Anxious Faith

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Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If you’re struggling with trauma or addiction yourself, please talk to someone to seek help. That might be a friend, family member, pastor, or your doctor. If you’re in Australia or New Zealand, there’s a list of helplines you can call here.

enMarch 04, 2024

We Are Not Our Feelings

Many of our guests have shared that they’ve experienced some form of anxiety since childhood. But that’s not always the case; for some people, anxiety or any other mental illness might not show up until later in life, seemingly out of nowhere. That was the case for Akos.

It wasn’t until his 30’s that Akos faced anxiety for the first time, in the form of a panic attack while seated on a small aircraft. That seemingly isolated incident led to a second panic attack, and a third, until his anxiety worsened.

Despite having a strong faith and a good understanding of mental health—Akos was working in ministry and married to a psychologist, after all—he wrestled with recurring anxious thoughts and couldn’t seem to control his feelings. And that led to a shift in his understanding, as he learned that he was not his anxious feelings — they were separate from him, much like how we can be confronted with sinful temptations that are not a part of our identity.

By seeing his anxiety as something outside of who he is as a person, Akos has been able to come to terms with the uncontrollable thoughts he sometimes has and yet choose how to respond to them.

Today, he shares with us how he sees the Bible’s “heroes of the faith” also being confronted with trials and suffering outside of their control, but choosing to remain faithful to God and trust in His promises.

Akos has written several pieces on our blog, including 10 Surprising Things I’ve Learned About Having Good Mental Health and As a Christian Bloke, Here’s What I’ve Learned About Dealing With Difficult Emotions.

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If you want to see more of how Akos engages with faith, mental health, and culture, you can check out his personal blog here.

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Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If you’re struggling with trauma or addiction yourself, please talk to someone to seek help. That might be a friend, family member, pastor, or your doctor. If you’re in Australia or New Zealand, there’s a list of helplines you can call here.

enFebruary 20, 2024

Managing OCD With God

To kick off this year, we’re chatting with Amelie, a university student in Sydney. Amelie’s mental health journey started during high school, with what she thought was anxiety and experiencing a lot of existential dread. Initially she thought that the anxiety was all based around school pressure and performance, but it wasn’t long after she graduated that she realised the feelings hadn’t gone away, which led to a diagnosis of OCD - or obsessive compulsive disorder.

Amazingly though, it was the beginning of her anxiety and mental health journey that actually led Amelie to finding God in high school, and she has a great story of how the growth of her faith has enabled her, along with a lot of hard work and medication, to be in a much better place where her OCD is now manageable, and to know that God is good, God is just, and God is holy even amidst the struggles of OCD.

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Amelie has also shared part of her story in a blog post for us, called With Trauma Came OCD, but Then Came Jesus.

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obsessive compulsive disorder

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Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If you’re struggling with trauma or addiction yourself, please talk to someone to seek help. That might be a friend, family member, pastor, or your doctor. If you’re in Australia or New Zealand, there’s a list of helplines you can call here.

enFebruary 05, 2024

our daily bread

anxious faith

Wrapping up the Year

Join James, Maddy and Ethan in our final episode of the year to take a look back on where Anxious Faith began and where we’re heading. From small beginnings in January 2023 to almost 25,000 podcast downloads and a growing online community, we’re so grateful for where God has brought us this year.

Tune in for a quick recap of all 21 episodes, as well as the team’s reflections on some key things we’ve learned through our work this year that have helped us each in our own mental health journeys. We also take a look at some highlights from the blog this year, and chat about our vision for Anxious Faith in 2024.

Lastly, we want to say thank you to each of you for listening, sharing your stories with us, and helping us pioneer this ministry. We’re excited for what’s ahead, but in the meantime, we hope you’ll join us on this reflection of the year that’s been!

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Fill out the survey and help us shape the future of Anxious Faith

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Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If you’re struggling with trauma or addiction yourself, please talk to someone to seek help. That might be a friend, family member, pastor, or your doctor. If you’re in Australia or New Zealand, there’s a list of helplines you can call here.

enDecember 19, 2023

When Your OCD Is About Your Faith

OCD is made up of intrusive thoughts that you can’t control around a particular issue–that’s the “obsession”–and those thoughts cause an incredible amount of anxiety unless you complete a certain action you feel compelled to do–that’s the “compulsive” part. Within the family of OCD, there are a number of different subtypes.

But what if your OCD is about your faith?

This episode we’re chatting to Mary, a young woman in the UK who has religious OCD or “scrupulosity”, a type where the obsession and intrusive thoughts are all focused around religion and faith. Having grown up in a Christian family, this has been a difficult journey for Mary.

For Mary and others suffering with the religious type of OCD, their intrusive thoughts are focused on questions such as whether God is real, and if the Bible can be trusted. While these are questions that we might all ask during our faith journeys, for those with religious OCD, these thoughts are persistent and inescapable.

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Mary's blog piece: I Wish I'd Known It Was Religious OCD

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Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If you’re struggling with trauma or addiction yourself, please talk to someone to seek help. That might be a friend, family member, pastor, or your doctor. If you’re in Australia or New Zealand, there’s a list of helplines you can call here.

enNovember 27, 2023

When Trauma Leads to Addiction

Trauma is a big and complex thing, and a topic we want to unpack in more depth in the future; but in today’s episode, we’re sharing the story of one man’s trauma, and the addiction and mental illness it led to.

Dr Mark McNear is a licensed clinical social worker in New Jersey in the US. As a child, Mark suffered significant trauma and abuse, which he did his best to numb himself from. It wasn’t until Mark was in his 50’s that his doctor noticed he’d been abusing prescription medication and referred him to a rehab centre that could help.

Mark calls that day the best and worst day of his life. His wife drove him to rehab and checked him in for several months. As he began to get clean from his substance abuse, Mark was left with memories flooding back to him; recollections of the trauma he’d experienced that he’d suppressed his entire adult life and had never told anyone about.

With no way to run from the trauma, Mark had no choice but to acknowledge it, share it with others, and work towards healing. In this episode, Mark encourages listeners who’ve faced trauma with lessons he’s learned from his own journey, and shares with us how we as people of faith can walk alongside people we know who may be dealing with trauma or substance abuse.

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Mark’s book, Finding My Words: A Ruthless Commitment to Healing Gently After Trauma weaves his own story with powerful gospel truths, and reminds us that God is with us in the messiness of life and wants to see us recovering from trauma. You can contact Mark via his website here.

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Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If you’re struggling with trauma or addiction yourself, please talk to someone to seek help. That might be a friend, family member, pastor, or your doctor. If you’re in Australia or New Zealand, there’s a list of helplines you can call here.

enNovember 14, 2023

A Psychologist Answers Your Questions

This episode, we’re speaking to Dr Sarah Morris, a clinical psychologist in Melbourne, Australia. Not only is Sarah a specialist who runs her own practice, but she is also a follower of Jesus who walks the road daily in both mental health and faith spaces.

Have you ever wondered, ‘What exactly does a psychologist do?’ Or maybe you’ve heard about cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) and ‘measurement-based practice’ and have no idea what those things involve. Well, Dr Sarah is here to answer all our questions!

If you’ve never had any firsthand experience of seeing a psychologist, it can sometimes be a bit confusing to know exactly what that looks like. And, if you’re a person of faith, you may have wondered whether the field of psychology is compatible with our faith.

In this episode, Dr Sarah gives us an overview on what psychology is, how it differs from psychiatry and counselling, and also shares about some of the common types of treatments that psychologists will use with someone. She also shares with us how her Christian faith plays into her profession, and whether faith and psychology are ever at odds. Listen in to find out!

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Here in Australia, you can visit a psychologist by chatting with your GP to get on a ‘mental health care plan’. If you’re wanting to know what that first visit to your GP looks like, check out this short video of Dr Sarah (a different Dr Sarah from this episode!) explaining the process.

You might also like to read ‘If Jesus Is Enough, Why Would I Need Psychology?’ and ‘Does My Psychologist Need to Be Christian?’ on our blog.

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Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If you, or someone you know, are struggling with anxiety or your mental health, we’d really encourage you to speak to a doctor, mental health professional, or reach out to one of the organisations on our Help page.

enOctober 23, 2023

Is 'Mindfulness' Okay as a Christian?

‘Mindfulness’ is one of the big practices that are often recommended or suggested to people who are struggling with their mental health. But as Christians, is mindfulness something that we should throw ourselves into without question? Do we need to be careful in following these exercises?

This episode, we’re speaking with Dr Katherine Thompson, a mental health social worker, member of the Centre of Theology and Psychology, and author of Christ-Centred Mindfulness.

Katherine first unpacks what mindfulness is, where it came from, and how it can help our minds and bodies. She then shares how she’s learned to integrate mindfulness and meditative practices with her faith, and takes us through a couple of ‘Christ-centred’ mindfulness exercises that listeners can follow along with.

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If you’re interested in trying some of your own meditating on God’s Word, we’d love to introduce to you to a podcast produced by our colleagues in the UK office of Our Daily Bread Ministries. Evening Meditations are short, 10-minute daily episodes that encourage us to refocus our hearts on God and to untangle ourselves from the busyness of life.

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Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If you, or someone you know, are struggling with anxiety or your mental health, we’d really encourage you to speak to a doctor, mental health professional, or reach out to one of the organisations on our Help page.

enOctober 09, 2023

When Suicide Strikes

As our Suicide Awareness Month comes to a close, we’re taking a look at some of the bigger questions that come along with the topic, such as ‘Was this my fault?’, ‘Could I have done more?’, and ‘How could God let this happen?’.

To do that we’re hearing from Al Hsu, a writer in the US who wrote the Discovery Series When Suicide Strikes for Our Daily Bread Ministries, our parent ministry. Al sadly lost his own father to suicide when he was in his twenties, and has wrestled with each of these questions himself.

In this episode, Al unpacks the concept of “false guilt” that’s common among suicide survivors, and shares with us that grief isn’t a race and that we have a gracious Heavenly Father who gives us permission to grieve.

To read more of Al’s story and reflections, find his 6-part series When Suicide Strikes here. You can also check out Al’s book, Grieving a Suicide: A Loved One’s Search for Comfort, Answers, and Hope.

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Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If you, or someone you know, are struggling with anxiety or your mental health, we’d really encourage you to speak to a doctor, mental health professional, or reach out to one of the organisations on our Help page.

enSeptember 25, 2023

Surviving Being Suicidal

If you listened to our last episode with Pippa, you’ll know that this month we’re opening up the conversation around suicide and hearing from people with firsthand experiences of it; whether they’ve lost someone to suicide or have considered suicide themselves.

In this episode we’re hearing from Joshua, a young guy from New Zealand who suffered depression as a teen and came to the point of wanting to end his life. Joshua shares vulnerably with us about his thoughts at the time, including walking us through what was meant to be his ‘final day’ and sharing about the letter he wrote to farewell friends and family.

Through it all, Joshua’s story is one of hope. Thanks to a somewhat miraculous intervention, Joshua is still with us today and is transparent about his grappling with God and his mental health since that day. We’re grateful for his story, and grateful that he is around to share it. We hope that Joshua’s story will not only help those of us who have considered suicide to feel less alone, but also equip us all to better understand and spot the signs that someone we know might be at risk.

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If you have questions about suicide or want to explore this topic more, we have a new page of Suicide Resources that will help you unpack the main theological thoughts on suicide, look at where we see it in the Bible, hear from others who have lost someone to suicide or attempted themselves, and learn how to help those who might be struggling. On our blog you can also read 6 Ways to Support Someone Struggling With Suicidal Ideation and How to Create a Suicide Safety Plan.

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If this episode is troubling for you, please reach out to someone; whether that’s a family member, trusted friend, your pastor, doctor or psychologist, or you can visit our Helplines page for a list of organisations you can call.

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Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If you, or someone you know, are struggling with anxiety or your mental health, we’d really encourage you to speak to a doctor, mental health professional, or reach out to one of the organisations on our Help page.

enSeptember 18, 2023

Losing a Son to Suicide

The topic of suicide is so often hidden away or only talked about in hushed conversations. But with all the fear and stigma surrounding it, those who might be struggling with suicidal ideation or the pain of losing someone to suicide run the risk of feeling like they’re alone; and here at Anxious Faith, we’re working to stop that.

This month, as part of opening up the conversation around suicide, we’re hearing from Pippa, a mother of two living in Newcastle, Australia. Four years ago, Pippa’s faith was challenged as she and her husband dealt with their teenage son’s deteriorating mental health. Sadly, they lost that son to suicide.

Pippa is raw and honest as she shares her family’s story of unimaginable grief and pain, but she also encourages us that God is no less with us in the messiness of life. Four years on, Pippa says her pain is still as deep, but that she’s been able to see glimpses of colour creeping back into her life, and though it’s still a journey of daily rebuilding her trust in God, Pippa maintains that He is good.

Our team, as well as Pippa and her family, pray that God will speak to you through this powerful episode. If you have questions about suicide or want to explore this topic more, we have a new page of Suicide Resources on our website that will help you unpack the main theological thoughts on suicide, look at where we see it in the Bible, hear from others who have lost someone to suicide or attempted themselves, and learn how to help those who might be struggling.

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Read a blog post version of Pippa’s story

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Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If you, or someone you know, are struggling with anxiety or your mental health, we’d really encourage you to speak to a doctor, mental health professional, or reach out to one of the organisations on our Help page.

enSeptember 11, 2023

Introducing Suicide Awareness Month

This month, we're going to be focusing on suicide. If we thought mental health wasn't talked about enough in churches, suicide is a whole other level. This bonus ep gives us a brief overview at what we'll look at.

Also head to our Suicide Resource Page on the Anxious Faith website for more resources and content.

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Spotting the Signs seminar at CTP

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Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If you, or someone you know, are struggling with anxiety or your mental health, we’d really encourage you to speak to a doctor, mental health professional, or reach out to one of the organisations on our Help page.

enSeptember 04, 2023

A Psychiatrist Explains Mental Illness

As you probably know, we started this podcast focussing on anxiety and how it plays out with our faith. But as our range of guests – and our audience – has grown, we’re now stepping back to look at a broader range of mental conditions.

This episode, we’re hearing from an expert about some of the different types of mental illnesses, their risk factors, and how we can respond to those struggling. And who better to learn from than Prof Kuruvilla George, a psychiatrist with over 40 years of experience?

KG, as he’s known, was a practising psychiatrist both in the UK and here in Australia, where he’s worked in clinical practice, headed up programs for hospitals, taught as a clinical professor at universities, and even served as the Deputy Chief Psychiatrist for the state of Victoria for 10 years.

Now he’s retired, and spends his time using his medical knowledge – as well as his faith – to break the stigma of mental illness in the church through his work with the Centre for Theology and Psychology in Melbourne, Australia.

We're not going to address every question we might have about mental illness, but we hope this kind of overview will help give us all a better understanding of how mental illnesses differ from one another, what causes them, how we approach this topic as Christians, and how we can be caring for those with a mental illness.

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Centre for Theology and Psychology

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Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If you, or someone you know, are struggling with anxiety or your mental health, we’d really encourage you to speak to a doctor, mental health professional, or reach out to one of the organisations on our Help page.

enAugust 28, 2023

Church, We Need to Talk

One of the recurring themes throughout Anxious Faith to this point has been one of people who in dealing with their mental illness sometimes coming up against well meaning churches or other Christians, who invariable may hinder more than help. But while many people have had that experience, it isn’t the only one. And in learning how to better address and engage mental health in our faith communities, sharing stories of what to do is just as important as learning from experiences of where we’ve gone wrong.

This episode we're speaking to Harrison, a youth pastor at a church in Auckland, who through his own experience with anxiety, has developed a huge heart for making the church and youth group a space where mental health is openly and honestly addressed.

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Harrison's Church's YouVersion/Bible app reading plan - Wellbeing: An Invitation to a Flourishing Life

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Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If you, or someone you know, are struggling with anxiety or your mental health, we’d really encourage you to speak to a doctor, mental health professional, or reach out to one of the organisations on our Help page.

enAugust 14, 2023

Was God There During My Depression, Self-Harm, and Suicidal Thoughts?

Depression, self-harm and suicidal thoughts are far more common than we probably realise.

Today, we’re chatting to Maddy; you may recognise her as our team’s Editor and Content Writer, or from Episode 6 where she and her husband shared on navigating a relationship with mental illness. But today, Maddy is sharing a new part of her story that she’s never opened up about publicly–her battle with depression, self-harm and suicide ideation.

Depression came for Maddy in her late teens. Not overnight, but over a period of months; a gradual descent into a darkness so deep that it consumed everything in her life. Worried about being a burden and afraid of letting people down, Maddy struggled with thoughts that maybe life would be better for others without her in it.

In Christian communities, there can often be an assumption that depression is caused by a rift between you and God, and that ‘getting better’ is as simple as coming back to faith and learning to trust in Him again. As Maddy started opening up about her depression, well-meaning people prayed that she would “come back to God” and “feel His presence”.

But for Maddy, that wasn’t the case at all. In fact, God’s presence was one of the only things she felt during that time–and some of her most beautiful and intimate moments with God were right in the thick of her depression, when talking to Him was all that she could do.

Listen as Maddy shares about her holistic road to recovery–how she prayed for healing, but the ‘healing’ came slowly–through professional support, through community, through healthy habits, and ultimately, through trusting that God was still with her in the ‘in-between’.

We hope that this episode encourages you that wrestling with mental illness doesn’t mean you’re far from God, and that there is hope and recovery from depression, even if it comes slowly. God’s healing is no less miraculous whether it happens in an instant, over time, or is still to come

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Maddy has also written a blog post based on her story called ‘My Healing From Depression Came Slowly’.

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Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If you, or someone you know, are struggling with anxiety or your mental health, we’d really encourage you to speak to a doctor, mental health professional, or reach out to one of the organisations on our Help page.

enJune 30, 2023

Is There Tension Between Faith and Psychology?

Psychology can sometimes be a tricky topic, especially within the church. The practice of psychology–or any form of therapy, really–is often seen as taboo; something to avoid because it might not align with our faith.

So isn’t going to a professional for our problems suggesting that God isn’t enough?

Does seeing a psychologist–especially one who might not be a Christian–go against our faith? Can the two go hand in hand?

In this episode, we’re chatting with Chris–a familiar voice here at Anxious Faith. Previously, Chris has shared with us his own journey with depression (listen to that episode here), and how visits to a psychologist were a key part of helping him through it.

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Read the blog post to accompany this episode called, ‘If Jesus Is Enough, Why Would I Need Psychology?’

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Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If you, or someone you know, are struggling with anxiety or your mental health, we’d really encourage you to speak to a doctor, mental health professional, or reach out to one of the organisations on our Help page.

enJune 16, 2023

Why Hasn't God Cured My OCD?

In our early episodes, we’ve been sharing stories about people who struggle with Anxiety conditions, and learning how that plays out with their faith.

But what about all the other mental health conditions we can face?

In this episode we’re speaking to Jemimah, a university student from Melbourne who was diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (commonly referred to as OCD).

OCD is something that is often completely misunderstood, and as a result significantly trivialised – many of us might think that having OCD means you like having your bookshelves arranged evenly, or that you need to wash your hands constantly. But the reality for someone suffering from this condition is so much more than those common stereotypes.

Jemimah shares with us what it’s like to live with OCD, and the way it affects her life. But Jemimah is also a person of faith, and today, she opens up about what it’s like to know that she is a new creation in Christ, all the while still dealing with the intrusive thoughts and negative effects of her mental health disorder.

She’ll also share with us some of the helpful–and not so helpful–things people have said in an attempt to support her, and how she’s learned to keep turning to God, even when it’s the last thing she feels like doing.

We hope you’ll be encouraged by how Jemimah’s faith sustains her, even when her mind feels like it’s out of her control.

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Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If you, or someone you know, are struggling with anxiety or your mental health, we’d really encourage you to speak to a doctor, mental health professional, or reach out to one of the organisations on our Help page.

enJune 01, 2023

How One Journey With Mental Illness Sparked Anxious Faith

What's the story behind Anxious Faith?

This episode we're switching things up - we're hearing from James not as the host, but as the interviewee, as he shared about his and his family's journey through mental health struggles, and how those experiences led to starting Anxious Faith.

If you’ve ever wondered where God is in the midst of what you’re going through, James’ story is for you. And out of his story, God has built something beautiful: this community that we now call Anxious Faith.

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Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If you, or someone you know, are struggling with anxiety or your mental health, we’d really encourage you to speak to a doctor, mental health professional, or reach out to one of the organisations on our Help page.

enMay 12, 2023

Does Gratitude Help Our Mental Health?

If you’re someone who has been around the mental health space for a bit, whether from reading or hearing things or dealing with it yourself, you’ve probably come across the concept of gratitude.

Gratitude is something that counsellors and psychologists suggest as a tool to help us when we’re struggling with our mental health, and you only have to walk into any stationery or book store to see how popular it has become – there are gratitude journals *everywhere*. And that’s for a reason – gratitude is actually something that can help our mental health.

But what about as Christians? Should we be following secular suggestions of ‘cultivating a mindset of gratitude’ by simply listing what we’re thankful for, or is there more to gratitude when faith is mixed in?

This episode we’re speaking with Stephen Unwin, who is actually part of the Anxious Faith team and an editor for Our Daily Bread Ministries. In his spare time, not that there’s much of it, he’s also studying his PhD around the concept of ‘Gratitude and Gift in the Christian Life’.

While Stephen hasn’t had to deal with mental health challenges of his own, his years of research into what gratitude is have shown how gratitude can help our mental health.

In the first half of this episode we’ll talk about what gratitude is, what it looks like in a faith-based context, and where we see it in the Bible. After the break, we’ll chat more about how gratitude can be lived out not just during the good times, but even when we’re struggling or suffering. We’ll also explore some ideas for how we can practise gratitude in those hard times, so make sure you hang around till the end!

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Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If you, or someone you know, are struggling with anxiety or your mental health, we’d really encourage you to speak to a doctor, mental health professional, or reach out to one of the organisations on our Help page.

enMay 01, 2023

Is Faith Always Helpful?

If you’re someone who is struggling with mental health challenges, be they anxiety, depression, or others, and you’re also someone of faith, surely throwing yourself into learning everything you can about God, serving Him in every way possible, and making that the focus of your life is the way to deal with those challenges.

Right?

This episode we’re chatting with Chris - who was part of Season 1 - and hearing more about his story. Growing up in difficult circumstances, and dealing with depression from a relatively young age, Chris thought that the more he could do for God, the better his mental health would be. As you’re listening, you’ll hear Chris unpack that Jesus isn’t the problem, but sometimes the way we get stuck in thinking of how exactly we have to follow him can cause problems for us. He’s the first to admit he was zealous - but probably zealous in the wrong way. And you’ll hear how as he began to understand this, he began to focus more on the character of God, and find some more peace along his journey.

With this episode we’d really encourage you to listen to the end, to see how God has brought Chris from his childhood experience to his life following Jesus today.

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