Surrendering Your Fear

Surrender your fear. Something will come that is greater than what the fear is trying to protect. – Mooji  Initially, I was afraid of bipolar disorder primarily because I did not know what it was or what it entailed; it represented Uncertainty. The same was true of cerebellitis, another monumental Uncertainty. Uncertainty means not knowing.…

No Wonder God Was Not Answering My Calls

Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one’s weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart. – Mahatma Gandhi  After the shock of bipolar disorder diagnosis slowly began to dissipate, it was followed four years later with…

Was Prayer The Answer?

Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you. – St. Augustine  Bipolar disorder shook the foundations of my world. Cerebellitis turned my world upside down. After being diagnosed and treated for bipolar disorder, and understanding that most likely it would be a permanent part of my life, I religiously…

Help Was There, But I Could Not See It

Help me to journey beyond the familiar and into the unknown.    Give me the faith to leave old ways and break fresh ground with You. – St. Brendan  After being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, I spent the next four years trying, and struggling, to follow the advice of Dr. Kafissen: taking my medication every…

Was God Listening With A Deaf Ear?

Although the life of a person is in a land of thorns and weeds, there is always a space in which the good seed can grow. You have to trust God. – Pope Francis  At the end of this month, I will celebrate my sixty-ninth birthday. Thirty-three years ago, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.…

When Trust Is Under Attack

Trust is to human relationships what faith is to gospel living. It is the beginning place, the foundation upon which more can be built. Where trust is, love can flourish. – Barbara Smith  I was born with a trusting nature. I believed that trust was an inherent part of every human being’s character: a gift…

Mercy: A Rare And Priceless Arrow

Mercy is the force that reawakens us to new life and instills in us the courage to look to the future with hope. – Pope Francis  I often think of things I have done or said, or failed to do and say, that were cruel, inhumane, or unkind and wounded another in some way. I…

Good Humor Is Added To My Quiver

Cheerfulness, it would appear, is a matter which depends fully as much on the state of things within, as on the state of things without and around us. – Charlotte Bronte  When I was thirty-six-years-old, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder; four years later, cerebellitis was added to my medical history. Either illness, standing alone,…

Humility Is Strength

Life is a long lesson in humility. – J.M. Barrie  Life continues to teach me that humility is not weakness; rather, it is strength. It grounds me; it helps me avoid iron-willed self-determination. It reminds me, often not gently, that the events, circumstances, and outcomes of my life are not mine alone to dictate or…

We Are All In The Same Boat

We did not all come over on the same ship, but we are all in the same boat. – Bernard Baruch  We human beings, irrespective of who we are, where we live, or what we do, have much more in common than we believe, know, understand…or, admit to; we are all in the same boat…