Mental Health Illness can happen to anyone! Kerry talks about a very special encounter that gave her hope.
When God answered my prayer it was like an angel was sent to encourage me.
Episode Notes
Episode Notes
0:00 Kerry
Hi it’s Kerry here from Sailing With Thankfulness.
I’m really excited today. I’m going to do my first mental health blog and what better place to do it than the amphitheatre at Pula in Croatia.
Even When We’re Broken, Our Essence Remains
0:18 Kerry
As I was enjoying and taking in the sights and the historic and breathtaking wonder of this arena it really got me thinking about what it would have been like back in BC/AD when it was first constructed and how majestic it would have been then compared to how it is now.
It started me thinking about myself. If I compare myself a couple of years ago to how I am now I’m really just a shadow of who I used to be. When I look at this building I can see the brokenness and I can see the fragileness. When I look at myself I can see the brokenness and the fragileness as well but, incredibly, the thing that’s still there is the essence of it even though it’s in ruins. The essence of what it was purposed for, what it was made for, is still there. The same is true for me even though I’m not like who I used to be. The essence of who i am is still there and I want to encourage those of you who are on a mental health journey just like me that the essence of who you are is still there. It’s so valuable and I look forward to walking this journey with you as we see some of the past restored. There’ll be new things that are added to who we are as well because of this journey. It changes us, but hopefully for the better.
An Encouraging Encounter With An Angel
1:41 Kerry
I want to tell you a little story.
It was in the middle of winter, probably two years ago. We were still living at Gosford at that time and Stephen was driving down to Sydney for work. He’d leave very early at five in the morning. I was really struggling just to get out of bed and my preference would be to stay in bed all day. I knew that wasn’t good for my mental health so we had a deal. He’d drop me off at McDonald’s down the road and then I’d walk home so at least I had a little bit of exercise.
One morning, about 5:30, I could see the road in front of me and I could see the road behind me. Since it was so early it was quite dark so I was looking around always aware of who was around or what was happening. The night before I wasn’t doing well and I remember crying out to God and saying “God, I would so love it if someone would just speak a word into my life or that you’d just show yourself to be so real. I feel so lost and I would just love to know that you’re really there.”
The next morning as i was walking from Gosford towards the train station near home I looked up and a lady was in front of me. I could see a long way in front of me and I hadn’t seen her coming so I was a bit surprised that she was there. I did the Australian thing when someone comes up, they walk past you, you nod and you say “morning”. She didn’t do that. she walked directly up to me and she said “I hope you don’t mind but I just want to tell you something”. I was a bit shocked. I said “sure” and she said “I want to tell you that God loves you. He loves you so much. Can I give you a hug?”
I burst into tears because I thought “My goodness, here’s a stranger, a complete stranger, who I don’t know, walking up to me at 5:30 in the morning, telling me that God loves me and she wants to give me a hug.” I started crying and I had a hug and I said to her “You don’t realise how special this is to me.” I said “I was just praying last night `God, I just want you to show yourself to be real to me’ and here you are first thing in the morning before even everybody else is awake. You’re telling me that God loves me out of the blue.”
I was so touched by this and so she went on her way. As I went on my way I suddenly thought “Oh my gosh, maybe she was an angel in disguise.” Like it talks about in the Bible, how an angel showed up to Mary and to Abraham and to many others but it just struck me and I thought “Oh my gosh, I wonder if she was an angel sent by God just to encourage me.” So, I looked around to see where she was and there wasn’t anyone there and I thought “Oh my gosh, maybe she was an angel.” I rang Stephen straight away and of course I was blubbering. I was crying and I was trying to tell him how touched I was that this woman would come up to me and just tell me how much God loves me at that time of morning and maybe she was an angel.”
Be encouraged and know when we’re feeling really down and we think we’re on our own we’re never alone. God is there. He has us. He sees us and He loves us. Whether it was an angel or it wasn’t I don’t know but it sure blessed me that day and just gave me a little spring in my step to know that God really does know and he loves me.
Mental Health Topics – You Choose
05:18 Kerry
In my very first mental health blog what I really want to just put up is some topics that I’ll be talking about over the next coming vlogs. Some of them will be interesting maybe to you. Some of them maybe not so interesting to you. It will really help me to know which ones are more important to you. If you could leave a comment and say yep this one’s something I’m interested in then i can highlight and do those ones first.
Another thing that helps is if you can subscribe to our sailing with thankfulness channel these will come up for you. If you press the notification bell you’ll also know when we’re uploading another one and you can like. We do want to have the interaction with you and have you coming on the journey with us.
Thank you for your support and we’re looking forward to journeying with you
Above all else I just want you to remember that you’re precious, that you are valuable and there is hope.
- Thankfulness – One Key to moving forward.
- Who we are is more important than what we do.
- Creativity – Helping to heal my soul.
- Take one step – learning to read again.
- Purpose – My reason to get out of bed in the morning.
- Suicide – Things we don’t talk about.
- Anxiety and Avoidance go hand in hand.
- The Hand Model of the Brain – Bringing Understanding to what I’m experiencing.
- Shame is deadly and keeping us unwell.
- Electric Shock Treatment – Did it work and would I do it again?
- Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation – What is it and how could it help?
- Being “Treatment resistant” – What is this like?
- Meditation, breathing, exercise and sensory tools – Help is at hand.
- Dead to the Bad = Dead to the Good.
- Drugs and their role in recovery.
- Depression – “Just get over it and move on!” Wish I could!
- Debilitating Anxiety – Panic Attacks, Stuttering and other symptoms.
- No surprises! The importance of routine in Mental Health Recovery
Or suggest your own topic of conversation.
It’s our hope and desire that you’ve found something in this video encouraging, inspiring or uplifting. If you did, make sure that you like it and subscribe on your favourite social media platforms. Be sure to click that notification bell so we can keep in touch. See you soon.
