Dr. Anita Phillips...Thank You!

My goal in writing this blog has been to discuss mental health, including elements of mine, in conjunction with the church. I’ve been trying, rather not successfully, to bring the two together. I believed there was a biblical perspective of mental health that had not been presented. I genuinely believe God did not intend for us to be depressed but I also believed he understood the human condition enough to know that depression, anxiety, and torment would exist. There was too much evidence of “in my feelings” bible “characters” to believe that emotion wasn’t considered by the Lord. You can see through my posts my desire to bring the word to the subject of mental health. I wanted to combine the two in a way that I hadn’t seen before.

With that back drop, imagine how I felt as I listened to Dr. Anita Phillips teach at The Potter’s House, Dallas, last Sunday, February 2nd? Her title was “Good Ground.” My first introduction to Dr. Phillips was at Woman EVOLVE 19. Listening to her, it was so obvious she had what I needed to hear. Sadly, I allowed life to get in my way & did not take to learning more about her & her contribution to this subject matter. She left me bewildered, challenged, grateful, confused, and amazed all at the same time. Bewildered because she made connections I just could not, challenged because she approached the topic from a perspective that was both “God” and education, confused knowing “flesh and blood did not reveal this” to her and amazed because just last two weeks ago I wrote a post pictured with ? because I was struggling to make the connection, and in a matter of less than 21 days the Lord opened my eyes, knowing He’d given her the vision.

Dr. Phillips, thank you! Thank you for being willing to pioneer a movement, to challenge the status-quo in church. You said something in your message that sticks with me, you were not going to miss out on your legacy. Somewhere in that I’m behind you. Somewhere in that I will find my avenue on the path you are forging. I initially started this post thinking I would talk about my takeaways from your message. I have so many, I think I will create a separate posts. You deserve to know that you inspired so many. Not to just work on their mental health but to join you in your journey for others to see the importance of both dealing & praying. We need for both. We must process.

You connected the dots for me. Growing up in church, you hear all types of messages. Many, you “feel” like you’ve heard before. But there are some that stick out. A message I heard about Mark 4 has always stuck with me. I couldn’t ever figure out why. I didn’t know that it was the Lord allowing me to see my reflection in the word. You said around age 14 50% of mental health issues have presented themselves. I was about 19 when I heard that message and I’d known for a long time, I just “tended” to be more sad than happy. Like you said, I just began to accept that it was just apart of my identity. It took me a while to realize it did not have to be like that.

I have so much to say! And I’m not sure you will even read this. But know I’m praying with you and definitely praying for you. May God continue to keep you, your family, and loved ones. I pray He continues to enlarge your borders. What He has given you is a true revelation.

#thoughtlife

The thumbnail image of this post is the property of The Potter’s House of Dallas Texas

The image of this post is the property of Dr. Anita Phillips