Do You Want To Become Well?

19 June, 202125 June, 2021Marissa

How would you answer if Jesus asked, “Do you want to become well?”

For most, if not all, of us, I think our first instinctive response would be something like, “Yes! Of course I want to be well.” But let’s ponder this a little more. The man Jesus addressed this question to in John 5 “had been disabled for 38 years” (5:5, NET). We don’t know how old he was, but I’m guessing that was at least half his life. Healing would have been a major change to his status-quo. I don’t have experience being physically disabled, but the idea that healing involves a huge change is something I talked about years ago with my first counselor. I was there to overcome and manage anxiety and depression, but the idea of living without those things made me anxious. They’d been such a big part of me for so long that I didn’t know who I’d be without them. My answer to, “Do you want to be made well?” was “I think so?”

What if the question was specifically about spiritual healing? As Chris Tiegreen says in 365 Pocket Devotions, “Jesus knows that sometimes, as much as we think we want to change, we’re comfortable with the status quo. We say we want to be delivered of our sins, but we still look for ways to be tempted by them. … we must be prepared for radical change if we want a real encounter with him” (p. 160). Being healed by Jesus involves a significant change in our lives. The analogy C.S. Lewis uses is that we’re not a field that Jesus needs to mow to get the overgrown grass under control; we’re one that needs to be plowed up and re-sown to produce wheat. Truly becoming well involves a radical, whole-life alteration of our status quo.

We need to be healed

Jesus preached repentance and forgiveness of sins to the world. This message wasn’t received well by those who thought they didn’t need to repent. In fact, those people judged Jesus for spending time “with tax collectors and sinners” (Matt. 9:11, WEB). That attitude didn’t impress Jesus, though. He wasn’t there just to focus on people who thought they didn’t need Him. He came to heal people.

Behold, they brought to him a man who was paralyzed, lying on a bed. Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, “Son, cheer up! Your sins are forgiven you.”
Behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man blasphemes.”
Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven;’ or to say, ‘Get up, and walk?’ But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins—” (then he said to the paralytic), “Get up, and take up your mat, and go to your house.”
He arose and departed to his house.
Matthew 9:2-7, WEB

With this miracle, Jesus dramatically changed a man’s life. He proved He could heal both physically and spiritually, and He taught that His power to heal physically pointed to His power to heal spiritually. Right after this healing, Jesus called Matthew (a tax collector) to follow Him, then overheard the Pharisees asking His disciples why their rabbi would associate with tax collectors and sinners.

When Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do. But you go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Matthew 9:12-13, WEB

When Jesus looks at sinners (a group we’re all part of), He sees people who need healing. When we resist repentance or don’t recognize our need for His forgiveness, it’s as crazy as running away from someone who could stop you from having a heart attack or falling prey to a nasty virus.

Jesus’s healing is able to save us

Jesus is willing to heal and cleanse us. He invites all of us to come to Him, repent, ask for His help, and receive forgiveness and renewed spiritual health. Sometimes (and for a whole host of reasons) we may not receive the physical healings we ask for, but He always grants forgiveness to repentant sinners. Some sins may still have consequences (e.g. when God forgives someone for breaking “thou shalt not steal” it may not stop them from facing fines or prison time) but when Jesus heals us spiritually, He ensures that those consequences will not include us dying for our own sins.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we may cease from sinning and live for righteousness. By his wounds you were healed. For you were going astray like sheep but now you have turned back to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.
1 Peter 2:24-25, NET

Even when God disciplines us, it’s for the purpose of healing (Heb. 12:11-13). We should also work alongside God to “be healthy in the faith” (Tit. 1:13, NET). In that verse from Titus, the word for “healthy” is the same word used in Luke’s version of “Those who are well don’t need a physician, but those who are sick do” (Luke 5:31, NET). In Greek, it’s hugiainō, which means “to be sound, to be well, to be in good health” (Thayer’s dictionary entry G5198). Interestingly, this word is also used of “sound doctrine/words” (1 Tim. 1:10; 6:3; 2 Tim. 1:13; 4:3; Tit. 1:9; 2:1). In order to stay sound and healthy after we’re initially healed, we need to keep doing things related to good spiritual health. That includes taking in the “sound words” of God and asking Jesus for continued healing/forgiveness as we make mistakes.

Accepting Jesus’s offer of healing means a radical change in our lives. It means admitting we need healing and wanting it enough to ask for forgiveness and let Him heal us. It means putting off the “old man” (Eph. 4:22; Col. 3:9) and following Jesus, being remade in His image. It means learning from God’s correction and discipline as we hold on to sound, healthy doctrine and do our best to follow Him. And it means joy, peace, and spiritual health like we can’t find anywhere else. There’s so much to look forward to about the changes that happen as Jesus continues to work with, heal, and befriend us.

So, do you want to become well?

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Grief, Depression, and Healing through Gaming

2 February, 20211 February, 2021Marissa

I’ve read books that handle the topic of mental health extremely well, such as Eliza and Her Monsters. I’d dare say most of us have seem films or TV series, or read books, that touched us deeply and maybe even pushed us toward personal growth and healing. I’d never experienced that with a game before, though, until playing through Gris over the past couple weeks.

Gris is a single-player adventure game by indie developer Nomada Studio, where you play as “a hopeful young girl lost in her own world, dealing with a painful experience in her life.” The game is a “journey through sorrow,” and you help Gris “navigate her faded reality.” In addition to being the character’s name, gris means “gray” in Spanish and that reflects the gray world where you begin gameplay.

I bought Gris after it came up in my Rhetoric of Gaming class (a special topics course I’m taking during this semester of grad school). I expected to enjoy the game, knowing it has a beautiful soundtrack, stunning animation (it’s gorgeous even on my laptop that’s not designed for gaming), and frustration-free gameplay where you’re challenged by puzzles but not worried about running out of time or dying. I hadn’t expected it to move me to tears so many times or make me want to write about mental health.

I suspect one of the reasons Gris resonated so strongly with me is because of my interest in how people talk about mental health in everyday conversation and various forms of media. As my regular readers know, I’ve struggled with anxiety and depression since I was about 15, and I also lost a close friend to a car accident seven years ago. Gris pulled all those feelings of hurt, sorrow, and sadness up to the surface, punctuated them with moments of beauty and hope, and handled them with great care.

mild spoilers ahead

Grief, Depression, and Healing through Gaming | LikeAnAnchor.com

One of the things that stood out to me in particular about Gris is that they didn’t fall into the trap of oversimplifying grief and depression. It wasn’t a smooth, easy journey out of despair nor was it something that happened in an overly linear fashion. Most people don’t experience depression or grief as a moment of dull, faded, gray in their lives that grows gradually lighter and lighter until finally the world is set right again. It’s more like what happens in Gris as you travel steadily toward something hopeful and light and good, and you still go through cycles when the darkness comes back and seems ready to devour or choke you. But you do get through it, and even though the marks of when you fell apart are still there you are whole again.

end spoilers

I’d go so far as to say that playing Gris has the potential to be a healing experience, particularly for those who’ve struggled with depression and grief. While it’s no substitute for professional counseling and/or personal healing work, Gris is a powerful example of the potential that games–and art in general–have as a positive force in this world.

Letting Our Messiness Out So We Can Heal

3 August, 20192 August, 2019Marissa

They say confession is good for the soul. Usually when I think of confession, though, I picture a scene from a crime drama. I’ve never really studied the idea in its Christian context until writing this post.

Recently during a small group meeting, a friend made the statement that holding in our mess can prevent healing. I quickly scribbled it down in my notes since that’s an idea I’ve been championing since I started talking more openly about my anxiety. To give you some context for this comment, we’d just read this verse:

Confess your offenses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective. (James 5:16, WEB)

Given James’ word choices here, we can say for certain that he’s telling us there’s a connection between healing and openly acknowledging the ways we slip into error. The Greek words are specifically about confessing faults, offences, and trespasses. I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch, though, to extend this principle to other struggles as well including those that are not, strictly speaking, sinful.

To share a personal example, trying to hide my mental health struggles only made them worse. I felt shame and guilt around my anxiety and depression. I worried that others would find out about them, which just increased my levels of anxiety. I didn’t start to find healing until I opened up about my struggles to friends, family, a counselor, and even publicly here on this blog.

Bringing Dark Things To Light

God has a habit of shining light into dark places. Jesus even went so far as to say “nothing is hidden that will not be revealed; nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light” (Luke 8:17, WEB). While God works in ways that are mysterious and sometimes hidden from us, there is no darkness in Him. He is all light and those who love Him want to walk in that light. Read more →

Cultivating Patience For Spiritual and Personal Growth

31 July, 201930 July, 2019Marissa

Patience isn’t something many of us want to take seriously. We joke about how impatient we are. We fume when stuck behind a driver going even a few miles per hour below the speed limit. We abandon time-consuming projects for something faster and more interesting. We gobble up as much instant gratification as we possibly can.

Impatience is easy. Patience takes work. And, as with many things, the option that requires some hard work is by far the most rewarding. Cultivating patience can improve our health and our relationships. It’s also an important tool for personal and spiritual growth, which is the context today’s post is going to focus on.

This article is a follow-up to Monday’s post titled “‘Are We There Yet?’ — Dealing With Impatience In Spiritual and Personal Growth.” If you haven’t read that yet you’ll probably want to before continuing with this article. Just click the title to open it in a new window.

Defining Patience

If you research the word “patience,” you’ll find that it comes from the Latin word patientia, which literally refers to the “quality of suffering.” In modern usage, we define it as “the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.” Related words include forbearance, tolerance, self-restraint, resignation, stoicism, fortitude, and endurance.

I’m no linguist, but one of the languages I have studied a little is Biblical Greek and in doing so I discovered something about patience that I find fascinating. In the Greek New Testament, there are two words for patience. “Hupomone (5281) is exercised toward things and circumstances, while makrothumia is exercised toward people” (Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete WordStudy Dictionary, entry 3116). Both are key to experiencing growth and cultivating a more patient lifestyle. Read more →

“Are We There Yet?” — Dealing With Impatience In Spiritual and Personal Growth

29 July, 201928 July, 2019Marissa

Our journeys often seem very long. Whether you’re a little one in the back seat of the car thinking we should have made it to the pool by now, or a young person waiting for the end of high school, or an adult hoping for a breakthrough in your career, we can all get impatient. “Are we there yet?” we ask, because it feels like by now we should be.

We ask this question for all sorts of things. Journeys by foot, by car, by plane. Journeys of faith and personal growth. Relationship journeys, career journeys, learning journeys. We get impatient and we want to see how things will turn out.

Are we there yet?

Why aren’t we there yet?

When will we get there?

But are these really the right questions, especially for journeys of spiritual and personal growth? Maybe instead of impatiently pushing through the in-between times or abandoning one goal for another, we should focus on seeing what we can learn from the journey.

Impatience and The Cost of Growth

In his excellent article “The 7 Laws of Impatience,” Jim Stone, PhD, states that “Impatience is triggered when we have a goal, and realize it’s going to cost us more than we thought to reach it.” Here are some examples:

You’re trying to get a new type of job, and you realize you need additional schooling to qualify for the position(s) you want. You realize that achieving this goal will cost more than you expected in terms of time and money.
You’re working on a creative project, but get distracted by some other project. Achieving your first goal is going to cost putting the other goal on the back-burner.
You start a personal growth journey toward a goal such as reducing anxiety, improving your social skills, or to stop procrastinating. As you work on this goal, you realize this issue goes deeper than you expected, is going to take longer to work through, and/or might require counseling. Now achieving that goal will cost more in terms of time, vulnerability, and emotional resources.

When something like this happens, we get impatient. To quote Dr. Stone again, “Impatience motivates us to reduce the costs of reaching our goal, or to switch goals.” In some situations that can be a good thing, such as when we’re working on a project that’s going nowhere and it would be more efficient to switch goals. But in other cases it’s not helpful. Read more →

6 Ways to Naturally Support Your Immune Health

3 July, 20192 July, 2019Marissa

This article first appeared on MadebyHemp. I’m collaborating with them to promote each other’s articles.

I usually think of the immune system as something to worry about during the winter. But really, our immune systems can get worn-down any time during the year. For many of us, summer is an extremely busy time and it’s pretty easy to get overextend ourselves. This article was originally published in the winter, but I think it’s a good reminder for this time of year as well.

The holidays can be a very stressful time, and excess stress has been known to weaken the immune system, thus making us more susceptible to falling ill. This paired with the fact we are exposed to more germs due to family visiting from out of town, it’s no wonder we are all getting sick during this time of year. Fortunately, there are several preventative measures you can take to make sure you’re doing the best to maintain overall well-being during this busy time of year.

CBD Health Benefits for the Immune System

As we have talked about previously, the endocannabinoid system (ECS) is responsible for regulating most functions in the human body. One of these functions is our immune response. Cannabinoids (like CBD) interact with our ECS. When our ECS is active, it helps to aid our body in bringing itself back into balance (homeostasis). When our body is in balance, it is more likely to make sure proper immune function and regulation is occurring.

The immune system is extremely complex, and there is still much to be learned about it. We are excited to see more research being conducted about the relationship between CBD and the immune system. For now, though, it appears the ECS and CBD are very much involved in the maintenance of a properly functioning immune response.

Busting Myths About Immune Health

Due to the complex nature of the immune system, there are many misconceptions when it comes to staying well as the weather changes. Let’s bust one of those myths before jumping into the best preventative measures you can take to keep sickness at bay.

Many of us have heard the phrase ‘put a coat on or you’ll catch a cold!’ Although we may associate sickness with colder weather, research suggests our increase in sickness during the winter months is most likely due to spending more time indoors (to avoid the cold) and spending more time in close contact with others who may pass a virus to us.

Having busted this common misconception, let’s dive into some effective, preventative measures to keep you healthy this winter.

1. Manage stress

Stress is the single most important factor you can manage to avoid weakening your immune system. Stress wears down our immune system rapidly, making us more likely to fall ill when we are exposed to germs.

It’s not uncommon to be stressed out during the holidays, it can be a stressful time! You can help mitigate this stress by meditating, indulging in regular exercise, and practicing mindfulness. There are many various ways to manage stress over the holidays, so whichever option works best based on you and your schedule is great! We’re not so concerned HOW you manage stress, we’re merely advocating for you to do so!

2. Prioritize sleep (or make yours better!)

Our bodies repair themselves while we sleep – which is why it is so crucial to make sure we’re getting enough quality sleep. When we skip out on our regular amounts of sleep, the number of infection-fighting antibodies and cells in our bodies are reduced.

Supplementing with a CBD supplement before bed will help you relax and therefore get into a deeper sleep. There are several things you can do to ensure you get a better night’s rest, and it is in your immune system’s best interest to get quality sleep when you can.

3. Support your body with herbs and supplements

At Made By Hemp, we always recommend using a supplement as just that – a supplement to an already healthy lifestyle! Things, like sleeping well and managing stress, will always make a more significant impact than a supplement, but we listed a few supplements that can help boost your immunity nonetheless.

CBD. As we mentioned before, CBD can be a powerful tool to help maintain balance in your body. Including CBD into your daily routine will be all-around beneficial – and will especially aid in activating your ECS and keeping you balanced this winter.
Reishi mushroom. Mushrooms are widely used in Eastern medicine and have been known to act as a powerful immune sidekick. Source high-quality reishi mushroom powder and try mixing it into your morning latte.
Echinacea. Echinacea has been shown to increase the number of white blood cells, which helps to fight off colds or infection. Try an herbal echinacea spray or a bag of tea that contains dried echinacea.

4. Load up on healthy foods

Vitamins can help an infection from even happening in the first place. If you are eating a healthy, balanced diet, then you should not need to take a supplement – the vitamins are already in the food we eat! We know there are plenty of treats around this time of year and we are not suggesting you don’t indulge (because we sure do!), but that doesn’t mean you have to completely ditch your healthy lifestyle altogether. You can still eat healthy meals in between your holiday get-togethers, and squeeze in workouts when able.

Vitamin D. Due to the decreased amount of sunshine, vitamin D is an important supplement to add to your regime. You can either purchase a high-quality vitamin D supplement or look for fortified milk and cereals.
Vitamin C. Vitamin C is probably the most well-known immune booster. You can get your dose of vitamin C by eating citrus (like oranges, grapefruit, or lemon), bell peppers, kale, and broccoli.
Vitamin E. Vitamin E is an antioxidant that will help the body fight infection. You can get vitamin E from nuts (like sunflower seeds, almonds, peanuts, or hazelnuts), avocados, mango, and kiwi!
Zinc. Zinc is a mineral that keeps the immune system strong and aids in healing. You can find zinc in legumes, nuts, seeds, and soy products.

Prioritize eating a salad packed with vegetables, drinking a green juice, or even making your own vegetable broth before your next holiday get-together. Your immune system will thank you!

5. Stay hydrated

Making sure you stay hydrated aids your body in eliminating toxins and other unwanted bacteria. Soda, alcohol, and sugary drinks are not substitutes for water; if you need to, try herbal teas or add flavorings to your water to make sure you are getting enough.

As a guideline, to be properly hydrated, our bodies need ½ of our body weight in ounces per day to stay hydrated. If you weigh 150lbs then 75oz of water daily is what you need. We know drinking that much water isn’t always possible, but 35oz of water daily is better than zero. Do your best!

6. Wash your hands

One of the easiest tips of all, but we had to mention it! Thoroughly wash your hands, especially before handling food or after being in an environment with a lot of germs (like a Christmas work party or family dinner).

These tips can help you avoid sickness this winter (or anytime in general). We want to show you how easy it is to integrate a wellness lifestyle into your already busy schedule. Wellness is a choice that everyone can make!

Featured image credit: Foundry Co via Pixabay