I exercise, I do all those things. I root my identity in Christ fundamentally. But if I were to say I'm not gonna do any of that because that means I'm coming into agreement with my illness, I would not actually be stewarding my call. Well, and I would create a lot of suffering for myself and the people in my surroundings that is unnecessary.
I am a steward of this life, of this brain, of this body. I'm a steward of my son and my marriage and my call. Being a good steward means using wisdom, and it is wisdom to support yourself mentally, emotionally, spiritually, [00:10:00] and physically. And it is important that we understand mental illness is just as much physical as it is emotional, mental, spiritual.
And I really wanted to dig into that today because maybe some of you have been spiritually burdened by the fact like, oh, don't, don't say that you're struggling with anxiety. Don't say that you have bipolar. You know you're professing. You're confessing that. Have you ever heard that? I've heard my dad say that before.
Don't say it. You're confessing it. No, I'm not manifesting something in my life. Because I admit that it's true for now. God's healing is absolutely coming my way, and friend God's healing is absolutely coming your way. Keep contending for healing. God took our illnesses to the cross. They got nailed to the [00:11:00] cross.
Now, will the realization of that healing happen today? It could a thousand percent. Could it happen years from now? Absolutely. But could it also not happen until I'm reunited with God in heaven? Yeah, that's a possibility too. The healing is promised, the healing is coming. The timing of the healing is not given to us.
So in the meantime, until I have a realization of that healing. It behooves me to support myself in the best way possible so I can function for the kingdom, and it behooves you to do the same. And so my affirming truth to you today is your identity is not in your illness. Your identity is in Christ, and I'm actually going to use her scripture as our affirming truth because it's true.
Ephesians two [00:12:00] 10. We are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand. Friend, I want you to go out and do those good works. God prepared for you beforehand, and I want you to do it in full, emotional, mental, spiritual, and physical health. All right? That is the goal.
And so whenever you feel like you've been guilted or shamed or made to be questioned, you're question your spirituality because you're walking through a season here. Just know that this is data. You get to be the steward of your life and don't let anyone speak anything over you. Trust what God has spoken over you.
Trust in who God created you to be. Trust in where God is leading you. Trust your journey in your season in the care of God's hands. I'll talk to you later, friends.