Bipolar, but still Christian : Just Another Challege

  I started this blog to have a place to talk about mental illness and being a Christian. I still have bipolar disorder. I am very stable ninety-nine percent of the time. Dealing with racing thoughts and anxiety currently. I had reduced my lithium dose a little back in November and now I am getting back to my prior dosage. All to get to why I am writing. Why do Christians think mental health is a spiritual illness. It’s not. The brain isn’t functioning correctly and that imbalance is causing my symptoms. The Spiritual can definitely impact us especially when we are symptomatic. However, it’s like aggravating an already damaged area. Meaning the devil most certainly takes advantage of weakness to attack me when I am unwell. Even after sending him on his way, I still have to deal with the daily struggle of my actual illness until everything calms down again. Then deal with Christians who want to pray away my brain functions. God made me this way! Unless and until He chooses to change...

 Honestly, I just need to vent for a second. My hubby and I both work and we are not poor. Unfortunately, though with chronic conditions we have to see specialist doctors every 4-6 months. One appointment to mine is about $84 dollars if they haven’t raised it. My primary charges $115-150. Labs have to be done every six months. They usually cost about $150, but this last time they added separate charges for each test and it was $550. My insurance covered $51 of that bill. Still paying on an ER visit last January when had trouble breathing and they gave me a breathing treatment. That was around $5,000. I have paid almost half down. Good old Wellspan sends these unpleasant reminders even though I am making regular payments. I learned the hard way years ago. Legally if you pay something, they can’t report you to collections, but if you miss a payment they will immediately pounce. Anyway, bottom line is we have enough bills that paying them right away just wasn’t doable. The more free h...