Mental Health and the Christian: In the Ups and Downs

Do you feel alone in your "valleys?" I just came out of one of my "down" times, and it never ceases to amaze me how alone I feel "at the bottom." Part of it is my own doing. When I trend downward I tend to withdraw, curl up in an emotional ball, and wallow in my feelings. If you use an emotion wheel to get in touch with your feelings (highly recommended!), here are some good descriptors for such times: sad, depressed, isolated, lonely, afraid, ashamed, etc. On color versions of emotion wheels, these emotions tend to congregate in the blue zone. So color me blue.

Those of us with bipolar tendencies also face the challenge of "hills," even "mountaintops." I'm referring to mood swings in the "up" direction, namely mania or hypomania. I jokingly refer to hypomania as mini-mania. Regardless, these hills can be just as vexing as our valleys, and often lead to poor decision making, risk taking, and the attending bad consequences. Sigh...

I could talk about all the tools (skills) in our mental-emotional tool kit to cope with our hills and valleys. I'm referring to things like self-affirmation statements, distraction, opposite action, socialization, etc. (You can look these things up.) But one of the most powerful weapons is simply to know we are not alone. And here Christians have a distinct advantage going for them. We have "a God of the hills and valleys." The song, "Hills and Valleys," by Tauren Wells captures this well:

You're God of the hills and valleys

Hills and valleys

God of the hills and valleys

And I am not alone

This stems from a verse in 1 Kings 20:28 . When an attacking king had been repulsed by Israel, his advisors told him this was because Israel's God, "The LORD is a god of the hills but he is not a god of the valleys." Therefore, let's attack in the valleys this time. Of course they were again defeated. Why? God showed Himself to be God of both the hills and the valleys. That means we can expect Him to be with us, whether up or down. We are not alone. And we can look to Him for help, even when we are tempted to go it alone (hills) or feel terribly alone (valleys), He is with us. Amen to that!

Blessings!

The Christian Bipole