This week in my psychology class, we learned about mental disorders. Some of my immediate family members express personality disorders and my childhood housekeeper exhibited signs of schizophrenia. From my early life experiences, I learned to accept differences in others because I saw how God still used them as conduits of blessings and extended His grace, love, and mercy.
Mental disorders are not flaws. They may interfere with cultural expectations of behavior and may be debilitating but are in no way blemishes on one’s character.
Psalm 139:13-16 NLT says, “You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.”
We serve a perfect God who designed every attribute of our being, sees the best in us, and can give us beauty for ashes. Today, I ask you to show compassion to persons with mental disorders, and generally accepting of differences in others. Far too often we look to the world to establish the boundaries of normalcy and what’s deemed good or acceptable, when we should refer to the Bible. 🙏🏾
Runa Lucienne 