The month of May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and because Thoughts Of Redemption is centered around the work of God on our minds, God impressed on my heart the importance that mental health will play on this platform around two years ago.

Frankly, I’m still discovering how that will play out as Thoughts Of Redemption moves forward, but this month I wanted to pay special attention to this subject. A lot of people have spoken up about mental health in the past few years, including me through featured guests, but I want to delve more further into the conversation.

So this month I will feature different forms of content that deal with mental health, and I’m excited to bring this to you the reader. To set the foundation for what’s to come, I’ll define what mental health is to me, as well as the biblical foundation that informs my views on mental health. The definition I give below will have a green background, because green is the color for this awareness month.

Mental health addresses the well-being of our mind, and the matters of our soul, which is our mind,will and emotions. Therefore, mental health encompasses all the areas that monitor and address our mental and emotional fitness.

One thing that I want this definition to highlight is the fact that mental health and mental illness are not the same thing. This is very important because of how easy it is to take any discussion about mental health as an immediate need for therapy and pills. Mental health is a comprehensive subject that has helped us to broaden our understanding of the mind God gave us.

Now with all of that said, you may question why should Christians care about this topic so much? Especially considering how mental health is a popular topic now, and throughout the church there’s been more discussion, so you may wonder how authentic it is since churches follow trends at times. I’ve considered this for sure, but what hit me this week is this important truth.

Mental health must start with the reality that God Himself thinks.

This truth is illustrated for me in Psalms 139:17, amongst other verses, here’s what it says:

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
    How vast is the sum of them!

Psalms 139:17 NKJV

Just as the Lord has a mind that thinks, He made us in His image by giving us the ability to think and reason. He has a perfect and healthy mind, therefore I believe that He desires for us to be healthy in our minds as well.

So, as we go through this month highlighting the necessity of good mental health as a believer, I pray that it encourages you greatly and even spurs more conversations in your circle. May it further our celebration of thought and God’s hand in it.

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